Their offenses are the same: both Jose Altuve and Bobby Thomson hit walk off pennant winning home runs in the bottom of the 9th inning. Thomson's was more dramatic because his team was trailing by two runs in the absolute final game before the 1951 World Series. Altuve's was in game 6 of the 7 game 2019 ALCS with his team leading the series 3-2 and their best starting pitcher ready for game 7 on full rest.
Thomson and his New York Giants teammates beat the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Altuve and his Houston Astros teammates beat the New York Yankees.
Both Jose Altuve and Bobby Thomson and their teammates supposedly benefited from cheating: stealing the other team's catcher's signs using means that were against the rules.
Thomson died in 2010 without ever admitting wrong doing, so to expect Altuve to do so is unrealistic. And Thomson did not have a player's union to protect him as Altuve does now.
Most comments about the current sign stealing are hysterical calls for punishment.
Once the word cheating is used, emotions take over. Then the only course of action is to demand retribution, punishment, ... more punishment.
My guess is that 90% of the time a batter knows what pitch is coming, it's because the pitcher or a teammate of the pitcher has tipped the pitch, i.e., done something visible that the batter can see and interpret.
Times change. In 1951 there was hardly any TV. Now there's social media and continuous replays. There's also a tendency toward mob action.
Maybe if Bobby Thomson and other 1951 New York Giants had been punished, the Houston Astros, a team name that the 1951 Giants could not have imagined, might never have even considered doing the same with newer techniques. Maybe.
Maybe we've just got too much time on our hands. Whatever it is, it isn't pretty. We all need to calm the heck down and put things into perspective. Just calm the heck down.
Showing posts with label Signs.
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