Can Players’ Bosses Control Cheating in Baseball? ‘It’s Tough’

Gimme a break, Wagner. The players weren’t the ones who set up the equipment at the Astro’s field to steal signs; it was management.

BB Commish should have lowered the boom in a big way on everyone- the players, the managers, they all stink. By failing to set an example as the ultimate authority, he allows the inference that it's not that big a deal. Another scam will emerge and as some comments below have already "mehed"-what's the big deal? Everyone is already numb in this nation to wrongdoing. You-know-what flows downstream. Information regarding bad behavior and how it happened would have been tracked down no matter what. There was no need to let anyone off "easy."

Bob Gibson routinely waved off Tim McCarver's signs. He'd tell McCarver he didn't know how to pitch. Let someone steal Gibby's signs....batters knew what was coming and were helpless. Steal Drysdale's signs, he'd go inside next at bat.... inside an ear... Baseball the way it ought to be

Individual punishment is ridiculous - the entire team needs to be punished by stripping their World Series title. Why can't MLB do that? I guarantee you the owners of the Astros would definitely prefer a WS victory and some individuals punished to a WS loss, but they would never go for a temporary WS victory that is taken away from them. The Astros won by cheating, plain and simple. If they were in a card game with Billy the Kid, and Billy discovered their cheating, what do you think would happen?

The Astro’s WS title should be rescinded by MLB. They cheated and purloined their game of baseball. Anything less is an insult to baseball ethics.

Why does it take a massive cheating scandal like the Astros' sign stealing scheme for managers to reinforce the rules? Should the rules not always be central to the game? There is now more of a love for winning than there is of the game. Baseball's popularity and its status as America's favorite pastime are in jeopardy.

Baseball managers have nothing to fear as long as they keep their eyes and ears open. A.J. Hinch was aware of and could have stopped the Astros cheating, but he didn't. He got off easy. The players got off easier.

Blaming management and not players for sign-stealing wasn’t “established in a memorandum” - it was the result of negotiation between MLB (the commissioner’s office, representing teams) and the MLBPA (the players’ negotiating arm). The players, as always, beat management in this negotiation, avoiding blame for something they may, if not always would, be likely to do. As Alex Avila says, holding management liable for this is like having tellers at a bank branch develop a plan to rob the bank, and then blaming the bank manager for the robbery. It wouldn’t happen there, and it shouldn’t happen here. Rob Manfred and his staff were too smart for their own good, and got hoodwinked. Now, Tony Clark will pay the price, likely losing his job when the bulk of players in the MLBPA, who did not cheat and would not have done this, oust him for hiding behind the veil of “protecting player interests” in avoiding blame. Try telling that to Yu Darvish or Mike Bolsinger. Better yet, try telling that to Bolsinger when his court case comes to trial.

I am new to St Louis, but I have always appreciated the quality of the St Louis Cardinal Front Office. A quality program starts at the top and filters throughout. We should take a moment to reflect on the very best teams from the current baseball league. It is not all bad...

I don't see the big deal with all this sign stealing going on. Why aren't all teams prepared for the opposing team to do it and have a plan to counter it? If your team loves you, then they will do what is needed to win. If your team isn't doing something to gain an advantage, they don't love you, only your money. "The integrity of the game is compromised!" Really? The game has/had integrity? Steroids anyone? PED's? How much does it cost to go to a game nowadays? OH YEAH A LOT! I hope to hear from someone to argue my point of sign stealing not being a big deal. Thank you sports fans! P.S. Dodger fans? There is no crying in baseball!

Before any player or coach considers retaliation against Astros players, I hope he has looked in the mirror and asked himself: “if I’d been on the Astros in ‘17, and gotten this ring I’m wearing, would I have refused to participate in the cheating all season?”

Baseball is an almost perfect reflection of the totality of the American experience. Think about it. The phrases, coming out of left field, swing and a miss, squeeze play, high and inside, and so many more accurately reflect so many different aspects of American life that it is truly the one and only national game. What does it say, then, when a nation’s national game is replaced by a thinly concealed gladiatorial contest where impoverished young men of color beat each other senseless for the amusement of old white men? What does it say, then, when the nation moves to a casino, winner take all culture where cheating is considered smart business. Cheating in baseball simply is a mirror of cheating in America.?

There is really no need to have any live or taped video of games being shown in the dugout or clubhouse while the game is being played. As far as a manager asking for a replay on a disputed call, let him use his eyes, just as the umpire does to determine whether or not to ask for a review. Not only would it speed up the game, but it would put the umpires and managers on the same page. Video of games as they are being played should be banned

Houston players knowingly and willingly took advantage of the illegal stealing of signs. Knowing when a fast ball is coming is an enormous advantage to the batter. Clearly winning the World Series is seriously tainted by this scandal. At the very least all Houston hitters should have been suspended for a minimum of thirty games this season. Staggered suspensions to ensure reasonable competitive opportunity for Houston this season.

Sounds like a bunch of excuses for everyone involved. Any batter who got in the box knowing to listen for the trash can code sign, knew they were cheating and should be severely punished. Knowing what pitch is coming is arguably a much greater advantage than any performance enhancing drug and for that, there are stiff penalties and a good chance you'll never be in the hall of fame. Other players know this and that is why they are understandably outraged.

In my profession, you cheat, lie or steal, you get blackballed and lose your livelihood. The job requires people to be able to trust you, unconditionally. I suspect if they kicked the worst offending players out of the league, even for a few years, that would be the end of cheating. The prospect of losing the ability to earn millions of dollars playing a game would likely be enough to keep most players clean.

The Astro players should be punished. Period.

Take the ruling from the 1919 Black-Sox scandal: anyone caught cheating faces a lifetime ban. The Astro’s should have to relinquish their title as well.

Somewhere sits an apoplectic Pete Rose.

It seems like the entire baseball world is missing the point. This is cheating of a much different sort. Everyone knew this was over the line. A way to know what pitch is coming? It’s like a riverboat gambler having an ace up his sleeve or using loaded dice. It gets you shot on the riverboat. And in baseball players and fans lose all respect for you. It’s cheating beyond any other kind of cheating. It’s a morality issue and it’s just not that complicated.

Pitch-selection signs are the most difficult to steal and the most useful for most, but not all batters. Replay video presumably will not include manager and bench coaches' defensive signs for a particular pitch or plays like pitch outs, and offensive for hit and run, steal, or bunt. It should be safe to assume that such bench video is out of bounds. The cat and mouse between pitcher, catcher, and baserunner is always a treat to watch with a steal threat on base, late in a close game.

Simple. Declare a loss for every game won by cheating. Take away the championships. Rings and trophy to be turned in by athletes and team. Take away live game review. There is no reason to let players study video of the foe during the game.

This reminds me of MLB's steroid problems of the nineties, (two people beat Roger Maris' record in the same season?) The rules allowed that to go on. Also, baseball fandom was down at that time if I remember correctly, so... It's a matter of making the punishment so bad that nobody wants to take a chance with cheating.

It's naive to think that cheating can ever be fully addressed in professional sports where billions of dollars are at stake. It will just get more sophisticated.

Simple, embrace technology instead of rejecting it. Provide a secure encrypted link between the catcher and batter using a device like a smart watch. NFL quarterbacks already use earpieces and secure digital communication for a similar purpose. Problem solved.

And let's not lose sight of the unfolding scandal of turning MLB into the NHL and NBA with its new playoff plan, in which the regular season becomes meaningless because nearly 50 percent of all teams will make the playoffs. "Wild card" actually means "not good enough to win your division." Having any such teams in the playoffs is bad enough; adding more destroys the integrity of the game as much as the Astros' cheating does.

I love baseball, but the pitchers have too much of an advantage. I vote for moving the mound back another six feet. This might make sign stealing inconsequential because the pitchers would probably throw a lot more fastballs.

It is clear that the Astros higher ups knew what the lower downs were doing, just like at Wells Fargo creating fake accounts. The higher ups are the ones have the power set the tone of the environment and enforce the rules. If there is a problem, then it is the heads of the higher ups that need to roll. Also, clearly this was cheating and everyone knew it. It is NOT a case of we didn't know we were breaking the rules.

Time to give up the instant replay; that live camera in real time turned out to be too much of a temptation, for a pennant-hungry team like the Astros to ignore. How badly will the game suffer if the umpires go back to being the absolute arbiters--imperfect as they may well be?