The Houston Astros Have Confirmed (Again) That Major League Baseball Lacks Integrity

Is cheating as American as apple pie?

An age old adage offers up a pleasing platitude that baseball is as American as apple pie. But an apple pie has rarely left a bad taste in my mouth. And it has been a long time since baseball has left a good one.

I have been a baseball fan for a long time. My first team was the Oakland A’s and my favorite player was big Bill North. But like any kid my allegiances could be fleeting and I soon began to divide them between the Montreal Expos in the National League and little Freddie Patek and his Kansas City Royals of the American. Before finally settling for good on the Blue Jays of Toronto as my favorite. I was such a fan that I had my first Blue Jay’s cap before the Jays ever played their first game or even threw out their first pitch. And how I suffered. Let me tell you, I wore that cap everywhere, every day, and people soon began making fun of me. Without mercy. Everywhere. Every day. About how horrible the Jays were and how I should root for a real team. About how the Maple Leafs and the Blue Jays had something in common — neither could play baseball. But I always stuck with my Jays. Unwaveringly. Even after I quickly wore that cap out the digs continued. But I was rewarded for my loyalty. The early eighties brought me a team that was suddenly fun to root for. They may not yet have been championship material — yet — but they were capable of winning any game. 1983 was that sweet first taste of true potential and by 1985 they were a talented team to be truly reckoned with. It should have been 1984 but a thirty-five and five start by the Detroit Tigers killed the dreams of that truly talented team in the undiluted playoff pre wild card era when you had to win your division if you had any World Series aspirations. I enjoyed watching a team struggle and strive slowly towards success like a parent watches a child first learning to walk. So I stayed loyal to them. And so too to baseball. For decades But that unquestioningly loyalty has finally been replaced by unanswered questions. Yes, my blind loyalty is gone. And it is not the shameful acts of a team of Astros of Houston that are to blame. Nope. It is those people who made it okay for the Astros team to get away with cheating that are the true perpetrators of this senseless death.

Pete Rose never cheated. Or gave less than one hundred percent to the game of baseball. On the field or off. Yet he was given a lifetime ban from the nation’s pastime. Why? Ultimately it was because he was associated with gambling. And any association with gambling makes the game look bad. So he was punished. So too the Pale Hose of the Black Sox scandal received a lifetime sentence of banishment for their association with gambling. Even after a court of law pronounced them innocent. But in this instance not only were those who admitted to cheating on the field, not playing up to their capabilities, banned, so too were those players who knew about those cheats though did not cheat themselves. Buck Weaver and Joe Jackson, two who knew and did nothing with that knowledge, they too were banned. For a lifetime. Now, over one hundred years later in 2020, we learned that an entire team, the Houston Astros, cheated or had knowledge of cheating. And their punishment? How were the players punished? With a World Series win. With World Series prize monies. With expensive World Series rings. Some received new higher dollar value contracts. That’s right. No player was punished. No player will even miss a game. In fact one cheating Astro player was given an award for being the Most Valuable Player to a team full of cheats. Wow, that must have been a hard pick. And all of the cheating Astros are still eligible for election to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

But then that’s not surprising as Cooperstown has a Hall of Shame full of baseball cheats. Just ask such supposed luminaries Ban Johnson, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Kenesaw Landis. The appearance of each bears silent testament to that fact. Only the truest fans are aware that the Black Sox of 1919 was not baseball’s first gambling scandal. Or even the first gambling and game fixing scandal of 1919. Nope. That honour belongs to the irascible Indians of Cleveland and the testy Tigers of Detroit. It’s true. About a week or so before the 1919 World Series, September 25th to be exact, the Indians and the Tigers were in the midst of a regular season series. The soon to be christened Black Sox had already clinched the division and the Indians had second sewed up while the Tigers and Yankees were fighting it out for third. For whatever reason the Indians did not like the Yankees so Tris Speaker player-manager of the Indians quietly approached Ty Cobb of the Tigers and, along with Dutch Leonard of the Tigers and Joe Wood of the Indians, the four successfully conspired to throw the game of 25 September the Tigers way. And the Tigers did win. But there’s more. As the quartet conspired they also thought hey, why not make a few bucks on the game’s outcome as well. That’s right! They decided to gamble on the game’s outcome. A sure thing since they had a pretty good idea of the game’s outcome in advance. Some bets were placed and some money was made by some of the four but it gets kind of murky here about who bet how much and who received what. Regardless they conspired to throw a game, they threw a game and they gambled on baseball. All sins in the heaven that is baseball. Because the then Commissioner of Baseball one Kenesaw Landis had already confirmed:

…no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball again.

Now it wasn’t until 1926 that the scandal made a valiant gasp for air. Dutch Leonard had letters written by Ty Cobb confirming some details of the scheme. And Dutch Leonard threatened to go public with the crime unless he was given $20,000. The president of the Detroit Tigers Frank Lavin and the president of the American League Ban Johnson quickly ponied up the dough. They wanted to make sure the flame of another scandal in baseball was quickly smothered. Johnson however did decide to tell Commissioner Landis. Landis interviewed and investigated and found the accusations to be accurate. That the four had agreed to throw a baseball game. That the four had thrown a game. That some amount of gambling and profit had been made by the four as a result of this crime. And that none of the four had promptly told their club about any of these improprieties. So what did Landis do after finding them guilty? By this point only two were left in the game, Cobb and Speaker. Both were allowed to finish out their contracts and then quietly retire. Which they both did in 1928. That was it. Oh, wait a second, that wasn’t quite it. Two of the cheaters were later inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. And today Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb are seen as Hall of Fame Members whose heights modern baseball players should aspire too. And so they have. But that’s not all. Ban Johnson, the man who paid a bribe to keep the scandal covered up was also inducted into the Hall of Fame. Come to think of it so was that hypocrite Kenesaw Landis. A former judge who talked out the both sides of his mouth at the same time and then did a third thing. That clay-footed idol of a man who promised one thing but ultimately delivered another message entirely. That message? The right cheaters can prosper. And to this day this unspoken message still rings true. The right cheaters do prosper. And we know that cheaters do prosper because Landis’ much more honest peers, the aforementioned Weaver, Jackson and Rose, had the potential honour of a baseball Hall of Fame induction removed from them as well. Oh, and that’s not to say that the Houston Astro’s as a team weren’t penalized — the team owner was given a five million dollar fine. They lost a couple draft picks. Some employees were given superficial suspensions by the league. But is there a team owner in any sport who wouldn’t fork over an extra five million and a couple draft picks to secure a World Championship for their team? There probably are. Especially if that sport is baseball. But if some baseball players have no integrity you can hardly blame them. They probably learned it from some team owners. Who learned it from Baseball’s most lauded Commissioner Mr. Landis. Smirk. And the entire lot of them are laughing. All the way to the bank. And perhaps to the Baseball’s Hall of Fame even.

But can you blame a player for trying to line their pockets with whatever scraps fall their way? For many years most baseball players were grossly underpaid. In relation to the revenue owners earned from their talents. And not only were the player’s grossly underpaid neither did they have the right to take their talents to another team. They had to accept the owner’s terms or else find work outside of baseball. A courageous Curt Flood finally changed that relationship. A true Baseball Hall of Famer. And today, with the help of a few labor stoppages, baseball players are now vastly overpaid. But I don’t blame the players for that. If one of my bosses had ever come to me and said, “Hey, Alan, we’re willing to offer you a five year contract for fifteen point seven five million plus bonuses if you stay with us,” would I have accepted? I kind of think I would have. Okay, who’s kidding who here, I definitely would have. It would be like winning the lottery. Every year. Five years straight. So of course I would. And players also receive performance bonuses, perks, playoff pay, money from endorsement deals, preferred business and investment opportunities. It can literally rain money for the financially astute player. But this isn’t enough for some of these multi multi-millionaire cheats. They had to have more. And they were willing to cheat to do it. Or to look the other way and then benefit from the cheaters cheating. Whoever says that money doesn’t buy a sense of entitlement probably doesn’t want us nine to fivers knowing that they’re using their money to buy every entitlement that hits the market. Whatever the cost may be.

And when owners could no longer suitably profit from their player’s talents because the players gained the ability to demand higher wages what could the owners do? They did the illegal thing. Baseball’s owners decided to join forces. That’s right they colluded. In an effort to force spiraling player’s wages down. So they could continue to line their pockets with more money than they could ever possibly spend. Kind of like the way some of those eighteenth century American monopolies joined forces to keep market prices up. To line their pockets with even more money than they could ever possibly spend. But just like those big money monopolies the baseball owners were punished for their unfair business tactics. The monopolies were broken up and the owners/baseball were forced to pay fines. But not one of those owners was banned from the potentially great game of baseball for trying to cheat the players out of their fair share. And, no doubt, the players of professional baseball learned from that. Perhaps cheating really wasn’t a bad thing.

At least not if you could profit from it.

So the owner’s of baseball’s many teams were forced to look elsewhere to increase their revenues. Because the millions of dollars that they were already earning just wasn’t enough to slide by on. Especially when a maid in your third home (located in Vail or Palm Springs or some such place) is requesting a small raise. But what to do? Well, the first thing is, if you want to win the next hand its best to stack the deck before you deal the cards. And this is exactly what baseball’s owners did. When the sport needed a new commissioner, instead of looking outside of baseball for an independent eye, they selected a commissioner from among their own. Someone, who could politely condone any questionable actions. Nudge nudge wink wink Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Someone who might look the other way. Someone who would look the other way. Making it much easier to turn a blind eye to any pocket lining irregularities that might arise. An extremely wise choice because a commissioner who was previously an owner had a vested interest in overlooking said irregularities. Revenues. Profit. Money.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Heads were turned.

And profits were made.

The history books will sadly refer to the next major baseball scandal as the Steroid Era. The time when some players began taking performance enhancing drugs (PED’s) in order to supplement their natural or God given talents. And supplement them they did. Drug using players of average ability suddenly began turning out All-Star statistics. And players already with All-Star ability? They began churning out supernatural numbers. Numbers that will never ever be beaten. Kind of like the records some East German swimmers set in the 1970s. Records that remain unbroken to this day. And probably will remain unbroken for a time further. Because they were drug induced. Just like those personal records certain baseball players set during the Steroid Era of the 1990s. They will probably remain unbroken. Forever. Yet when the Commissioner of Baseball (who was a former owner) was quizzed about the incredible numbers certain players were producing and asked if baseball had a drug problem that commissioner calmly announced that baseball did not have a drug problem. And of course today we all know that baseball players are regularly tested for substance abuse of any kind. Which was a huge relief to fans like me. Though it does make me wonder why a sport that never had a drug problem suddenly began testing its player employees for drugs. But in that interim between the no drugs statement and the onset of drug testing baseball players benefited financially through increased salaries and owners benefited through increased revenues and of course the television rights owners also increased their revenues through an increase in viewership because of the unholy incredible increase in player statistics that made more viewers tune in to games and more viewers watch longer which meant higher ratings meaning that they could charge advertisers more. Of course advertisers were happy to pay networks more because more people viewing their commercials increased their profits by purchasing the advertised products. So they had money to spare. Even PED manufacturers benefited. Their sales increased as well no doubt. And they didn’t even have to advertise. Because everybody knew. But nobody was talking. And nobody was talking because they were all making money. Much more money. But the real price was the cost to the integrity of baseball. In a game that glorified personal statistics and individual records these numbers now mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. As long as tainted records and performance enhanced individual accomplishments are allowed to stand as the measure, that measure is as tainted as the urine of an East German swimmer who set a record they never earned. It stinks. Just not as bad as the so-called record.

The end of the all too short but extremely exciting and so profitable Steroid Era taught the owner’s that cheating was okay as long as it was in the confines of the game. So the owners decided to change the confines of the game. Professional sports have set standards for the length and width of a playing surface. Distance for this. Height for that. And so on. And of course baseball does. Right? Yeah. Sort of. I guess. Kinda. Nudge nudge wink wink Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Baseball’s team owners know exactly what that means. Know what I mean? During the recent but already infamous Steroid Era baseball’s owners learned that the teeming masses cared as much about a player’s personal statistics as they did about their favorite team piling up victories. I.e. a fan would sit through a three hour loss just to see if their favorite player hit a home run or stole a base or struck out a batter. But how on earth could an owner help a baseball player hit a home run on the field? Now that they could no longer turn a blind eye to the performance enhancing drug use that had enhanced player’s performances to unheard of levels. By reconfiguring their ballparks. Yup. That’s how. By bringing in the fences five or ten or twenty feet, and decreasing the dimensions of the playing surface, they could increase the chance of a mediocre player hitting a home run and a star player hitting even more home runs. Reducing the height of an outfield fence could have the same effect as well. Nothing brings in the fans like home runs. Or those supremely precious player bobble head dolls. But with those freakin’ stupid bobble heads the owners have to shell out a few thousand bucks every couple months. However with the fences you’re one and done. One quick one time investment in the alteration of your ballpark’s dimensions and you can profit until hell freezes over. Because home runs bring in the fans. And with the extra seating space that bringing in the fences freed up they could even squeeze in a few more fans. All in the name of the nations greatest pastime. Profits. Errr… I mean baseball. Yeah that’s what I meant. Baseball. Bassssseballlll. Besides… its not cheating if it’s the same for both teams. Though you are cheating the history of the game by trying to juice player’s statistics back to the levels seen in the good old days of that bygone era of the steroid while making a mockery of all the statistics honestly achieved by honest non drug using players.

There are other legal ways of cheating as well. Take the so called salary cap. That’s right the salary cap is a legal way an owner is permitted to help his or her team skirt certain financial rules. In theory, to ensure an even playing field when it comes to employing players, baseball has a salary cap. Each team can spend X amount of dollars and no more. And what happens of a team should ‘accidentally’ exceed the salary cap? They have to pay a monetary penalty. A tax. That’s right by purchasing and paying players more than you are allowed you have to fork over a few dollars more. But if those few dollars give you a competitive advantage on the field than what owner wouldn’t be willing to pay more? When it gives you a better chance to make the playoffs. And perhaps win the World Series. Winning the World Series not only earns you bragging rights it increases your revenues. So if exceeding the salary cap is an investment that could make you money why wouldn’t you do it? You just have to be able to afford to be able to do it. Unfortunately not all baseball teams can afford to exceed the salary cap. Some teams can’t even afford to meet the salary cap. But that’s major league baseball integrity for you. Except in this case of the entitlements going to the rich it’s the rich who are poor and the mega rich who are the real rich. If professional baseball had any integrity at all they would follow the fine example set by some soccer leagues. When a team is beset with financial irregularities they can be docked points or wins in the standings. If they are guilty of improper conduct their teams can be forced to play in empty stadiums. Or dropped down to a less competitive league. In fact soccer teams can even be banned from top competitions for rule infractions. But this has never happened in baseball. Professional major league baseball has such high integrity that cheaters are given the golden mea culpa pass and fines are always less than the cumulative profits bad behaviors generate. Well done Major League Baseball. If the inventor of baseball saw what his game had come to he would turn over in his grave to hide his embarrassment. Not you Abner Doubleday. Everyone knows you aren’t the true inventor of baseball. But you may be where baseball gets its ideas for the concept of integrity.

Which brings us to the present day. And to the city of Houston where the Astros play to their own rule book. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t Houston also the same Texas town where that paragon of business virtue Enron was once proudly headquartered. Until they got nailed for cheating the stock purchasing public. And so closed their doors. And now the Astros of Houston have cheated the baseball loving public. They used video cameras strategically placed in the outfield to steal signs from their opponents. Now, stealing signs is frowned upon in baseball. But it is considered quasi-acceptable when it is done with the naked eye, usually by a runner on second base, who then tries to quickly relay this information to the batter. However fielding teams know this and will use different pitch signals when a batter is on second. In an effort to confuse. But with a camera placed in the outfield you don’t need to have a runner on second to steal signs. And to further tip the scales in the Astros favour only the home team, THE Astros, had access to those cameras. For those who lack the familiarity, in baseball signs are non-verbal communications between a pitcher and catcher that determine the location and type of pitch to be thrown to a batter. The Astros used electronic means to steal their opponent’s signs. Then quickly relayed those signs down to the clubhouse. Where they found their way into the dugout. To a player. Who would tip their batter to the pitch by banging on a trash can lid. Knowing what pitch was coming increases a batter’s chances of making contact. Obtaining a hit. Producing runs. Winning games. Making it into the playoffs. And winning the World Series. And that is exactly what happened. The Houston Astros cheated their way to a World Series title.

Though at the time everyone thought they had won their victory on talent alone.

And when the baseball world found out that wasn’t the case. That the Houston Astros had cheated their way to a World Series title. What was their punishment? Oh, the owner was given a measly fine, a few draft picks were lost and some managers and coaches were let go and received temporary bans… but how did baseball punish those players who cheated? And let me remind you that baseball is so anally obsessed with stopping teams from gaining any unfair advantage that the Toronto Blue Jays, who play in a stadium with a retractable roof, are not allowed to open that roof to play a game without the express permission of Major League Baseball. Just to ensure that the Jays team does not try to gain some sort of home field playing advantage. That’s how concerned Major League Baseball is about maintaining the games integrity. At least on the surface. Now, knowing this, how do you think Major League Baseball punished the Astros players who out and out cheated, who did not participate in the cheating but gained an advantage from the cheats or who knew about the cheating but turned a blind eye. Did they take away the Houston Astros World Series Title? Nope. Did they take away the Astros players World Series bonuses, awards, rings or contractual bonuses? No again. Were any of the players fined at all or their pay docked. MLB didn’t do that either. So they must have banned them from the game then. Permanently. You’re not even warm. How about a year’s suspension? Or even a hundred games or something. You’re still quite cold. Major League Baseball gave each and every Houston Astro player who cheated or benefited from the cheating a complete and unadulterated pass. Not even a slap on the wrist. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Zip. This is the same league that slapped a lifetime ban on Pete Rose for always betting on the team he managed and then lying about it. They are unable to forgive this faux pas that did not in the least affect a game’s outcome. Buck Weaver denied participating in throwing baseball games in the 1919 World Series. His statistics back this up. Yet he was hit with a lifetime ban because even if he didn’t cheat he was aware that others were throwing games and did nothing about it. To this day MLB has never forgiven Buck Weaver for this. Joe Jackson too received a lifetime ban from professional baseball. He did not cheat or throw any games of the 1919 World Series. And just like Buck Weaver his stellar series statistics back up his claim. But he was fingered for his knowledge of the scheme. To this day famous Joe Jackson has also never been forgiven by Major League Baseball. Even though Joe never did a thing that adversely affected the fair outcome of any game. He did not even meet or consort with gamblers.

Yet Major League Baseball can’t forgive any player. Even one has been falsely accused and punished. Especially one who has been falsely accused and punished..

Oh, wait a second, I guess they can forgive some. The guilty. Because they sure seemed to quickly forgive Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb. And because Major League Baseball also quickly forgave the entire team of cheating Houston Astros who cheated their way to a World Series victory. A victory that may well have gone to their opponents, the Los Angeles Dodgers, or some American League team that had been cheated out of a chance to play in the World Series by the cheating Astros. Just two of the many victims of the Houston Astros Enron class swindle. No bans no fines no suspensions no nothing. The exact same punishment given to the original class of steroid cheating statistic greedy glory hogging baseball players. What a coincidence. Too bad the innocent, unfairly and unjustly punished don’t receive the same treatment. Yes, I’m talking about Pete and Buck and Joe.

If Major League Baseball can’t forgive others whom they accuse of cheating why should I forgive Major League Baseball for giving a free hall pass to those found guilty by their own admissions? Because some of those Astros have already admitted to being cheats.

Major League Baseball is a sport that has zero integrity. Major League Baseball is a sport that is deceitful, dishonest and dishonorable. If Major League Baseball was an apple it would be rotten to the core. And I don’t put rotten apples in my delicious homemade deep dish apple pies. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.