I want to attend every Houston Astros game this season with a trash-can lid and bang it every time one of their sign-stealing cheatballs comes to bat. I want to find Commissioner Rob Manfred and pelt him with Stay Puft marshmallows for his pillowy-soft punishment of the most crooked team in baseball history. Chicago Black Sox? Please. That scandal was eight players in one series. This was the whole team, and coaches, for two full seasons.
Fans know that they cheated. The players who received immunity admitted it. Using a center-field camera, a video monitor near the dugout, and a system of trash-can bangs from a teammate in the dugout, the Houston Asterisks knew what pitch was coming for two years. According to opponents, the Asterisks taped tiny buzzers to hitters’ chests, set off little blinking lights, and even whistled.
They used all these tricks to rob the Los Angeles Dodgers of any fair chance in the 2017 World Series, and who knows how many teams on their way to the 2018 American League Championship Series. It’s the skunkiest scandal in baseball history, and yet Manfred didn’t punish a single player. He fined the Asterisks a pathetic $5 million and a few draft picks. Five million? They can make more than that selling Frito pies. The commissioner didn’t even suspend the Asterisks’ owner, Jim Crane.
Considering away games as no-cheating is also unfounded. There is proof that the Astros also stole signs during away games. While it’s understandable because how hard the data would be to dig up, we also shouldn’t ignore whistling, buzzers, and other forms of sign-stealing that the Astros reportedly used. Just the thought of the Houston Astros skating away without any public rebuke rankled Jon Wilson. A 43-year-old software consultant from California’s East Bay and a devout Oakland Athletics fan. If the cheating allegations against the Houston Astros are proven true, they are inexcusable. While baseball has a long tradition of legal sign stealing — what should be called “sign decoding” —. The Athletic report described a system where someone around the Astros dugout would hit a bat against a trashcan to signify an incoming off-speed pitch. This system, which wasn’t exactly subtle. The Houston Astros front office devised an application that was used to steal signs in home and away games in 2017 and 2018, which was presented to former GM Jeff Luhnow. Cheating within the.
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For heaven’s sake, the racist Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott got suspended in the 1990s for owning a Nazi armband. But at least she didn’t destroy the integrity of the game.
Crane pooh-poohed the burning wreckage smoldering at his feet. “Our opinion is, this didn’t impact the game,” he sniffed.
It didn’t?
Let me ask you: If Drew Brees knew when the blitz was coming, do you think that might impact the game? If Steph Curry knew when he was going to get double-teamed, do you think that might impact the game?
Now there’s talk that pitchers from other teams will impact Asterisks batters with fastballs to the ribs and—oh, the irony—probably get suspended for it. I can’t blame them. Trying to guess which pitch is coming is the whole art of hitting! Otherwise, it’d be like a blackjack player knowing what card was going to be flipped over next. You guess a curveball is coming, and you get a fastball? You look like a drunk trying to kill a moth. You know a curveball is coming? You look like Ted Williams. “Me, going up to the plate, knowing what’s coming?” the Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout said dreamily the other day. “Be pretty fun up there.”
In 40 years of covering sports, I’ve never seen athletes so mad. I’m with them. “Every single guy over there needs a beating,” the Atlanta Braves outfielder Nick Markakis said. “If someone cheated me out of winning the title … I would be F*^king irate!” LeBron James tweeted. “[They should] be out of baseball for the rest of their lives,” Hank Aaron said.
The Asterisks say they’re sorry. If they mean it, there’s plenty they could do to make this right.
First, they could go to Minute Maid Park and take down the 2017 World Series banner. Then burn it.
Second, they could give away the $429,000 each of them got just for—cough—“winning” that World Series. (The Baseball Assistance Team would be a nice choice.)
Third, they could pawn their World Series rings and give all the money to the former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Mike Bolsinger—who, after getting shelled by the grifting Asterisks during one game in August 2017, never pitched in the bigs again.
Fourth, their star José Altuve could give back the 2017 MVP award he robbed from the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge (who says he’s “sick to my stomach”).
Fifth, they could ask Major League Baseball to formallyvacate the title they won. Why not? It’s been done before by people with actual consciences.
When an undefeated Cornell realized it had won a 1940 football game with the help of a fifth down against Dartmouth, the team famously gave back the victory. When the running back Reggie Bush was found to have accepted massive under-the-table gifts to play football at USC, he gave back his Heisman Trophy. When it was revealed that the guys from Milli Vanilli weren’t even singing on their own album, they had decided to give back their Grammy when the Recording Academy beat them to it.
Baseball, you’re no Milli Vanilli.
Imagine: If a team is allowed to win a World Series using a crappy camera and a trash can, by 2025, teams will be implanting microchips in hitters’ brains. If Altuve can keep his rotten MVP award, then Pete Rose can go in the Hall of Fame tomorrow, followed by Barry Bonds and, I don’t know, Rosie Ruiz? And if Crane can profit from pirating a title—his team’s value has risen an estimated $300 million since the scam began—then maybe Bernie Madoff should get a new trial. Sigh.
Like a pilot in a blizzard, America is flying upside down right now. We have a president who lies with every other breath and then demonizes anyone who tells the truth. We have senators who swear on the Bible and then run a trial without a single witness. And now we have a national pastime that knows the Asterisks robbed Fort Knox and let them keep the gold anyway.
The World Series trophy is called the Commissioner’s Trophy, and Commissioner Manfred should take it back. Just as every Astros hitter from those two seasons should take a voluntary 30-day suspension. Just as Crane should sell the team and never come back. If Major League Baseball doesn’t do the right thing, this scandal isn’t going away.
Come to think of it, if baseball won’t do the right thing, then maybe we should stop doing baseball.
Marwin Gonzalez and Carlos Correa World Series Trophy after the 2017 win.Source:AFP
Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros have been dragged into a cheating scandal after a bombshell report accused the team of stealing signs during their 2017 World Series-winning campaign.
The Athletic’sKen Rosenthal and Evan Drellich reported the stunning claims with former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers one of the four players who accused the team of illegally stealing signs.
Sign stealing has been an issue throughout the history of the MLB and occurs when a team decodes and relays the catcher’s signal to the batter.
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While usually done by a player on second base, the Astros have been accused of using a camera in the outfield trained on the catcher. The act is generally frowned upon and doing so with the help of electronic equipment makes it an illegal act in the league.
The Athletic has reported allegations of the Astros sign stealing in 2017 — the same season the Astros won the World Series — while other publications believe it is still ongoing.
Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora and new New York Mets manager Carlos Beltran are also alleged to have played a role in establishing the program when they worked with Astros manager AJ Hinch’s team.
Cora was the bench coach in 2017 and Beltran was a player.
The practice was said to go into the 2017 playoffs, helping the team in home games.
George Springer hit a two-run home run during game seven of the 2017 World Series.Source:AFP
The Astros declined to comment before the story was published but soon issued a statement that read: “Regarding the story posted by The Athletic earlier today, the Houston Astros organisation has begun an investigation in co-operation with Major League Baseball. It would not be appropriate to comment further on this matter at this time.”
The Astros reportedly had a camera in centre field, fixed on the opposing catcher’s signs which was connected to a TV monitor in the home dugout before sharing the information by banging on a garbage can.
Jomboy Media’s Jimmy O’Brien even seemed to have found an example of sign stealing in action.
Astros using cameras to steal signs, a breakdown pic.twitter.com/rncm6qzXxw
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) November 12, 2019
Fiers also said he passed the information of what the Astros were doing to the teams he went to after Houston — the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A’s.
“I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they’re going in there not knowing,” Fiers said.
“Young guys getting hit around in the first couple of innings starting a game, and then they get sent down. It’s bulls*** on that end. It’s ruining jobs for younger guys.
“The guys who know are more prepared. But most people don’t. That’s why I told my team. We had a lot of young guys with Detroit (in 2018) trying to make a name and establish themselves. I wanted to help them out and say, ‘Hey, this stuff really does go on. Just be prepared’.”
Justin Verlander was questioned by AP but kept quiet.Source:AFP
One major league manager said: “It’s an issue that permeates through the whole league. The league has done a very poor job of policing or discouraging it.”
The last time a sign stealing scandal was punished was in 2017 when the Red Sox were fined an undisclosed amount for using Apple Watches to swipe signals from the New York Yankees, while the Yankees paid a smaller, undisclosed amount for improper usage of a dugout phone.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement at the time that “future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks”.
While it is unlikely the Astros will be forced to give up their World Series win, with the penalty likely to be a fine or the loss of draft picks, the issue has infuriated the league and damaged the team’s reputation, according to several reports.
Astros Cheating Road Games
Yankees boss Brian Cashman, speaking to reporters at the general managers’ meetings in Arizona during the week, declined to comment directly on the allegations.
However, Cashman said teams who cheat should face “consequences”.
“You decide to play by the rules, or you don’t,” Cashman said. “And if you don’t, there’s consequences. You’re putting yourself at risk whether it’s future employment, current employment, or sanctions or what have you.
“It’s not a technology question as much as how you want to operate.”
The scandal has sent shockwaves across the league with Yankee star Aaron Judge issuing a stunned response.
Wait... what....? https://t.co/z4i9MHTAVr
— Aaron Judge (@TheJudge44) November 12, 2019
The team the Astros defeated in the 2017 World Series, the LA Dodgers, refused to weigh in on the story.
The Dodgers lost the World Series in Game 7 at their home ground.
“It’s speculation for me at this point,’’ Dodgers president Andrew Friedman said. “There was scuttlebutt about it being beyond just the things at home. I don’t know the answer. This is more for Major League Baseball than it is for me.
“From our standpoint, being one of the teams involved, it sounds like sour grapes for us to comment too much on this.
“I’m a person who looks forward way more than I look back, so it’s not something that has been front of mind for me. It’s not productive.’’
The Astros dugout was a bit quieter in 2019.Source:AFP
While it was not known whether the Astros were still sign stealing in 2019, the Washington Nationals had plans to overcome any sign steaming that may have happened.
Speaking to The Washington Post, the Nationals revealed they had multiple signals with each pitcher having their own set of signs with the catchers needing to be familiar with each players’ sets of signals.
Astros Cheating Scandal
It was far from the only reactions as the news rocked and baffled fans.
You can think the Astros are deplorable for cheating the way they did. You can think Fiers acted like a bum for collecting a ring, money and waiting for 2 years to talk. It can be both. It is for me. https://t.co/hxaLiIcKuP
— Colin Dunlap (@colin_dunlap) November 13, 2019
One question the Astros cheating scandal ... that “banging” is so damn noticeable that doing it for 9 consecutive innings game after game ... how could no one else have heard it? Especially the umpire or the catcher? It would have drove me nuts.
— Mark Zinno (@MarkZinno) November 13, 2019
The weirdest part about this Astros' cheating thing: Imagine having that much talent on your roster and thinking you need another advantage?
— Melissa Lockard (@melissalockard) November 14, 2019
Astros Cheating Away Games 2017
Yes @MLB must find some answers concerning the allegations that the @astros were cheating . If proven trie they must punish severely . The Integrity of the game is being questioned .Not healthy for the game . https://t.co/xuIvBIRDY5
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) November 13, 2019
Love to wake up and see Astros fans claiming there's no rule against stealing signs with a camera and/or claiming that they couldn't POSSIBLY be cheating because if they were, they would never have lost. Fandom, man. Not even once.
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) November 13, 2019
Astros Cheating Away Games Online
The murmurs of the Houston Astros stealing signs has been around for awhile, but the video evidence by @Jomboy_ just flat out pisses me off Remember in ‘Casino’ when the guys got caught cheating? ??? Take care of this, @MLBpic.twitter.com/u2ytXwDawQ
Astros Cheating Away Games Schedule
— T̷R̷O̷Y̷ ̷H̷U̷G̷H̷E̷S̷ (@TommySledge) November 13, 2019