A controversial story continues to unfold in the world of baseball as the cheating scandal of the Houston Astros continues to spark anger. I remember watching the thrilling 2017 World Series but unfortunately, the Dodgers lost. As it turns out, the Astros may have won based on the cheating that occurred during the 2017 season and part of the 2018 season.
The investigation of the Houston Astros has revealed that the team’s video room staff were using cameras to steal signs from catchers to notify batters of the planned pitches. Additionally, players and other staffers banged signals to batters on trash cans to reveal the intended pitch (Torres, 2020). Pitchers are given the responsibility to ensure they strike out as many players meanwhile their team tries to score. The purpose of the game is demonstrate your physical and mental skills, without this competitive spirit there is no purpose of a game. Yet alone, to be able to cheat on the most high level competition of baseball and win a championship with no repercussions is disgraceful.
Commissioner Rob Manfred granted the Astros immunity in return for cooperation of the investigation. The decision by Manfred is obviously counterintuitive, there is no point of an investigation if suspects are presumed innocent from the beginning. According to Manfred, he initially was going to strip the 2017 title of the team but hesitated because he thought it would be an impossible task (Passan, 2020).
Four men were forced to resign from jobs two of which are no longer part of the team. Ex-coach Alex Cora and Carlos Beltran were relieved of their managerial positions with the Boston RedSox and the New York Mets. (Feinstein, 2020). Other than that, players and staff members were forced to issue an unapologetic conference ahead of the commencement of their training for the next season.
Many are calling the Astros press conference a PR disaster, which could have been a vital opportunity for the team to gain positive traction out of this situation. Jim Crane owner of the Astro gave a begrudging apology by first sharing his opinion on how the cheating did not impact the World Series game but a couple of seconds later retracting his words (Feinstein, 2020).
The uncanny situation erupted a ripple effect of furious responses by other players and fans alike. Cody Bellinger, the MLB league MVP for 2019, pleaded that is it obvious the Astros stole the championship from the Dodgers in 2017 and that their punishment for cheating was “weak”(Leitch, 2020).
As a proactive measure to deter future retaliation in the upcoming season, Manfred announced “throwing the ball at a batter intentionally will not be tolerated (Dio Giovana, 2020)”. Given the gravity of this situation for the Houston Astros, it is evident, this year is going to be tough. The Houston Astro’s image has been significantly damaged and the future seems unforeseeable for the moment.
If you were part of the organization, how would you market the team for the upcoming season? What would be your strategy to diffuse the controversy and to rebuild the organization’s image?
References:
Di Giovanna. (2020). MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred defends his punishment of the Houston Astros. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2020-02-16/mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-houston-astros
Feinstein, J. (2020). Perspective | In the Astros scandal, Rob Manfred has taken a bad situation and made it worse. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/in-the-astros-scandal-rob-manfred-has-taken-a-bad-situation-and-made-it-worse/2020/02/18/8a6da8e6-5258-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html
Leitch, W. (2020). The Astros Cheating Scandal Has Only Gotten Nuttier. Retrieved from https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/houston-astros-cheating-scandal.html
McCarriston, S. (2020). How the Astros apology press conference turned into a public relations disaster. Retrieved from https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/how-the-astros-apology-press-conference-turned-into-a-public-relations-disaster/
Passan, J. (2020). Disciplining Astros not as easy for MLB as Altuve revealing a tattoo. Retrieved from https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28726243/disciplining-astros-not-easy-mlb-altuve-revealing-tattoo
Torres, M. (2020). Mike Trout on Astros’ sign-stealing scandal: ‘I lost some respect for some guys’. (2020, February 17). Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-02-17/mike-trout-on-astros-sign-stealing-scandal
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