When did society deem it acceptable to achieve a goal by doing something unethical, illegal, or morally reprehensible?
It seems that this is the state of society in which we live.
Recent ugly news concerned the Houston Astros major league baseball team, which won the World Series in 2017. It turns out that the team did so with the aid of electronic-aided sign stealing, which is illegal.
In the case of most sports, a champion is typically stripped of his title when cheating has been uncovered. Not so with MLB: a couple of management employees were fired, a very modest fine was levied, and some future draft picks were lost. That’s it…the Houston Astros remain the 2017 World Series champs.
One wonders how many of the other 29 major league teams would gladly suffer these minor penalties in order to claim the World Series title? Probably every one of them, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were cheated out of a title by the Houston “Asterisks”.
As one sarcastic ballplayer said, “Evidently, if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’!”
Back when I was younger, we were taught that “The ends justify the means” was something only the Nazis and Communists would stoop to.
Both Stalin and Hitler were goal-driven, like the Houston Astros, which apparently obviates basic moral considerations like right or wrong.
Rob Manfred, the MLB Commissioner, has tried to put a lid on the Astros’ scandal as best he can. The ball club owners are mortified, of course, and have, evidently, given Manfred orders to put this thing to bed ASAP. They’ve even agreed amongst themselves not to make any public comments, lest the “game” be any further tarnished.
Very obviously the MLB players union is the elephant in the room. Not one single player was punished for the cheating that went on, despite the fact that each Astros hitter was receiving tip-offs on upcoming pitches via some guy in the dugout banging out Morse code on a trash can. Astros’ players benefitted from this cheating, and opposing pitchers were victimized. Some pitchers in major league baseball lost their jobs or reputations when they didn’t fare well against Astro hitters, particularly in important playoff games and the World Series.
Commissioner Manfred and his owner bosses don’t want to take on the Players’ Union; they have enough problems right now.
One of the biggest problems is Commissioner Manfred’s mouth. In responding to player outrage about a team winning the World Series while cheating (which the Astros, the owners, and the Commissioner have acknowledged), Manfred minimized the problem by stating that players are whining about “a piece of metal” (i.e. the Commissioner’s Trophy awarded to the winner of the World Series).
The guy doesn’t have a clue. Professional athletes don’t compete for trophies…they have plenty of those on the mantel at home. They compete at the highest level in order to be recognized as a World Champion…which is what a World Series title is all about. Being the best you can be, etc.
In any sport, cheating disqualifies an athlete or a team from winning a championship.
Evidently, cheating doesn’t carry that type of penalty in Major League Baseball.
Go figure.
What kind of lesson do our young Little Leaguers learn from this very public drama? What are ticket-purchasing MLB fans to make of this; is our team cheating hard enough to win?
More importantly, how are Astros’ opponents going to handle this debacle during the upcoming season, when there are going to be a lot of pissed-off players who were victimized by Houston’s sign stealing scam over the past few years? There could be a rash of “bean balls” thrown at Astro players, guys sliding into bases with sharpened spikes, and Houston catchers getting bowled over by overly aggressive base runners. Expect some brawls. It could get ugly.
It seems to me that the only way that the owners and their Commissioner can salvage the reputation of Major League Baseball is to declare that the Astros’ 2017 World Series title is voided.
Like the Black Sox scandal in 1919, the Houston Astros cheating scandal should go down in MLB infamy…to make a strong point that cheating doesn’t pay.
To do any less would be another injustice to the game.