On the Cheating Scandal That Nearly Ruined Baseball
“Tell your fucking hitting coach I’m gonna kick his fucking ass!” Yankees coach Phil Nevin screamed at Astros third baseman Alex Bregman.
It was not long after the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees began Game One of the 2019 American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
The trouble had starred a few minutes earlier, when the Astros were batting. As Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka began his windup, he noticed a whistling sound but assumed it was coming from the stands. Opposing fans often tried to distract him, and Tanaka figured that’s all that was happening here.
Inside the Yankees’ dugout, the coaches knew better. They believed that Astros hitting coach, Alex Cintron, was the whistler and that he was doing it to convey stolen signs. The exact tone and volume of the whistle would vary, depending on the pitch that Tanaka was about to throw.
“What the fuck are you gonna do about it?” Cintron called back from the Astros’ dugout, dismissing Boone with a flip of his hand.
