2023 Official MLB Season Thread
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by CP1708,
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elpablo21
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Former Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell on Friday accused Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa of having a camera-aided sign-stealing system installed when he was with the Chicago White Sox in the late 1980s.
McDowell, who made his major league debut for the White Sox in 1987 and pitched for 12 seasons in the majors, never played for La Russa, who was fired by the White Sox during the previous season. However, in an appearance on The Mac Attack on WFNZ in Charlotte, McDowell described a system that he said was put in place by La Russa.
"We had a system in the old Comiskey Park in the late 1980s," McDowell, who coaches at Queens University, told the radio station Friday. "The Gatorade sign out in center had a light; there was a toggle switch in the manager's office and [a] camera zoomed in on the catcher.
"I'm gonna whistle blow this now because I'm getting tired of this crap. There was that -- Tony La Russa is the one who put it in. ... He's still in the game making half a million, you know? No one is going to go after that. It's just, this stuff is getting old where they target certain guys and let other people off the hook."
La Russa currently serves as a senior adviser for the Los Angeles Angels. He won three World Series titles as a manager -- two with the St. Louis Cardinals and one with the Oakland Athletics -- and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
The Angels have not responded to request for comment from La Russa.
On Monday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred released the findings of an investigation that found the Houston Astros used technology to cheat during their World Series-winning 2017 season. Since then, three managers -- A.J. Hinch (Astros), Alex Cora (Red Sox) and Carlos Beltran (Mets) -- have lost their jobs.
McDowell alleged in the radio interview that the next day's starting pitcher would sit in the manager's office, watch the catcher's signals and would alert White Sox batters with the light in the Gatorade sign.
"I've never said anything about the old system we had because once we got to new Comiskey [in 1991], I didn't know if there was one or not," said McDowell, who won the Cy Young Award in 1993. "There were rumors that we had one, but it wasn't as out there as the first one was where they forced the pitcher who was pitching the next day had to go in there and flip on the toggle switch and stuff."
McDowell, a three-time All-Star selection who also played for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Angels during his career, said pitchers used to be the enforcers if they suspected foul play, but stricter MLB rules today keep that from happening.
"You know how it used to be taken care of?" McDowell said in the radio interview. "If they were stealing signs from second base, you just had the catcher call a breaking ball and then throw your fastball off someone's neck and just say, 'Oh, you're gonna keep trying pick up signs, guys? What's it going to be?'
"There's ways to go around it. Players could police it back in the day. But now if you throw a ball six inches inside, you're almost thrown out of the game immediately and everyone wants to fight. Back in the day, it was like, 'You want to steal signs, yeah that helmet better be working right now.'"
McDowell, who made his major league debut for the White Sox in 1987 and pitched for 12 seasons in the majors, never played for La Russa, who was fired by the White Sox during the previous season. However, in an appearance on The Mac Attack on WFNZ in Charlotte, McDowell described a system that he said was put in place by La Russa.
"We had a system in the old Comiskey Park in the late 1980s," McDowell, who coaches at Queens University, told the radio station Friday. "The Gatorade sign out in center had a light; there was a toggle switch in the manager's office and [a] camera zoomed in on the catcher.
"I'm gonna whistle blow this now because I'm getting tired of this crap. There was that -- Tony La Russa is the one who put it in. ... He's still in the game making half a million, you know? No one is going to go after that. It's just, this stuff is getting old where they target certain guys and let other people off the hook."
La Russa currently serves as a senior adviser for the Los Angeles Angels. He won three World Series titles as a manager -- two with the St. Louis Cardinals and one with the Oakland Athletics -- and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
The Angels have not responded to request for comment from La Russa.
On Monday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred released the findings of an investigation that found the Houston Astros used technology to cheat during their World Series-winning 2017 season. Since then, three managers -- A.J. Hinch (Astros), Alex Cora (Red Sox) and Carlos Beltran (Mets) -- have lost their jobs.
McDowell alleged in the radio interview that the next day's starting pitcher would sit in the manager's office, watch the catcher's signals and would alert White Sox batters with the light in the Gatorade sign.
"I've never said anything about the old system we had because once we got to new Comiskey [in 1991], I didn't know if there was one or not," said McDowell, who won the Cy Young Award in 1993. "There were rumors that we had one, but it wasn't as out there as the first one was where they forced the pitcher who was pitching the next day had to go in there and flip on the toggle switch and stuff."
McDowell, a three-time All-Star selection who also played for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Angels during his career, said pitchers used to be the enforcers if they suspected foul play, but stricter MLB rules today keep that from happening.
"You know how it used to be taken care of?" McDowell said in the radio interview. "If they were stealing signs from second base, you just had the catcher call a breaking ball and then throw your fastball off someone's neck and just say, 'Oh, you're gonna keep trying pick up signs, guys? What's it going to be?'
"There's ways to go around it. Players could police it back in the day. But now if you throw a ball six inches inside, you're almost thrown out of the game immediately and everyone wants to fight. Back in the day, it was like, 'You want to steal signs, yeah that helmet better be working right now.'"
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Starting to look like the Crucible everyone accusing each other 
So far, just in a couple days, we've had accusations against
Astros
Red Sox
Yankees
Dodgers
White Sox
A's
Cardinals
Brewers
Mets
That I personally have seen. Do we have any others to add to the list? Any other reports, articles, theories that I'm forgetting?
Astros
Red Sox
Yankees
Dodgers
White Sox
A's
Cardinals
Brewers
Mets
That I personally have seen. Do we have any others to add to the list? Any other reports, articles, theories that I'm forgetting?
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I'm just here for the chaos.
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Yankee fans.
Man that’s one fan don’t bring all of us into this
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That’s why I figured MLB’s “investigation” and penalties were a joke. If They come down with the hammer, then teams/players are gonna start snitching and make this even bigger issue because “everybody else was doing it.” It’ll look really bad for MLB to now all of a sudden have xx amount of teams accused of cheating and there’s evidence to prove it
So it’s a better business move to try and sweep it under the rug and just send a memo to every team at the beginning of the season with a 0 tolerance policy blah blah blah.
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Astros were really feeling themsleves I swear. They had a country club atmosphere going on down there and now look. I hope MLb vacates their title and they are forced to play another 50+ seasons to sniff at least challenger for one.
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To think I once cheered for that man. Scum of the planet.
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I don't want to hear about all this **** from the past. Don't care about the 80s or 90s right now. MLB needs to admit the Astros wore devices and they gotta be punished for that.
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This guy is basically West Coast Curt Schilling.
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One thing that’s funny about all this Astros stuff. To me is people calling Fiers a snitch. That’s fine, won’t argue that one, but ignoring what the Astros players did when facing the heat.
The Astros players (who were active willing participants in this ****ery) sang like canaries the minute MLB promised them no discipline in exchange for the truth.
They could’ve easily kept quiet and made MLBs job with the investigation that much more harder. That saying of it being no honor amongst thieves rings true.
The Astros players (who were active willing participants in this ****ery) sang like canaries the minute MLB promised them no discipline in exchange for the truth.
They could’ve easily kept quiet and made MLBs job with the investigation that much more harder. That saying of it being no honor amongst thieves rings true.
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Honestly.... i wana see whose the first team to throw a nice little heater at Altuve’s ribs this season
Vegas needs to open up those odds... when do Astros dodgers play?
Vegas needs to open up those odds... when do Astros dodgers play?
SpittaJetLife
Banned
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Would this clown want a grown as man wearing a thong around his wife or daughter?
SpittaJetLife
Banned
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I’ll be at the first Astros Yankees game at Yankee stadium in September for the lulz.
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what were Mets accused of? I thought all they did was hire the dude that was accused of doing, not the team itself
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I was at game 3 and 4 of the ALCS in 2017. They were going in on the Astros players and fans those games and it was hilarious.
First time that place felt like the old Yankee stadium to me in terms of crowd atmosphere.
Sonny Corinthos
formerly joeclear
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Mets going all the way to the pennant
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once manfred told them they had immunity there was no point in trying to cover up for two dudes who were already fired
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I get it. But they were willing active participants in everything. Knew what they were doing. Knew it was wrong. I see why they flipped. But no honor amongst thieves to me. It’s the equivalent to if me and someone else robbed a bank. We both were willing participants and knew we were doing wrong, and one of us ratted the other out in exchange for a plea deal. That happens all the time as well lol.
On another note. If they weren’t cooperative with the investigation and didn’t comply with MLB. I wonder how things would’ve played out and how much evidence MLB had that would’ve stuck without them cooperating.
Seems like MLB gave the players a pardon more so because they didn’t want the smoke with the players union imo.
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