The most efficient and longest-running sign-stealing operation in baseball history was masterminded by George Kell. A future Hall of Famer helps Chicago use their electronic scoreboard to steal signs Remember the 1950s? Those were supposed to be the innocent days of America, when young men who played sports were good, upstanding Americans with pomade-slicked hair, clean faces, and honest intentions. The most infamous happened more than sixty years in the 1950s. This isn’t even the most fascinating case of sign-stealing using electronic means. Stealing signs is the jaywalking of sports crimes.
For once we’re not talking about athletes shoving syringes in their butts or people paying bribes to sign foreign talent, or “boosters” giving jobs (and sacks of cash) to teenage recruits to play basketball at their alma mater. It’s one of the first fun scandals we’ve had in sports in decades. There will be a large segment of sports fans who won’t think any punishment is harsh enough, and another group will build conspiracy theories that are sure to populate hours of video time on YouTube. The rules are not well-written, and I suspect the Astros will escape a terrible punishment because the rules afford them enough wriggle room to claim “We didn’t know!” But hard and fast rules are coming, no doubt.īut regardless of what happens to the Astros, TrashCanGate will take its place next to SpyGate and DeflateGate as one of the most controversial scandals in modern sports history. Sign stealing by use of electronic devices is prohibited by MLB. Oh lord help us if Major League Baseball starts emulating the NCAA. They either want it handed to the NL champion Dodgers, or vacated.
#Stealing signals series#
There are folks who want the 2017 World Series title taken from the Astros. Winners of two of the last three American League pennants, the plucky Astros are taking a hit in the respect column, and the righteous indignation gang is hot on their heels.
#Stealing signals tv#
In light of an alleged sign-stealing operation that included a center field camera, a TV monitor, and of all things, a trash can, the Houston Astros are in the cross hairs. Boy, do we have a lot of that right now in baseball.
By this time, the White Sox were using lights on the large center field scoreboard to signal pitches to their batters.įew things are as entertaining as righteous indignation. Ted Williams prepares to bat at Comiskey Park in 1959.
0 kommentar(er)
