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MLB cheating scandal


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11 hours ago, mqr said:

How is an umpire supposed to differentiate that banging from any other dipshit banging something in the stands

If the pitcher and the catcher can recognize what's going on and certainly the batter in the batters box who its being communicated to, then I'm sure after a while the ump can distinguish it fromthe dugout vs. the stands. And certainly I would think the 3rd base or 1sr base ump would be able to tell depending on which dugout that its coming from. Listen, the umps don't need to know the specifics of the thumps. Just that they should be able to recognize that They're signaling something. Could be cheating. That's all I'm trying to say.

Edited by smellysox
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15 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

No one knows what Keuchel did or didn’t do outside of not snitching out his teammates.  I’m not going to hold that against him given the ramifications it could of had against him.

I wouldn't say no one knows, there was just a massive investigation asking all the astros about it. That report seemed to take every effort to attempt to minimize the instigators of it. Had there been a story of players pushing to end it I'm sure it would have made it in, as Hinch's breaking the monitor did. If Hinch had heard from players to end it and did not, it would absolutely have ended up in there. The odds that he did something and it didn't come out are slim, but all the more reason to ask about his experience.

The report also takes pains to detail that the players knew it was wrong. Did Keuchel think it was wrong? Worth asking. 

 

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Pretty impressive that Farquhar was the guy to figure this out.  The more I read about Farquhar -- his work with pitchers while he was playing, his recovery from the terrifying brain issue -- the more impressed I am.  He strikes me as a really smart, thoughtful, and interesting guy, and I'm glad he's in our organization.

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3 hours ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

Pretty impressive that Farquhar was the guy to figure this out.  The more I read about Farquhar -- his work with pitchers while he was playing, his recovery from the terrifying brain issue -- the more impressed I am.  He strikes me as a really smart, thoughtful, and interesting guy, and I'm glad he's in our organization.

Just going through the report more - apparently after Danny caught on, the Astros are described as "panicking" and actually removed the monitor before the end of the game so that even if they were caught they didn't leave behind the hard evidence and switched to another, more portable monitor afterwards.

Keuchel started that game. Apparently I was also in the crowd down the RF line.

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8 minutes ago, Lillian said:

Being a pitcher, do you think that Keuchel will be immune to any culpability in this ongoing story?

In terms of direct effects on the White Sox, given allegations by Bauer and others, I think it is entirely plausible that his numbers in Houston were improved by doctoring the ball and stopping that could have a performance impact. But no suspension or fine, they gave virtually the whole astros roster immunity so that they would testify, something like 20 did so Keuchel probably was one of them.

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10 hours ago, ron883 said:

That would never work. It would impact the entire season far too much. 

The most famous example involves the Chicago White Sox in the 1960s. The following story is related by Jerome Holtzman and George Vass in Baseball, Chicago Style (Bonus Books, 2001):

It began ... in 1965 when the Sox were in Detroit for a four-game series. Tommy John was pitching for the Sox and noticed the baseballs had been tampered with.

"All the balls I got that day were like cue balls, hard and slick," John recalled. "And the seams were so low, almost nonexistent. When you're a sinkerballer you can't sink the ball without seams."

John relayed the information to manager Al Lopez who told him to bring a ball into the dugout after every inning. According to John's recollections, Lopez said, "That's okay. We'll get them when we get back to Comiskey Park."

Lopez summoned Gene Bossard, a second-generation groundskeeper who knew all the tricks. Bossard understood what had to be done and began storing boxes of balls in a small, windowless brick-walled room. He installed a humidifier. In two weeks the balls were soaking wet, moist from the humidity.

... In the four-game series at Detroit, the Tigers had hit 13 home runs ... In the ensuing four-game series at Comiskey Park from July 30 through August 2, the Tigers were swinging at the doctored balls. Suddenly, they were shorn of their power. Their longest hit in the entire series was a double.

Edited by pcq
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1 hour ago, pcq said:

The most famous example involves the Chicago White Sox in the 1960s. The following story is related by Jerome Holtzman and George Vass in Baseball, Chicago Style (Bonus Books, 2001):

It began ... in 1965 when the Sox were in Detroit for a four-game series. Tommy John was pitching for the Sox and noticed the baseballs had been tampered with.

"All the balls I got that day were like cue balls, hard and slick," John recalled. "And the seams were so low, almost nonexistent. When you're a sinkerballer you can't sink the ball without seams."

John relayed the information to manager Al Lopez who told him to bring a ball into the dugout after every inning. According to John's recollections, Lopez said, "That's okay. We'll get them when we get back to Comiskey Park."

Lopez summoned Gene Bossard, a second-generation groundskeeper who knew all the tricks. Bossard understood what had to be done and began storing boxes of balls in a small, windowless brick-walled room. He installed a humidifier. In two weeks the balls were soaking wet, moist from the humidity.

... In the four-game series at Detroit, the Tigers had hit 13 home runs ... In the ensuing four-game series at Comiskey Park from July 30 through August 2, the Tigers were swinging at the doctored balls. Suddenly, they were shorn of their power. Their longest hit in the entire series was a double.

That's fantastic.

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MLB just has to do a better job of policing itself or one day the sport will truly suffer.

Gambling had been a big problem with Baseball before 1919 but the powers-that-be looked the other way. Then came 1919 and the sport was lucky to survive.

MLB knew about Rose and his gambling long before the Dowd Report. And we fans probably know only a fraction about what happened with Rose. And now the player with the most hits in history isn't even connected with the sport.

All together Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa hit nearly 2,000 home runs, yet none are in the Hall of Fame yet.

Fans want this minimum: They want an honest game, Yes, they realize many players are far from being role models. But if the game will not survive if fans believe games are being fixed one way or another.

 

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Some will feel that Cora and Hinch are the scapegoats for actions committed by the players, who escaped any punishment. That's an argument, I suppose. But history tells us players are incapable of policing themselves, as in the steroids era when few players spoke out against what was happening (former Texas Rangers pitcher Rick Helling was a notable exception). Indeed, if Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Fiers, a member of the 2017 Astros, hadn't broken the player code of silence, we might not be where we are today.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28486412/two-managers-gone-two-days-losing-alex-cora-aj-hinch-means-baseball

So we have two examples of players who came forward, and Fiers waited until he was off the team and left off the post-season roster as well...

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/column-astros-punishment-dodgers-pay-price-063003118--mlb.html

Edited by caulfield12
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12 hours ago, pcq said:

Legal gambling is on the rise and cheating will not be tolerated.

Unfortunately, I have the feeling there is a lot of cheating going on, and the Astros are just a part of it. As I posted, MLB has to do a better job of policing itself. As fans, we have to decide just how much cheating we will tolerate, and how many scandals have to occur. Boycotting some games is one good solution.

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