Astros and Asterisks : : Houston's Sign-Stealing Scandal Explained / / ed. by Jonathan Silverman.

• MitwirkendeR: Crepeau, Richard C.,; Drellich, Evan,
• HerausgeberIn: Silverman, Jonathan,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Series: Terry and Jan Todd Series on Physical Culture and Sports
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (280 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Acknowledgments --; Introduction --; The Houston Astros Timeline --; PART I HISTORIES OF CHEATING IN BASEBALL --; CHAPTER 1 Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Cheating: Blame It on the Pitchers --; CHAPTER 2 Cheating versus Gamesmanship: Ethical Relativism in Baseball? --; CHAPTER 3 “This Is Not a Cultural Issue”: The Astros’ (and Baseball’s) Willingness to Overlook Domestic Violence --; CHAPTER 4 Round Up the Usual Suspects: Cheating in Baseball --; PART II THE SCANDAL UNFOLDS --; CHAPTER 5 Finally, a Fun Baseball Scandal --; CHAPTER 6 What Is the Sound of One Bat Slapping? Reading the Houston Astros’ Trash Can --; CHAPTER 7 Blame Is a Tangled Mess in Astros Sign- Stealing Scandal --; PART III FANS AND THE SCANDAL --; CHAPTER 8 Interview with a Bang Counter: A Q&A with Tony Adams --; CHAPTER 9 Reckoning with Tainted Love: What the Astros Scandal Reveals of Sports Fandom --; CHAPTER 10 “To Learn Baseball”: A Transatlantic Dialogue on the Astros and the American Ways of Winning --; PART IV THE SCANDAL AND ITS ETHICAL DILEMMAS --; CHAPTER 11 Baseball Has No Love for Truth Tellers --; CHAPTER 12 Bad Apples or Bad Astros? Collective Responsibility and the Perils of Team Loyalty --; CHAPTER 13 From Protector to Whistleblower: Being a “Good” Teammate When Cheating Occurs --; PART V TECHNOLOGY AND THE SCANDAL --; CHAPTER 14 Stealing Signs: Technology, Surveillance, and Policing inside and outside the Game --; CHAPTER 15 The Spreadsheet in the Garden: Analytics and the Sign- Stealing Scandal --; APPENDIX “Defendant Houston Astros”: Michael Bolsinger vs. The Houston Astros --; Contributors --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781477327449
• DOI: 10.7560/327425
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: ed. by Jonathan Silverman.

An in-depth and multiperspectival look at the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal and its roots in the culture of baseball fandom. In 2017 the Houston Astros won their first World Series title, a particularly uplifting victory for the city following Hurricane Harvey. But two years later, the feel-good energy was gone after The Athletic revealed that the Astros had stolen signs from opposing catchers during their championship season, perhaps even during the playoffs and World Series. Their methods were at once high-tech and crude: staff took video of opponents’ pitching signals and transmitted the footage in real time to the Astros’ dugout, where players banged on trash cans to signal to their teammates at bat which pitches were coming their way. Wry observers labeled them the Asterisks, pointing to the title that no longer seemed so earned. Astros and Asterisks examines the scandal from historical, journalistic, legal, ethical, and cultural perspectives. Authors delve into the Astros’ winning-above-all attitude, cultivated by a former McKinsey consultant; the significance of hiring a pitcher recently suspended for domestic abuse; the career-ending effects of the Astros’ transgression on opposing players; and the ethically fraught choices necessary to participate in sign-stealing. Ultimately, it links the Astros’ choices to the sporting world’s obsession with analytics. What emerges is a sobering tale about the impact of new technology on a game whose romanticized image feels increasingly incongruous with its reality in the era of big data and video.