At some point or another in our lives, we will be immersed in the culture of a team that we play on or a business that we work for…
Undoubtedly, the culture is created by the attitude and actions of the people within the organization, and ultimately, their collective demeanor and doings are what will constitute the overall evaluation of who the company is and what they represent.
Of course, it is imperative to have a viable leader that reflects the ethics and values the team wishes to instill from top to bottom…
Without that leadership through action from the top representatives, it is very likely there will be a massive disconnect and a bunch of lone rangers going 15 different directions, many of which have the potential to lead the squad down a snake hole they should have never even considered.
Welcome to the Houston Astros the past few years…
It’s been well documented in the Daily Hustle that their former manager, AJ Hinch, and I have a long-standing relationship and I have gone on record commending AJ for his leadership skills…
So what happened?
The leader got caught in the culture.
In 2017, Carlos Beltran arrived in Houston and pointed out the glaring reality that they were way behind in the sign-stealing game…
Regardless of how you feel on the subject, stealing signs has been going on since the creation of baseball and many would argue that it is just part of the game…
Beltran was notorious for picking up pitches either from visually reading a pitchers tendencies or decoding catchers’ signals from 2nd base. It has been said that he was instrumental in teaching many of the Astros young players what to look for and the best way to relay that information… All of which most people involved in the game would have told you are “fair play.”
After that, I can’t really tell you what happened because I don’t know all the details, but apparently it involved a live video monitor near the dugout and banging trash cans to indicate what pitch was coming…
It’s very easy to see how this so easily progressed…
Even with somebody who has been described as a quality leader at the helm and even with players and coaches who by all accounts are genuine good dudes, boundaries were crossed, and it is incredibly unfortunate for the Houston Astros organization and the game of baseball in general.
Once they were picking up pitches and relaying signs, they realized they had the ability to take it a step further when they had access to the live monitor positioned right next to the dugout… Now, it was just a matter of relaying what pitch was called to the batter which can be done 10,000 different ways… Apparently, the trash can banging was their preferred method of high tech communication.
The wrongful, over the top and relatively elementary methods were easy to rationalize… Just like nearly all other teams, the Astros were already stealing signs part of the time, now they had the ability to do it almost all of the time…
Unfortunately, they couldn’t resist temptation and took advantage of the opportunity that has now ruined the image of the team, players and their World Series championship.
I get how and why they were able to justify their actions… Ballplayers & coaches have been doing similar shit for 150 plus years so fuck it… Right?
WRONG.
This is the problem with sign-stealing… It’s cheating and it ALWAYS has been. Just like the steroid era, once that cheating can of shit worms is officially open and mass amounts of players indulge, the line of morality and sportsmanship isn’t just blurred, it’s fucking GONE and so is the culture…
We now have otherwise good human beings who got caught up in a dangerous & unethical culture that has ruined the perceived validity of everything great that they have been able to accomplish in their professional careers.
Maybe AJ should have done more to stop it, maybe Carlos should have kept the hidden strategies to himself, and maybe coaches or any of the players should have been the logical voice to intervene and put an end to it before this mess got completely out of hand…
Well, I’m guessing AJ didn’t want to be Ebeneezer Scrooge and lose the clubhouse. Carlos most likely felt he was being a great leader by sharing experience and knowledge and everybody else probably got wrapped up in the win at all cost mentality prominent around not just baseball, but all of the professional sports…
So with GM Jeff Lunow and manager AJ Hinch already fired and immunity already granted to the Astros players, the golden question is how does baseball prevent sign stealing moving forward in this WILD technological age that we live in???
First and foremost, during games MLB must remove access to ALL technology for players and coaches… There is plenty of time for scouting to be done prior to first pitch, and as a matter of fact, it would be incredibly refreshing and therapeutic for everybody (especially the Gen Y & Millennial players) to spend a few hours away from devices anyway…
Secondly and possibly most importantly, the punishment needs to be far greater than the reward… If the Commissioner implemented a year suspension without pay for a first violation and a lifetime ban for a second, I’m pretty sure dudes might consider playing naked to prove their innocence…
The player outrage is interesting and something I’ve never seen before… Even though the steroid era, players have never verbally and viciously attacked other players. That said, enough prominent players have spoken and now it’s up to the players union and MLB to take action, NOW.
For years, well deserving players lost jobs and a shit ton of money because of a massive PED culture facilitated by everybody involved in the game… The truth was eventually revealed when non-PED users finally stood up for themselves and literally asked and negotiated a joint drug prevention program… Well, I feel like the players have stood up again and now it’s up to the union and MLB to put proper policy measures and punishments in place that make sure those within the game never again get CAUGHT IN THE CULTURE…
-EB