Astros and Asterisks : Houston's Sign-Stealing Scandal Explained / ed. by Jonathan Silverman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Crepeau, Richard C., Contributor.

Drellich, Evan, Contributor.

Silverman, Jonathan, Editor.

Series:

Terry and Jan Todd Series on Physical Culture and Sports

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baseball--Corrupt practices--History.

Baseball.

Sports--Corrupt practices--Moral and ethical aspects.

Sports.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 p.)

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, [2023]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

An in-depth and multiperspectival look at the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal and its roots in the culture of baseball fandom. In 2017 the Houston Astros won their first World Series title, a particularly uplifting victory for the city following Hurricane Harvey. But two years later, the feel-good energy was gone after The Athletic revealed that the Astros had stolen signs from opposing catchers during their championship season, perhaps even during the playoffs and World Series. Their methods were at once high-tech and crude: staff took video of opponents’ pitching signals and transmitted the footage in real time to the Astros’ dugout, where players banged on trash cans to signal to their teammates at bat which pitches were coming their way. Wry observers labeled them the Asterisks, pointing to the title that no longer seemed so earned. Astros and Asterisks examines the scandal from historical, journalistic, legal, ethical, and cultural perspectives. Authors delve into the Astros’ winning-above-all attitude, cultivated by a former McKinsey consultant; the significance of hiring a pitcher recently suspended for domestic abuse; the career-ending effects of the Astros’ transgression on opposing players; and the ethically fraught choices necessary to participate in sign-stealing. Ultimately, it links the Astros’ choices to the sporting world’s obsession with analytics. What emerges is a sobering tale about the impact of new technology on a game whose romanticized image feels increasingly incongruous with its reality in the era of big data and video.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Houston Astros Timeline

PART I HISTORIES OF CHEATING IN BASEBALL

CHAPTER 1 Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Cheating: Blame It on the Pitchers

CHAPTER 2 Cheating versus Gamesmanship: Ethical Relativism in Baseball?

CHAPTER 3 “This Is Not a Cultural Issue”: The Astros’ (and Baseball’s) Willingness to Overlook Domestic Violence

CHAPTER 4 Round Up the Usual Suspects: Cheating in Baseball

PART II THE SCANDAL UNFOLDS

CHAPTER 5 Finally, a Fun Baseball Scandal

CHAPTER 6 What Is the Sound of One Bat Slapping? Reading the Houston Astros’ Trash Can

CHAPTER 7 Blame Is a Tangled Mess in Astros Sign- Stealing Scandal

PART III FANS AND THE SCANDAL

CHAPTER 8 Interview with a Bang Counter: A Q&A with Tony Adams

CHAPTER 9 Reckoning with Tainted Love: What the Astros Scandal Reveals of Sports Fandom

CHAPTER 10 “To Learn Baseball”: A Transatlantic Dialogue on the Astros and the American Ways of Winning

PART IV THE SCANDAL AND ITS ETHICAL DILEMMAS

CHAPTER 11 Baseball Has No Love for Truth Tellers

CHAPTER 12 Bad Apples or Bad Astros? Collective Responsibility and the Perils of Team Loyalty

CHAPTER 13 From Protector to Whistleblower: Being a “Good” Teammate When Cheating Occurs

PART V TECHNOLOGY AND THE SCANDAL

CHAPTER 14 Stealing Signs: Technology, Surveillance, and Policing inside and outside the Game

CHAPTER 15 The Spreadsheet in the Garden: Analytics and the Sign- Stealing Scandal

APPENDIX “Defendant Houston Astros”: Michael Bolsinger vs. The Houston Astros

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Aug 2023)

ISBN:

1-4773-2744-4

OCLC:

1394872766