By Bryan Argott
As a sports fan, I treasure the hard work and dedication players put into their craft, especially the journey it takes to get to the World Series. Although I enjoyed the 2017 Houston Astros, the cheating scandal will haunt the players. This past off-season headlines should have been about the Washington Nationals title, not the Houston Astros cheating scandal. The managers and front office shouldn’t be the only suspensions, players should be punished too. The 2017 World Series Victory will be forever tainted, but that’s not the worst of it. The opposing players and their legacies will be effected in the history books. Baseball is America’s pastime. The 2017 Astros should face a severe penalty for tainting with America’s pastime.
For example, in other sports, the punishments are much more severe for violations of league rules. In fact, David Lennon(2020) describes what the NCAA punishments for teams for league violations, such as “chose to strip the USC football program of its 2004 national crown (along with Reggie Bush’s Heisman trophy)” which is seen as a laughable punishment. Personally, despite this, baseball has dropped the ball on this cheating scandal as a whole. How are fans suppose to react when baseball resumes and the players that cheated are still playing without any punishments? It’s ludicrous. Fans such as myself have lost a certain respect for baseball. I suppose with the delay of baseball and the corona-virus that most fans will just be happy to see baseball resume.
As the 2020 season is on the brink, baseball commissioner’s Rob ManFred has discussed a “June timetable”. Exciting news for baseball fans and even more exciting for the players to mark their calendar for the Astros. We dedicate our time and money to watching our favorite players, through hardships and tension because of certain skillsets, talent, and our thirst for entertainment. Larry Bohannan(2020) discusses the Houston Astros in an interview with Bob Costas. Costas believes “No coach or manager is going to run the risk of having their career derailed or destroyed by doing this,” referring to the 1 year suspensions to Alex Cora and AJ Hinch for their involvement in the scandal. Though this is true, but what punishment should the players get? The league will most likely get together with the players association to have punishments put in place for players, “much as the two sides did for violations on performance-enhancing drugs.”
As we cheer for players, eyes are always on their every action. Wondering why then action isn’t taken against the players who cheated? Baseball’s biggest superstars have spoken out with frustration about the lack of punishment for cheating. New York Yankees Star Center-Fielder Aaron Judge, who was a direct victim of the Astros, has been extremely frustrated with commissioner Rob Manfred. Lennon mentions Judge discussing the Astros tainted title, “Yeah, I just don’t think it holds any value with me,” Judge said. “You cheated and — you didn’t earn it”, one of players who played against the Astros in the 2017 Postseason. Judge and many other players make their case why the Astros title should be vacated.
The 2017 World Series title between the Astros and Dodgers should have an asterisk next to it in the history books. The title shouldn’t be vacated but rather go down in the history as the Astros used technology and trash banging to win a pennant. Fans 50 years from now can look back on this date. To me, a “zero” in history sounds strange, instead we should all remember it as the year of the “asterisk”.
References
Lennon, D (2020, February, 22). On Second Thought, Rob Manfred SHOULD Strip Astros of 2017 World Series title. Newsday. https://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/david- lennon/astros-sign-stealing-world-series-rob-manfred-1.42079083
Bohannan, L (2020, February 27). MLB players’ reactions make Astros sign-stealing scandal different, Bob Costas says. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/ 2020/02/27/bob-costas-mlb-players-reaction-houston-astros-scandal-unique/ 4890051002/
