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SPORTS Friday 25 OctOber 2019

Baseball

Continued from Page 17 New York Yankees’ pitch-
ing signs. Last season, a
“There had been so much man associated with the
corruption going on in the Houston Astros was caught
previous two decades, pointing a cellphone into
and baseball had always opposing dugouts, and the
turned a blind eye to all AL champions have been
rumors of gambling and dogged by allegations of
players betting on their tech-driven spying, most
own games and game-fix- recently during this year’s
ing,” said Jacob Pomrenke, ALCS against the Yankees.
chair of the Black Sox Scan- Houston players were sus-
dal Research Committee pected of whistling in the
at the Society for American dugout to communicate
Baseball Research. “The pitch selection to batters,
Black Sox players saw a low an allegation manager AJ
risk and a high reward. They Hinch called “ridiculous.”
could make a lot of money Even if the whistling alle-
in one week by losing those gations were true, they’re
games, and they thought frivolous compared to past In this June 17, 2019, file photo, Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch looks on from the dugout in the
baseball would not take it scandals. Stealing pitch fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati.
seriously.” signs is allowed in baseball Associated Press
Although the White Sox as long as you don’t use gal in 18 states, a gambling- sports leagues and me- vantage of, particularly
had salaries commensu- technology to do it. And related scandal would dia companies about the with in-game proposition
rate with players on oth- as Hinch pointed out, if the almost certainly be very dif- gambling industry. “It’s just bets. MLB has been lobby-
er teams, the payout for Yankees had tells before ferent. Suspicious bets are a much more transparent ing states to limit the sort
throwing the games was they threw certain pitches, quickly flagged by sports- market.” of in-game betting they al-
huge at the time — $5,000 that’s their problem. book operators that don’t However, the use of tech- low and to make it a crime
or more per player, which MLB implemented new, want to disrupt their lucra- nology to give gamblers for scouts to transmit data
could equal or exceed more robust restrictions on tive partnerships with pro- an edge is a concern for from ballparks.
their annual pay. It was the surveillance and electronic fessional leagues.”You’ve sports leagues. People sit- “Any bet that an individual
players, not a gambling devices before this season, got law enforcement via ting in stadiums can in player or umpire can influ-
syndicate, who initiated including a ban on live vid- the gaming regulators, some cases relay in-game ence himself is higher risk
the fix, Pomrenke said. eo of the game anywhere via the gaming operators, data faster than it appears for manipulation,” Sword
Eight players involved in the it could be seen by players, and now via MLB that are online or on television. said. “We’re asking the
scandal were acquitted at managers or coaches. No working in coordination to Knowing what happened states for the right to have
trial but were nonetheless team has been disciplined share information when in a game before the rest a say in the types of bets
banned for life by Baseball under the policy, said Mor- there is any suspicious bet- of the world does, even if that are offered by sports-
Commissioner Kennesaw gan Sword, MLB’s senior ting, when they suspect only by a couple seconds, books, and we think that
Mountain Landis. vice president of league something nefarious is hap- is something unscrupulous we’re uniquely positioned
Attempts at game-fixing economics and opera- pening,” said Sara Slane, offshore bookies and their to know which bets are
didn’t end there. In 1924, a tions. a consultant who advises customers could take ad- riskiest.”q
Philadelphia Phillies player “There were complaints
a bribe to throw a game ing of any kind of material Astros fire Taubman over clubhouse
said he had been offered filed, but there was no find-
on the final weekend of the violation,” Sword said.
season against the New He said he was concerned incident with reporters
York Giants, who locked up about the potential for a
the NL pennant in that very tech-driven scandal that WASHINGTON (AP) — The Sports Illustrated reported
game. As detailed in Fred- doesn’t fall under the cur- Astros fired assistant gen- he repeatedly yelled to-
eric Frommer’s book, “You rent rules. Relying on teams eral manager Brandon ward a group of female
Gotta Have Heart,” a histo- to catch their opponents in Taubman for directing in- reporters about closer Ro-
ry of Washington baseball, the act, however, creates appropriate comments at berto Osuna, who was
the AL president called on a paranoid atmosphere in female reporters following suspended for 75 games
Landis to cancel the World which teams feel like they Houston's pennant-winning last year for violating MLB's
Series, but Landis refused, have to spy on each other, victory over the New York domestic violence policy
and the Washington Sena- if only to make sure they’re Yankees last weekend. before being traded from
tors beat the Giants to win not being spied on. Players Houston made the an- Toronto to the Astros.
their only championship. have complained about nouncement Thursday and Taubman shouted "Thank In this Jan. 17, 2018, file photo,
CHEATING TODAY the increasingly elabo- said Taubman's conduct God we got Osuna!" ac- Houston Astros Senior Director
Recent episodes of cheat- rate measures they take to did not reflect the organi- cording to SI, which said he of Baseball Operations
Brandon Taubman attends a
ing in baseball have more avoid detection. zation's values. made similar remarks sever- baseball news conference in
in common with the NFL’s “I understand where the "We believe this is the most al times, punctuating them Houston.
“Spygate” scandal, in paranoia comes from. We appropriate course of ac- with a profanity. Associated Press
which the 2007 New Eng- have it. I have it,” Astros tion," the Astros said in a "Our initial investigation led views have revealed that
land Patriots were caught pitcher Justin Verland- statement. us to believe that Brandon Taubman's inappropriate
videotaping opponents’ er said during the ALCS. Taubman has previously Taubman's inappropriate comments were, in fact, di-
defensive signals, than the “There’s just so many cam- apologized for using lan- comments were not direct- rected toward one or more
Black Sox. eras and there’s so much guage that was "unprofes- ed toward any reporter. reporters. Accordingly we
In 2017, the Boston Red Sox video now.” sional and inappropriate" We were wrong," the Astros have terminated Brandon
used Apple Watches to re- GAMBLING WITH DATA in the clubhouse following said in the statement Thurs- Taubman's employment
lay information about the With sports betting now le- Saturday night's victory. day. "Subsequent inter- with the Houston Astros." q