The Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal in Major League Baseball (MLB) broke in November 2019. Several members of the Houston Astros management were disciplined for failing to prevent Astros players from illegally using a video camera system to steal signs from opposing teams during games in 2017 and 2018.
Other teams had long suspected the Astros of stealing signs, but there was no public reporting of it until November 2019, when reporters Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich at The Athletic published an article detailing the team's activities. Mike Fiers, a pitcher who played for the Astros in 2017, told The Athletic that the organization used a video camera in the center field seats to observe the opposing catcher as he instructed the pitcher about the next pitch. Astros players or team staffers watching the live camera feed behind the dugout used various audio cues, such as banging on a trash can, to tell the batter what type of pitch was coming next. An MLB investigation confirmed in January 2020 that the Astros illegally used a camera system to steal signs during the 2017 regular season and postseason, during which they won the World Series, as well as in part of the 2018 season, in which they lost the American League Championship Series to the Boston Red Sox. MLB found no evidence of illicit sign stealing in the 2019 season, in which the Astros advanced to the World Series, but lost in seven games to the Washington Nationals.
The sanctions against the Astros were the most severe that MLB has ever issued against a member club, and are among the most severe sanctions for in-game misconduct in North American professional sports history. MLB levied the maximum $5 million fine on the Astros and stripped them of their first- and second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts. The league suspended Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A. J. Hinch for the 2020 season for failing to prevent the rule violations; the Astros only fired the two after their punishment was announced by MLB. MLB's investigation also determined that Red Sox manager Alex Cora helped mastermind the Astros' sign-stealing while serving as Hinch's bench coach in 2017. MLB suspended Cora through the 2020 postseason; he left the team but was rehired after his suspension ended. Carlos Beltrán was the only Astros player from 2017 named in the report; he had been hired to manage the New York Mets in November 2019 but parted ways with the team after the results of MLB's investigation were announced. No players were punished; MLB had granted them immunity in exchange for their cooperation. The Astros retained their 2017 World Series championship title.
A Wall Street Journal article published a few weeks after the MLB report revealed new details about the sign-stealing operation, including that it originated during the 2016 season. After the scandal broke, players on the 2017 Astros apologized to varying degrees. The team's actions were heavily criticized by players on other MLB teams. The scandal dominated the 2019–2020 offseason and the start of 2020 spring training. The scandal also led to lawsuits against the Astros and MLB.
Background
Sign stealing is not inherently against baseball rules and has long been considered part of the game, as it is considered an observational loophole. In 2017, The New York Times wrote that sign stealing was "something of an art form in baseball" which "is tolerated, even admired". Many players and coaches are considered masters at stealing signs.
However, Major League Baseball (MLB) has long frowned upon the use of technology to steal signs. In 1961, the National League (NL) banned the use of a "mechanical device" to steal signs. While MLB did not, at the time, specifically ban electronic equipment, it issued a memorandum in 2001 stating that teams cannot use electronic equipment to communicate with each other during games, especially for the purpose of stealing signs. In September 2017, after the Boston Red Sox were fined for using a smartwatch to try to steal signs, Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred issued a memo to all 30 clubs warning that future incidents of electronic sign stealing "will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks".
In 2014, as part of the expansion of replay review in MLB, all 30 teams were permitted to install video replay rooms in their stadiums with live camera feeds, and the dugout was permitted to communicate with staffers in the room. MLB eventually realized that these rooms could be used for other purposes, including sign stealing. During the 2018 playoffs, a league official was stationed in each replay room.
Before the 2019 season, MLB reached an agreement with the MLB Players Association to restrict the use of live camera feeds. A league official would be stationed in each replay room. Only replay officials would be allowed to watch in real time; others could only watch with an eight-second delay. The new rules covered "all non-broadcast outfield cameras from foul pole to foul pole" and also tightened restrictions on scoreboard video.
The Astros finished in first place in the American League (AL) West division for the 2017 season with a win–loss record of 101–61. They defeated the Red Sox, three games to one, in the 2017 AL Division Series, including two wins at home at Minute Maid Park and one win away at Fenway Park. They defeated the New York Yankees in the 2017 AL Championship Series in seven games, winning all four home games at Minute Maid Park while losing all three road games at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, the Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games, going 2–2 at Dodger Stadium and 2–1 at Minute Maid Park. It was their first World Series championship in franchise history and the city's first championship since 1995. The Astros finished in first place in the AL West again in 2018 with a 103–59 record but lost the AL Championship Series to the Red Sox. Houston returned to the World Series in 2019 and in 2021, losing to the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves, respectively. The Astros won the 2022 World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Speculation and accusations of sign stealing Speculation about sign stealing by the Astros had been rampant for a number of years. The Astros were not the only team to be suspected of sign stealing; concern about electronic sign stealing was high around the league. After the scandal broke in 2019, many members of the Dodgers organization said that they had suspected the Astros were illegally stealing signs during the 2017 World Series. Andrew Friedman, the President of Baseball Operations for the Dodgers, stated that "there was just a lot of speculation at the time about it". The Cleveland Indians caught an Astros employee taking pictures of their dugout during the 2018 AL Division Series and warned the Red Sox, who faced the Astros in the AL Championship Series. The same man was found taking pictures of the Red Sox dugout in the AL Championship Series. The Yankees asked MLB to investigate whistling sounds that they believed were meant to relay signs to batters in Game 1 of the 2019 AL Championship Series, but MLB said they found no wrongdoing. Astros manager A. J. Hinch mocked the Yankees for the accusation, saying: "it made me laugh because it's ridiculous. And had I known that it would take something like that to set off the Yankees or any other team, we would have practiced it in spring training." The Yankees also reportedly alleged that the Astros were using blinking lights beyond the center-field fences to relay stolen signs in Game 6 of the series.
Before the 2019 World Series, MLB disciplinarian Joe Torre and other league officials held an unusual pre-series meeting with the GMs and managers of both teams to warn them against using cameras pointed at the dugouts or at catchers or using electronics in the dugout. Multiple Nationals players were contacted by other players around the league to warn them about the Astros. One unnamed Nationals player told The Washington Post, "It was amazing, once [it was assured] we were playing the Astros, how many people were coming out of the woodwork to let us know what they were doing." The Nationals developed a complex system of mixing signs to thwart any attempts by the Astros to steal signs in the World Series. The Nationals went on to beat the Astros by winning four away games at Minute Maid Park.
On November 12, 2019, journalists Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich published a story in The Athletic, detailing for the first time specific allegations that the Astros had engaged in illicit electronic sign stealing. The article went to great lengths to emphasize that this was an MLB-wide problem, not a Houston Astros problem, and had come to be accepted as part of the culture of the game. Nonetheless, focus was placed on the Astros, both because of their on-field success since 2017, as well as the writers' ability to confirm the cheating done by the team, along with its methods of doing so, using five Astros players as sources. Four of those players chose to remain anonymous. Mike Fiers was the fifth, a pitcher who played for the Astros in 2017. Fiers stated that a center-field camera feed was sent to the tunnel behind the Astros dugout in Minute Maid Park. An Astros player or staff member then hit a trash can to signal specific different pitches to the batter at home plate. MLB began an investigation the day after the Athletic story was published. Jeff Luhnow, the general manager of the Astros, stated that the Astros organization was "going to look into the allegations in cooperation with Major League Baseball".
Internet sports personality Jimmy "Jomboy" O'Brien published videos on YouTube and Twitter, sourced from MLB.TV archives, that appeared to clearly show the scheme playing out in real time. In one such clip from an Astros game against the Chicago White Sox, banging could clearly be heard whenever White Sox catcher Kevan Smith called for pitcher Danny Farquhar to throw a changeup. The White Sox subsequently changed their signs to thwart the Astros. O'Brien argued that this "upsetting" sequence proved there was no way the Astros could have obtained the signs without the help of technology. Others on social media joined O'Brien in posting video clips alleging to demonstrate the Astros' sign-stealing scheme. Joon Lee from ESPN.com credited "social media sleuthing skills" with helping shape the league's investigation by reducing the amount of time needed to review video for evidence.
In a subsequent report from The Athletic, it was reported that an Astros executive had asked scouts for help stealing signs and suggested using cameras in an August 2017 email. Further allegations regarding other means of relaying signs, such as whistling, surfaced in subsequent weeks. There was also speculation that the Astros had developed more advanced ways to relay stolen signs to hitters. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported, "In recent days I have had scouts and executives talk to me about a variety of methods they think have been or could be employed, such as a realistic-looking electronic bandage placed on a player's body that buzzes in real time to signal what is coming." According to a Washington Post report published in February 2020, as many as 10 to 12 teams had complained about potential sign stealing by the Astros over the years.