The trolling continues for the Houston Astros after being the protagonists in one of the most egregious cheating scandals in sports history.
The team’s spring training facility in Palm Beach suffered the brunt over the weekend, as fans added an asterisk next to the sign commemorating the team’s tainted 2017 World Series title.
As players from around the league have continued to vent, not only publicly lambasting the organization’s role in the clandestine sign-stealing operation, but taking physical action on the field as well, the fans continue to reign down condemnation as well, on a group of players that will forever be synonymous with cheating.
The scandal, of course, was triggered by now-infamous whistleblower Mike Fiers, who has become the Edward Snowden of baseball, with some calling him a hero and some calling him a snitch.
Fiers, who pitched for the team from 2015-2017, said the team had a TV monitor around the home dugout at Minute Maid Park that had a clear and magnified view of the opponents’ catcher that was shot from a discrete center field camera.
Astros staff would then watch the rigged up monitor in the tunnel while Houston players were batting, to see where the opposing catcher was setting up and what fingers he was throwing down. They would then relay to the Astros batter up at the plate which pitch was likely coming next by literally banging on trash cans, whistling, or hitting the ceiling of the dugout to signal if it was an off-speed pitch or a fastball.
The Astros don’t play the Yankees or Dodgers during Spring Training, but do travel to Los Angeles to face the Angels from April 3-5, and will travel to New York to play the Yankees in a highly anticipated series September 21-24.