The Astros’ cheating scheme, for which they were harshly punished on Monday, continued into the 2017 playoffs and 2018 regular season. But there was a moment players thought they were caught red-handed by an opposing pitcher.
In September of 2017, Danny Farquhar, then pitching for the White Sox, pointed to his ear when he thought he heard banging coming from the Astros’ dugout. According to MLB’s investigative report released Monday, several Astros players felt a sense of “panic” that their trash-can-banging system — which Carlos Beltran had a hand in putting together — had been found out. It led to players removing the monitor that was on a wall in the tunnel to the clubhouse and hiding it. A portable monitor was brought in for that year’s playoffs, when they won the World Series.
Farquhar first revealed his suspicions to The Athletic, which broke the sign-stealing scandal in November.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were each suspended for the 2020 season by MLB before Astros owner Jim Crane fired them. The team was also fined $5 million and stripped of first-and-second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts.