As Eddie Guerrero once said, “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”
But perhaps the Houston Astros tried a little bit too hard. Sure, sign-stealing has existed in baseball since the beginning of the game. Whether it be the runner on second base, the third or first base coach or even the opposing dugout, teams have been stealing signs to gain a competitive edge for a very long time.
This could technically be considered cheating, but in the baseball world, that is considered gamesmanship. Using the human eye and human senses to track signs is not only accepted, but often encouraged.
Technology, however, is where things get dicey, to say the least. When technology is used in place of the human element, the integrity of the game comes into question.
And to get ahead, the Astros didn’t just use technology; they abused it. A Major League Baseball (MLB) investigation found the Astros stole signs electronically by having a camera positioned in center field zooming in on the catcher while simultaneously having someone in the clubhouse watch the feed. Someone would then bang on a trash can if an off-speed pitch was coming and do nothing if the catcher had called a fastball instead.
This would be bad enough, but the damage it caused is irreparable. This was not just a run-of-the-mill team doing it either. The Astros used this system in the postseason during their championship run in 2017.
Famously, the Astros came back from 4-0 and 7-4 leads on their way to beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, nailing Clayton Kershaw for seven runs.
Whatever was left of Kershaw’s postseason legacy was shattered after that World Series. It’s impossible to know what could have been, or if his career would have been defined differently had the Dodgers won, but the thought of it surely keeps Dodgers fans up at night.
Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball has been notorious for scandals.
As far back as 1918, the Chicago White Sox lost the World Series on purpose in exchange for money. Pete Rose, the all-time hits leader in MLB history, is permanently banned from the game of baseball for betting on the sport (he alleges that he only bet on his own team, though that still diminishes the integrity of the game). And for decades, players across baseball used performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, considered by many to be the greatest pitcher and hitter respectively of all time, still have not been voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame because of their PED scandals.
However, this sign-stealing scandal was undoubtedly the worst of them all. A scandal like this changes careers. It can lead to demotions after players struggle against the Astros or, as Freddie Freeman explained about his teammate Kris Medlen, make someone retire altogether. Several pitchers said that they would rather face a hitter who is on PEDs than one who knows what pitch is coming.
Right as baseball was easing out of the era of cheating, the sport is back in the spotlight. Except this time, it’s exponentially worse.
How can the nation’s pastime be trusted?
Photo Courtesy of Bob Levey
