Houston Astros sign stealing scandal

The 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros visiting the White House. The legitimacy of their victory came under question following the scandal.

For years, some people on other teams had suspected the Astros of stealing signs. However, there was no public reporting of the Astros’ sign stealing until a bombshell report in November 2019, when reporters Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich at The Athletic published an article detailing the team’s activities.

Mike Fiers, a pitcher who played for the Astros in 2017, told The Athletic that the organization used a video camera in the center field seats to observe the opposing catcher as he instructed the pitcher about the next pitch. Astros players or team staffers watching the live camera feed behind the dugout used various audio cues, such as banging on a trash can, to tell the batter what type of pitch was coming next.

An MLB investigation confirmed in January 2020 that the Astros illegally used a camera system to steal signs during the 2017 regular season and postseason, during which they won the World Series, as well as in part of the 2018 season, in which they lost the American League Championship Series to the Boston Red Sox. MLB found no evidence of illicit sign stealing in the 2019 season, in which the Astros advanced to the World Series, but lost in seven games to the Washington Nationals.

The sanctions against the Astros were the most severe that MLB has ever issued against a member club^[2] and are among the most severe sanctions for in-game misconduct in baseball history.^[3] MLB levied the maximum $5 million fine on the Astros and stripped them of their first- and second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts.

The league suspended Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A. J. Hinch for the 2020 season for failing to prevent the rule violations; the Astros fired both men on the day their punishment was announced.^[4] MLB’s investigation also determined that Red Sox manager Alex Cora helped mastermind the Astros’ sign-stealing while serving as Hinch’s bench coach in 2017.

MLB suspended Cora through the 2020 postseason; he left the team but was rehired after his suspension ended. Carlos Beltrán was the only Astros player from 2017 named in the report; he had been hired to manage the New York Mets in November 2019 but parted ways with the team after the results of MLB’s investigation were announced. No players were punished; MLB had granted them immunity in exchange for their cooperation. The Astros retained their 2017 World Series championship title.^[5]

A Wall Street Journal article published a few weeks after the MLB report revealed new details about the sign-stealing operation, including that it originated during the 2016 season. After the scandal broke, players on the 2017 Astros apologized to varying degrees. The team’s actions were heavily criticized by players on other MLB teams. The scandal dominated the 2019–2020 offseason and the start of 2020 spring training.^[6] The scandal also led to lawsuits against the Astros and