Cheating and high-level athletics go together like Bill Belichick and faded cutoff hoodies. From the 1919 Black Sox scandal to the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding attack, 20th century athletics were fraught with high profile cheating scandals. Unfortunately, the turn of the century did not magically rid the sporting world of those seeking to gain a competitive edge through extrajudicial means. So long as professional sports continue to promise fame, money, and respect, there will always be participants and organizations more interested in the end result than the means through which it is reached.Today, the Houston Astros have joined in the storied tradition of cheating in professional sports.
The current Houston Astros scandal is a uniquely modern approach to a simplistic and archaic means of gaining a significant advantage. In baseball, catchers and pitchers use hand signals, or “signs”, to communicate and decide which kind of pitch should be thrown. For decades, baseball players have deciphered their opponents’ signs in order to forecast pitches and gain a competitive edge. Stealing signs is not an illegal practice, but there are some ground rules. Namely, in 1961 and 2001 Major League Baseball passed statutes banning the use of technological aids in sign-stealing. Unfortunately, the temptation of modern video equipment has proven too alluring for some.
The focus of the current Astros firestorm is their illegal use of technology to steal signs during their 2017 World Series-winning season and their defending 2018 campaign. In a November 2019 article in The Athletic, former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers exposed the team’s cheating and kick-started an investigation into the organization by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. During the course of this investigation, Manfred discovered significant violations of the aforementioned league statutes, which bans the use of technological aids in sign-stealing. Investigators found that the Astros installed a camera in center field, which recorded the opposing team’s signs and relayed them to a replay room for decoding. The decoded signs would then be sent to the dugout, where Astros players banged on trash cans to indicate which pitch was coming. In the fallout from the scandal, Houston Manager AJ Hinch and General Manager Jeff Luhnow both lost their jobs, along with Boston Red Sox and New York Mets Managers’ Alex Cora and Carlos Beltran, respectively. Cora was an assistant coach with the Astros, while Beltran was a player.
The reaction to the scandal from the MLB community has been harsh to say the least. As part of his investigation, Manfred offered Houston players immunity in exchange for their cooperation. While Manfred may have needed players’ help in order to gather evidence, they were still active participants in cheating and deserved punishment. To make matters worse, the players and Astros owner Jim Crane delivered a halfhearted apology in early February in which Crane claimed the sign stealing “didn’t impact the game”, and therefore, the legitimacy of the Astros’ World Series title. Crane’s claim is completely unbelievable given that the Astros made contact on every breaking ball thrown by all-time great Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw during the 2017 World Series, an almost superhuman feat. The combination of both a poor apology and players escaping punishment has drawn the ire of the MLB community — both fans and players alike. A number of prominent players have spoken out forcibly against the Astros organization, often attacking their personal character in interviews and on social media. For example, All-Stars, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge have both questioned the legitimacy of the Astros individual and collective achievements. Pitcher Trevor Bauer has been particularly outspoken in his criticism of the Astros, labeling the players as “hypocrites” and “cheaters” who have “stolen from a lot of other people and the game itself.” It seems like the standard in-game trash talk may become more pointed when teams visit the Lone Star State.
While the Astros use of cameras to steal signs definitely impacted the outcome of individual games, and likely aided their championship run, the league-wide condemnation of their actions seems slightly hypocritical. After all, sign stealing has been a longstanding practice by countless players and teams. Additionally, the widespread nature of the steroid era in professional baseball demonstrates the league’s selective outrage when it comes to cheating. Regardless of how the conflict between the Astros and their peers plays out, the sign-stealing scandal has already demonstrated the danger technology presents to the integrity of 21st century athletics. As replay systems, automated refereeing, and legalized gambling become more and more popular throughout this century, the potential for abuse across different sports is rife. As sports fans, we must remain vigilant to ensure our favorite competitions remain decided by the skill of the players, not the IT department. •
