At the end of the day, this is still about the MLB not enforcing their own rules. You can't sit there and tell me a "trust" system is in place to prevent this. Oh...we warned you and there will be consequences. Then, everyone is pissing and moaning about the so-called consequences. The fact is the MLB didn't do sh_t to enforce it, a team got away with it, and now were going to completely blame the team? The MLB looks really bad imo. Let's trust everyone to do the right thing when it comes to this...especially since sign stealing has been a part of baseball forever. The Astros may look bad but the MLB looks incompetent. F**k you, MLB, for allowing this to happen in the first place.
Oh they are. They could have suspended the players but they know whats up. It's not as fun if the Astros are just some bottom tier team getting beat up on because they don't have their players. Look at the Warriors. I remember when the season started and we saw Curry struggle to do anything with that roster...oh NBA twitter was ready. All the "Now you see how Lebron felt all those years..." kind of tweets. We were robbed of a whole year of mocking golden boy Curry. It's like I mentioned with WWE. It's always the Heel that makes the match. It's the heel that makes the face, the heel that makes people want to see get beat up, it's why WWF was most popular when Vince McMahon was the main villain of the show because people wanted to see him go down. He reminded people of their arrogant boss. It's why Floyd made so much money despite having boring fights. Astros are that heel this year and if they are dominant and say win a championship you are going to see a lot of bandwagoners jump right on. Because sometimes it's just fun to root for the bad guy.
I wore my blacked out stros hat at my last job, and my manager who is a Yankee, "From Jersey" wore his hate every day as well. And all he would do at lunch was bring up how shitty Altuve is, and how much the astros are cheaters, worthless organization. Me being from South West Houston, had to stand up for my stros, it was hard as **** dealing with this fking Moron mouth i swear.. =(((( Almost like he was harrassing me for wearing this hat to work... smh I still love my team. Go stros =)
We don't want your money! Go give it to the Frisco RoughRiders. Spoiler Bob Hilliard’s Corpus Christi, Texas-based law firm has long had a deep connection with the local Hooks minor-league baseball team, a Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. Since the ballpark opened in 2005, Hilliard Martinez Gonzales (HMG) started with six seats behind home plate, added a suite three years later, then a total of 11 seats behind home plate, and even a sponsored night in which the law firm annually buys a T-shirt for all in attendance. Hilliard’s kids threw out first pitches. Last week Hilliard filed lawsuits against the Astros on behalf of season ticket holders who want their money back in the wake of the team’s sign-stealing scandal. Days later the Hooks, owned by the Astros, notified the law firm that its $45,000-a-year partnership with the minor-league team was not being renewed. The email came from Wes Weigle, the team’s general manager, Hilliard said. “So I wrote back, I said, ‘Wes, so disappointing as I looked at the Hooks organization as family. What’s it been like 20 years we have had this relationship? So you know I was extremely affected and offended by the Astros cheating scandal and never once thought it seeped down to the Hooks. The litigation is personal to me given what it represents and how I feel about that kind of thing.’” Weigle did not reply for comment to The Athletic, nor did Astros or Hooks communications executives. HMG filed lawsuits in Harris County courts on behalf of season ticket holders Roger Contreras and Kenneth Young. There is also a third lawsuit filed by two other law firms on behalf of season ticket holders. That case, Adam Wallach v. Houston Astros LLC, on Thursday added three new named plaintiffs including the first corporation — CHA, Inc. of Lake Jackson, Texas. Hilliard has familiarity with suing baseball. He several years ago sued all MLB teams to extend protective netting. “I did it because I’d seen enough of it at the Hooks’ stadium,” Hilliard said. “I’ve seen how many kids line up along the foul lines, and I’ve seen old people who couldn’t react in time even if they were paying attention. “So they knew of me, and they kind of knew who I was and my view on life. And then this happened and I felt in a way similar, in a way more aggravated because it was so intentional. And they were just giving a not even a hat in hand apology and wanting to move on and keep the fruits.” Hilliard said he believes the Astros should hand back their 2017 World Series trophy. As for the ticket cases, Hilliard expects when the Astros respond in court papers in roughly two weeks for the team to take two positions: the cases should be sent to arbitration and also that the ticket holders were promised baseball games and that’s what they got, so no refunds are due. “Yeah, I think that’s what they say. They say, ‘Yeah, we cheated. So what?’” When HMG had tickets to the Hooks, Hilliard brought his family, clients and donated 40 percent of the tickets to charity. He waxes poetic about the game and the Hooks. “It’s truly an old-fashioned stadium, but built recently so you’re overlooking the Harbor Bridge and the ships going through the Ship Channel,” he said. “And it’s a real night, the bay’s right there and it’s really nice seeing, nice baseball and it’s everything this cheating scandal is not.” So it is not surprising the lawsuits he filed do not start out with legalese, but the following: “Baseball is America’s game. It is as American as apple pie. And it is not just a game.”
Sounds like some prime seating behind home plate will be available. I think I’ll take advantage, visit Corpus where I lived in elementary school, and take my Dad to a game or two during a weekend series.
On the ESPN radio station in Chicago they had a group of top baseball writers. They all said that the Astros should have their title stripped and claimed the league may still do it. They all said the players should be suspended for half a season. Some said the owner should be forced to sell the team. All of them want the commissioner fired. They all accepted as fact that the Astros used the trash cans but also used a complicated analytical system to let them cheat at home and the road. They all believe the owner was aware and involved. They all believe Altuve cheated and Beltran learned the way to cheat from the front office. Some said Altuve and Bregman should never make the Hall of Fame. Afterwards one of them said “The Astros are not stupid, they did what they did because they knew they would not get in trouble because it is common knowledge that 10-12 teams were doing the same as the Astros or similar. It is also why the league did not investigate at first.”..... then several others agreed that 30% of the league did it. WTF... what hypocrisy
Oh, it’s all about the baseball and tradition and has nothing to do with the fact that I’m trying to make money off the situation.
I hope he's right, I'm here for this. The MLB has made a mockery of itself. Time to be real and do away with the charades, the virtue signaling and the cancel culture BS.
It may come down that way, but there are other ways it could unfold also. Its probably safe to say at least some folks are digging deeper into this whole thing. What they uncover, when, and on who is going to set the new narrative. Perhaps several things, from different sources, will surface. I certainly dont know how the Astros will look when it finally runs its course. But I do agree this isn't done yet.
This story has been around for years. You wonder why LaRussa hasn't said **** yet? also, this (don't care about the text, just the video):
