October's Shame: Baseball Cheating Echoes Broader Corruption
The very first baseball game I saw I was seven year old and we were living in Bloomington Indiana and took a vacation to Cincinnati to see the Big Red Machine play the Atlanta Braves. Hank Aaron and Pete Rose were each superstars on these respective teams.
Pete Rose, baseball's all-time hit leader, remains excluded from the Hall of Fame due to his lifetime ban for gambling on games as a manager. However, his missteps may not even register as egregious in the grand scheme of things, given the myriad of problems we see with celebrities today.
Baseball has been marred by several major cheating scandals throughout its history. The 1919 Black Sox scandal saw eight Chicago White Sox players accused of intentionally losing the World Series for gambling payoffs. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the steroid era tainted the game, with stars like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens facing allegations of performance-enhancing drug use, casting doubt on their record-breaking achievements.
The 2017 to 2018 Houston Astros
The Houston Astros implemented an elaborate sign-stealing scheme during the 2017 and 2018 MLB seasons. Here are the key details of how they cheated:
The Setup
The Astros used a camera positioned in center field at their home stadium, Minute Maid Park, to steal the opposing team's signs.
This camera was focused on the catcher, allowing them to see the hand signals used to call pitches.
How They Cheated
The camera feed was streamed in real-time to a monitor located just outside the Astros' dugout.
Team personnel, including players and coaches, would watch the feed to decode the catcher's signs.
Once they determined what pitch was coming, they would relay this information to the batter at the plate.
The Signaling System
The Astros used various methods to alert their batters about upcoming pitches:
Banging on a trash can with a bat or massage gun
Whistling
Clapping
Shouting
The most notorious method was the trash can banging. Typically, one or two bangs indicated an off-speed pitch, while no bangs signaled a fastball.
How Long did this Nonsense go on?
This sign-stealing scheme was used throughout the 2017 season, including during their World Series championship run, and continued into the 2018 regular season.
The Astros gained a significant advantage, as knowing the type of pitch in advance made it much easier for batters to hit effectively.
Aftermath
When the scandal was exposed in 2019, it led to severe penalties for the Astros organization, including fines, loss of draft picks, and suspensions for key personnel
However, the players involved were granted immunity in exchange for their testimony, and the team's 2017 World Series title was not vacated.
Stealing Signs, Votes, Dollars: Fall Classic Corruption
In the bustling city of Houston, where the crack of a bat once echoed with pride, a different kind of game was being played. The Astros, once beloved heroes of the diamond, had become the architects of a grand deception. Their elaborate sign-stealing scheme, involving hidden cameras and trash can symphonies, was about to collide with an even grander stage of deceit.
As the Astros perfected their art of cheating, across town, a group of bankers huddled in a plush boardroom. They too were playing a dangerous game, gambling with depositors' money on high-risk investments. Their eyes gleamed with the same hunger for victory that burned in the Astros' dugout.
"Gentlemen," the lead banker announced, "we've hit a home run with these subprime mortgages. The returns are off the charts!"
Little did they know, their financial chicanery was as fragile as the Astros' scheme. When the market inevitably crashed, they found themselves not in the penalty box, but in the warm embrace of a government bailout. Unlike the Astros, who faced fines and suspensions, these bankers walked away with golden parachutes, their pockets lined with taxpayer money.
Meanwhile, in the hallowed halls of Congress, politicians from both sides of the aisle were playing their own version of sign-stealing. Armed with classified briefings, they traded stocks with the precision of a well-timed fastball."
Did you hear about the new defense contract?" whispered a GOP senator to his Democratic colleague. "Might want to load up on Lockheed Martin before the announcement."
This insider trading, if done by ordinary citizens, would land them in jail faster than a 100 mph pitch. But for these political players, it was just another day at the ballpark.
As the story of the Astros' cheating broke, sending shockwaves through the sports world, these politicians and bankers watched with amusement. They knew their own games of deception were far more intricate and far-reaching.
In a dimly lit bar, a group of market manipulators raised their glasses. "To the Astros," one toasted sarcastically, "amateurs in the art of cheating."
They laughed, knowing their own schemes made the Astros look like Little Leaguers. These financial wizards could move markets with a whisper, manipulate commodities with a phone call, and launder money through wars with the ease of a well-executed double play.
Back at the stadium, as the Astros faced the music for their transgressions, a young fan turned to his father. "Dad, why are they being punished when the bankers and politicians get away with so much worse?"
The father sighed, realizing the complexity of the world his son was growing into. "Son, in baseball, there are rules and consequences. In the real world, sometimes the biggest cheaters write the rulebook."
As the sun set on Houston, casting long shadows across the baseball diamond, the true game continued in the shadows of boardrooms, congressional offices, and offshore accounts. The Astros' sign-stealing scheme, once thought to be the pinnacle of sports cheating, was but a minor league play in a world where the stakes were infinitely higher and the consequences far more dire.
The trash can bangs that once signaled upcoming pitches now seemed quaint compared to the silent signals exchanged in the corridors of power. While the Astros faced their reckoning, the real heavy hitters of deception continued their game, unchecked and unabated.
In this grand stadium of life, where the lines between fair and foul were increasingly blurred, one thing became clear: the game was rigged, and the biggest cheaters were the ones holding all the cards. As Houston slept, dreaming of baseball glory restored, the true masters of deception played on, their schemes as endless as extra innings in a game with no umpires and no rules.
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Let’s Call out the Cheaters for who and what they are
The analogy between cheating in sports and manipulating the financial system through inflation and market rigging is apropos.
In both cases, there's an unfair advantage gained by breaking established rules. Inflating the money supply is like using performance-enhancing drugs in sports - it artificially boosts economic performance but undermines long-term integrity.
Market rigging resembles match-fixing, where outcomes are predetermined to benefit certain parties. Both practices erode trust, create an uneven playing field, and ultimately harm the system's credibility. Just as doping scandals tarnish sports records, financial manipulation distorts true economic value and wealth distribution. The "winners" in both scenarios achieve their gains through deception rather than merit, leaving honest participants at a disadvantage
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