I remember respecting Jessica Mendoza

[_MIA_]

What I want to know is why did the Sox stop stealing signs last year...

 

[Hillhouse]

I'll probably get blasted but this all seems much ado about nothing. The game is played on front of the public and I'm guess this has been going on forever, except now instead of a guy in the outfield with binoculars we are much more sophisticated because of technology. To be a complete purist I guess only the players and coaches on the field should be allowed to steal signs but I'm just not feeling it....maybe we need to get these catchers and pitchers some wristbands so they can't steal signs you could randomly rotate cards each inning so there wouldn't be a pattern that will fix it

There are certainly ways to avoid this happening in the future and I think all teams will take an abundance of caution going forward, including looking for that man with binoculars in CF who relays this in a less tech savvy way.

This story about Mendoza is the interesting part. Her feelings on this are about as useful as a screendoor on a submarine. Who care's what Jessica Mendoza thinks? Seriously. It's great she has broken some glass ceilings within MLB... commentating and now with the Mets. But her thoughts on this are nothing more than her hopes of gaining trust within the MLB brotherhood. This is about her trying to be part of the boys club.

She certainly didn't have a problem when Mike Candrea flew some US Men's team players into OKC to pick Ueno's change up in 2006... leading the USA to beat Japan. They picked her change up in 2 innings, relayed the info and bingo USA wins. Then in 2007 Japan didn't bring her over before the Olympics. I realize cameras were not used to steal signs but, they were still doing anything they can to get an advantage. Ueno then changed some things and look what happened in the 2008 Olympics.

Bill

 

[Momo'sDad]

I'll probably get blasted but this all seems much ado about nothing. The game is played on front of the public and I'm guess this has been going on forever,

You're right about that. Maybe the rule is antiquated or pointless, but that's what they have in place. You're also right about the solution - it doesn't seem that complicated to me at all. Baseball and sports media talk obsessively about the genius of "analytics" - way to go, Dave Roberts - but can't generate randomize signal calls for every inning played?

 

[Momo'sDad]

This didn't threaten the integrity of the game, it just threatened the pedestal that some people put the game on.

Saying something is "as American as baseball and apple pie" used to mean something positive, I thought. OK, so I don't feel like a fool anymore for once believing in an ideal that never actually existed, but it's my position that mechanical cheating is at least as bad as chemical cheating, which is the source of more public outrage than anything else in sports.

 

[mmeece]

I wonder if Mike Fiers will give back his World Series ring and cash since he benefited while on the Astros.

Second, he's not a whistleblower. If he was a whistleblower he'd have done it while WITH the the Astros, not when he's on a rival team.

Dead on Bill. You don't get credit for being a hero when you wait until you no longer benefit from it to blow the whistle.

 

[OsDad]

... at least as bad as chemical cheating, which is the source of more public outrage than anything else in sports.

I think what I'm getting at is this: the game itself has been complicit in the culture of cheating. Amphetamines and steroids weren't even officially against the rules until after the turn of the century. Even then the punishments were initially a joke, which tells me that even the sport itself, both the players and teams, weren't ever all that interested in the public's ideas about the sanctity of baseball.

My comment wasn't directed at how you feel about the game, specifically. I'm sorry if it came across that way. It's more about all the fuss and righteous indignation going on in the greater public eye. I don't see MLB refunding ticket sales from 1998 or players taking smaller contracts because the ball was juiced when they had career HR numbers in a contract year.

 

[_MIA_]

I hope nobody interprets me banging on the fence in RF/LF when my DD is up as cheating.. I don't want to have to find another place to sit.

 

[_MIA_]

I am also willing to bet that the Astros/Sox are not the only ones who broke this specific rule...

 

[Indiana Gators South]

I'll probably get blasted but this all seems much ado about nothing. The game is played on front of the public and I'm guess this has been going on forever, except now instead of a guy in the outfield with binoculars we are much more sophisticated because of technology. To be a complete purist I guess only the players and coaches on the field should be allowed to steal signs but I'm just not feeling it....maybe we need to get these catchers and pitchers some wristbands so they can't steal signs you could randomly rotate cards each inning so there wouldn't be a pattern that will fix it

We use wrist bands every tournament every weekend on our fastpitch travel team

 

[Lemond]

I am also willing to bet that the Astros/Sox are not the only ones who broke this specific rule...

Just the worst at hiding it.