It’s been a doozy of an off-season for Major League Baseball. Back in November, Athletic reporters Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich broke a major story about a cheating scandal: “The Astros stole signs electronically in 2017 — part of a much broader issue for Major League Baseball,” which reported that the Houston Astros stole signs electronically, using a video-camera mounted in center-field at their home park, to pick up the opposing catcher’s signs and to relay them to the Astros dugout. From there, the pitch was relayed to the batter by someone in the dugout by banging on a trash can. One bang indicated a certain pitch. Two bangs indicated a different pitch. And so on.
Jomboy did not break the news, but he did the important work of making it all visually digestible for all of us. As explained here, this can be seen (and heard!) in the annotated videos posted by Jomboy. His videos made the rounds throughout the baseball world, including into the MLB Commissioner’s Office.
Earlier this week, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred concluded the MLB Investigation with a Report that confirmed the Astros had cheated. It suspended Astros General Manager Jeffrey Luhnow and Manager AJ Hinch, who were both immediately fired by Owner Jim Crane.
While a similar investigation into the Boston Red Sox is not yet concluded, current Red Sox Manager Alex Cora, who was an Astros Coach in 2017 was named in the report as the mastermind and ring-leader, along with then-player and new Mets Manager, Carlos Beltran. The Red Sox and Mets and Cora and Beltran all “mutually agreed to part ways” before the week was out.
Although the scheme was described in the Manfred Report as player-led, no players were punished. And the Astros were not stripped of their World Series title.
These seismic events rocked the baseball world and led to much discussion in the media and among fans about whether the punishment got it right, the scope of the cheating problem, and whether there is more that remains to be investigated.
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Here is Jomboy, appearing on The Michael Kay Show on The YES Network to discuss the fallout:
.@Jomboy_ discussing the latest #mlb news.#TMKSonYES pic.twitter.com/pPkji5FjKE
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) January 16, 2020
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Photo Credit: YouTube/Jomboy Media (screen cap)