Three years ago, the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal was the biggest story in sports. Here’s a refresher on what happened, what the punishments were (and were not) and where the guiltiest parties are today.
As the Yankees head to Houston for the ALCS, let’s bang some cans, steal some signs and remember the scandal that the Astros — however transformed in the years since — cannot shake.
The lid of the trash-can story was lifted by Mike Fiers, a journeyman who pitched with Houston from 2015-17. The whistleblower came forward to The Athletic in a story published in November 2019 to reveal the organization illegally used technology to decipher and communicate opposing teams’ signs.
A Major League Baseball investigation, released in January 2020, followed and confirmed the Astros implemented a camera system to steal signs during the 2017 regular season and postseason — in which they beat the Yankees in the ALCS in seven games en route to a World Series title.
The probe found the Astros used a video camera from the center-field seats that could discern the opposing catcher’s signals. Astros players or staffers could see the video feed behind the dugout and would attempt to notify the batter of the pitch that was coming. Generally, one or two bangs on the trash can signaled a breaking ball or changeup was coming, and zero bangs equated to a fastball.
Sign-stealing has long been a part of baseball, but using electronics to get that edge — particularly after commissioner Rob Manfred warned against technology-aided sign thefts in September 2017, after the Red Sox were fined for using a smartwatch — is prohibited.
The MLB investigation determined the system was “player-driven and player-executed,” and yet no players were technically punished. The league granted immunity to the players in exchange for their cooperation in the investigation.
“[Penalizing individual players would be] difficult because virtually all of the Astros’ players had some involvement or knowledge of the scheme,” Manfred wrote in the report, “and I am not in a position based on the investigative record to determine with any degree of certainty every player who should be held accountable, or their relative degree of culpability.”
The Astros were fined $5 million and forfeited their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. General manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were suspended for the 2020 season, but each was fired anyway.
“Neither one of them started this,” Astros owner Jim Crane said, “but neither one of them did anything about it.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who had been a part of the scheme while Hinch’s bench coach in 2017, was suspended for the 2020 season. He and the Red Sox parted ways, but he was rehired after the ban ended.
Carlos Beltran was the lone player who faced a degree of discipline. Beltran, who was the only Astros player specifically named in the report as a leader of the operation, had been hired to manage the Mets in November 2019. After Manfred’s investigation was released, he was fired.
Beltran has not made it back to a dugout, and Luhnow is still out of baseball. Hinch has been managing the Tigers since 2021.