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CHEATED by Andy Martino

CHEATED

The Inside Story of the Astros Scandal and a Colorful History of Sign Stealing

by Andy Martino

Pub Date: June 8th, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-385-54679-9
Publisher: Doubleday

A sportswriter recaps one of the biggest cheating scandals in baseball history.

As Martino documents, the cheating began with “the legitimate use of an exciting new toy,” the Edgertronic, a high-speed camera that could capture 1,000 frames per second. The Houston Astros intended to use it to record hitters’ swings for later study, but bench coach Álex Cora wondered if it could be used for “picking sequences off a monitor” to determine what a pitcher was about to throw during a game. Thus began the scandal in which the Astros used electronic equipment to steal signals throughout their 2017 World Series–winning campaign, as well as other bits of chicanery, such as banging on trash cans to tell their hitters the type of pitch headed their way. In a smart move, Martino begins with a lively roundup of baseball’s past scandals, starting with Phillies’ third-base coach and “lifelong reprobate” Pearce Chiles, who, in 1900, hatched a plan whereby a player in the center-field stands used opera glasses to pick up the opposing catcher’s signs. The author describes the motivations of the principal figures in the Astros scandal, including the “highly studious” Cora; Carlos Beltrán, who, after 20 seasons, was “starving for a championship; and manager A.J. Hinch, who, “conflict-averse to a fault,” disapproved of the shenanigans but didn’t stop them. A deeper book would have delved further into the scandal’s implications—on the game, on players and unions, on the role of technology and social media—but this one succeeds as a well-written work of straightforward reportage certain to appeal to baseball fans. Along the way, Martino documents countless jaw-dropping examples of moral laxity—e.g., when General Manager Jeff Luhnow, also implicated in the scandal, considered signing a pitcher accused of domestic violence and said to his lieutenants, “I don’t want your moral opinion, I want your baseball opinion.”

An entertaining account of one of baseball’s sorriest chapters.