Astros: If You Aren't Cheating You Aren't Trying
“I’ll take Baseball for $800, Alex.”
“The answer is: paint your fingernails bright colours.”
“Alex, what is, “What does baseball think is the best way for a catcher to signal pitches to the pitcher.”
That’s pretty much the sophistication level of a 21st-century sport being governed by 19th century technology. And, as a result , teams using contemporary technology are taking advantage of “1 is a fastball, 2 is a curveball” being signalled between his legs by a guy crouching behind home plate.
A recent exposé in The Athletic had former Houston pitcher Mike Fiers alleging that the Astros used a secret camera to steal the signals being relayed to then pitcher by the catcher. Houston batters were then warned in advance by either a whistle or someone banging on garbage cans to signal fastball, slider, cureveball etc.
"That's not playing the game the right way," Fiers said in the story. "They were advanced and willing to go above and beyond to win."
There have been rumours from teams about the Astros cheating for some time. But most people wrote it off as bitter losers trying to rationalize why the talented Astros were taking them to the woodshed. But the first-hand revelation from Fiers has taken the accusations past the rumour stage. One of the elite teams in MLB— some might say the best team in spite of losing in the World Series— is blatantly cheating.
Suspicion fell on Joey Cora and Carlos Beltran— who was just named manager of the New York Mets— as the dugout architects of the scheme. (And isn’t that a good look for MLB?)
The reaction to the revelation has run the gamut from “Ho hum, it happens all the time” to “a greater scandal than steroids”. The most outraged feeling seems to be that, while steroids were a bad thing that happened off the field, the Astros’ pitch tipping represents a whole other level of on-field cheating just this side of the Black Sox betting scandal in the 1919 World Series.
Some might wonder why MLB has never investigated the persistent rumours of the Astros’ pitch tipping. It would seem to have been a simple matter of doing a surprise visit to the camera bay in centrefield or an launching an inquiry with the batters of the Astros. But then recall how MLB handled the umpiring FUBARs in the 2019 World Series and you get an idea how this could go on for so long.
So how bad is it to steal signs with a camera system? Well, it’s dishonourable and violates MLB rules. It now has tainted the playoff and World Series victories of the Astros— who didn’t need that much of an advantage. Some punishment is in order. The question remains: are the Astros the only team to use a covert operation to steal signs? Until we know whether the Astros were the only team employing a rogue strategy it’s hard to gauge what penalty Houston deserves.
Disqualifying all their wins in the past few years is unworkable— would their opponents get those wins? Would it reverse playoff standings? How can you replay a World Series? The punishment would more likely be financial, lowering their threshold under the luxury tax as an example. The team could also have draft picks taken away.
The debate of what to do with the Astros also revives the steroid argument that is keeping Barry Bonds and Roger Clemes out of the Hall of Fame— even as Bud Selig, the commissioner who turned a blind eye to the blatant cheating, has been enshrined in Cooperstown. We now know that Bonds and Clemens were just the sexy names connected to steroids. Their use was rampant at the time. How can you punish just a handful of stars—who were also unpopular with the HOF voters during their career— when so many lesser names skate into history unscathed?
And, as I remind people, how can you punish steroid users when players who abused amphetamines for decades before them are given a pass into the HOF? Hell, Gaylord Perry is in Cooperstown and he cheated incessantly with foreign substances on the ball.— while everyone laughed about it. Just acknowledge that Bonds and Clemens used steroids but put them in the Hall.
Of course, the simplest solution to preventing sign stealing is to bring MLB into the 21st century. Stop telling catchers to paint their fingernails. As I mentioned in my earlier column on the tech gap in pro sports , it’s time to abandon the time-honoured ways and use progress to eliminate cheating. Institute a telex system for pitchers, catchers and the bench.
The NFL and CFL have been using a microphone-in-the-helmet system to relay play calls for some time, eliminating the ability of Bill Belichick to circumvent the rules of play stealing. Surely with the lightweight micro technology in use today someone can design a lightweight microphone in the hat of a pitcher to allow the bench to relay the pitches from the pitching coach to the pitcher and catcher.
Or maybe the coach can just bang on a garbage can too signal the pitches. MLB doesn’t seem bothered by that at all.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the publisher of his website (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). He’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also a best-selling author whose new book Cap In Hand: How Salary Caps Are Killing Pro Sports And Why The Free Market Could Save Them is now available on brucedowbigginbooks.ca.