Five years after it happened, the Houston Astros‘ 2017 sign-stealing scandal is still being discussed in MLB circles.
This time, it was Carlos Beltran, one of the main actors in the scheme, the one who talked about it.
“Carlos Beltran’s words re the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal: ‘… I didn’t stop it the way no one stopped it.’ It’s not taking responsibility–as Tony Kemp did, when even as one of the ’17 Astros’ youngest players, he refused to participate because he thought it was wrong,” Buster Olney, an MLB insider working on ESPN, tweeted on Monday.
Most of the members of Astros’ 2017 lineup were part of the scheme or used it to their advantage.
However, not everybody was on board, including the star of the team.
“Jose Altuve and Josh Reddick can be added to that list of not using it as well,” outfielder Josh Reddick himself replied to Olney’s tweet.
Jose Altuve and Josh Reddick can be added to that list of not using it as well.
— Josh Reddick (@RealJoshReddick) April 4, 2022
Kemp, in reality, didn’t play much on those 2017 Astros, but he showed his worth as a player and as a person by refusing to participate.
Altuve And Reddick, Per The Latter, Didn’t Participate In The Sign-Stealing Scheme
Altuve and Reddick, however, deserve some recognition, too, for not cheating when everybody else was doing it.
Reddick hit .314/.363/.484 with 13 home runs in 2017, which ended up being one of his best seasons.
He says, however, that he wasn’t part of the scheme.
Altuve also ended up having the best season of his career in 2017.
That was his MVP year, in which he hit .346/.410/.547 with 24 home runs, 112 runs, 81 RBI, and 32 stolen bases.
It was a historic season for the Astros, as they won the World Series title.
A few years later, though, the scheme was discovered and the team received discipline and, what’s worse, critics from the baseball world.
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