Joe Kelly, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, has never been one to hold back his words. And when it comes to the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, his voice rang out once again in the MLB world.
In an interview with The BSBLR Show, Kelly opened the box of memories and confessed what many suspected: that the episode did not take the MLB players by surprise. According to him, the signs were there, invisible to the public, but all too obvious to those who lived the game from the inside.
What was the sign-stealing scandal?
To understand this scandal, one must first understand what sign stealing in baseball is used for, and it is as essential as the strategy itself in the team. Having a good set of signals to communicate with each other without alerting the opponents is fundamental in baseball, as they are used for almost all actions, both on the defensive and offensive side.
The most important signs are those used by the catcher and pitcher to define the plan against the opposing team’s batter and although it is not forbidden to decipher the opponent’s signal, which is considered a fair maneuver and an art of baseball, what happened with the Astros is another level.
What did the Houston Astros do in the 2017 season?
According to an investigation by the commissioner’s office, the Astros created and used cameras and other electronic devices to decode their rivals’ signals and transmit them to their hitters during games. According to a report by commissioner Rob Manfred, the cheating occurred in 2017, when the Astros won their first World Series.
The consequences for the Astros for their actions were exemplary:
- Fine of 5 million dollars.
- Banned from participating in the first two rounds of the next two collegiate drafts of those years.
- One-season suspension for general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch.
Joe Kelly’s words almost 10 years after Houston Astros scandal
In a recent interview for the The BSBLR Show podcast, Joe Kelly lashed out about what was not a surprise to MLB players but was to the media, who “apparently” never heard about this cheating.
There is no way that these average players were hitting my pitches like it was nothing. There is no way that Jake Marisnick could hit my damn slider. You guys in the media didn’t know
The Los Angeles Dodgers were the main victim of the Houston Astros as they were the ones who lost the 2017 final in what is to this day remembered as one of the most famous and well-known cheating scandals in the history of baseball.
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