https://www.yahoo.com/sports/astros-accused-of-hightech-signstealing-scheme-during-2017-championship-season-194631500.htmlExcerpts:Mike Fiers, who pitched with the Astros 2015 to 2017, was among four people with the Astros at the time who described to The Athletic’s
Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich a system in which at least two Astros — a hitter on the team and a coach — set up a camera in the outfield that was focused on opposing catchers. Astros players would watch the other team’s signs on a video monitor near their dugout and then clank on a garbage can to signal what pitch was coming.
...Electronic sign-stealing is something that is an issue all around Major League Baseball, almost certainly more than the common fan knows. In 2017, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees were both fined by MLB after a story broke in which the Red Sox were using an Apple Watch in the dugout to relay signs from their video-replay team. The Red Sox’s defense was that the Yankees were doing it too, and after an MLB investigation, both teams were fined.
In this case, the Astros announced Tuesday afternoon that they had begun an investigation alongside MLB... MLB took new measures prior to the 2019 season to make their sign-stealing rules more current with the times.
Players can still try to figure out signs from second base, but the league outlawed outfield cameras, put all broadcasts in the clubhouse and bullpens on an eight-second delay and limited live broadcasts to each team’s replay official.The most surprising part about this may be Fiers’ decision to speak out publicly — particularly given a baseball culture that generally expects such things to remain unspoken and for teams to carry out their own justice. Fiers admits he had already told the Tigers and A’s, the teams he played for after the Astros, about Houston’s system. “
I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they’re going in there not knowing,” Fiers told The Athletic. “
Young guys getting hit around in the first couple of innings starting a game, and then they get sent down. It’s (B.S.) on that end. It’s ruining jobs for younger guys. The guys who know are more prepared. But most people don’t. That’s why I told my team. We had a lot of young guys with Detroit (in 2018) trying to make a name and establish themselves. I wanted to help them out and say, ‘Hey, this stuff really does go on. Just be prepared.’” “I told the teams I was on, I didn’t know how far the rules went with MLB, but I knew they (the Astros) were up to date, if not beyond,” said Fiers, who became a free agent on Dec. 1, 2017. “I had to let my team know so that we were prepared when we went to go play them at Minute Maid.”
We know the Astros were accused of improper surveillance another time too. In October 2018, a man credentialed by the Astros was spotted taking pictures in the dugouts of the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. He was removed by security in both cities. In a Yahoo Sports story at the time, Jeff Passan wrote that two MLB players had witnessed the Astros using a garbage can to relay signs.
This past October, the Astros were again accused of sign-stealing by an opponent,
in the ALCS against the Yankees.
https://sports.yahoo.com/yankees-think-astros-stealing-signs-212059800.htmlAccording to three sources, a Yankees coach noticed a whistling sound in the opposing dugout on certain pitches on Saturday night in Houston. The Yankees started yelling across the field, and people in the dugouts argued back and forth. “The whole dugout was pissed,” said one source. “Everyone was chirping.”
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