A Slap on the Wrist

Shoeless Joe Jackson and the rest of the Black Sox were born too soon.  If they were around today, the baseball commissioner would’ve issued at most season-long suspensions before letting all eight players get on with their careers.  And that’s assuming an arbitrator let the punishments stand.

 

I’d argue the difference between what the Black Sox did vs. the Astros and Red Sox is more one of degree than kind, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred obviously feels otherwise.  Manfred ruled on the Red Sox stealing signs in 2018 and laid virtually the entire blame on the team’s video replay system operator.  It’s rulings like this that turn people into conspiracy nuts.

 

Manfred said his summary he didn’t find that the team’s coaching staff, front office or “most of the players on the 2018 Red Sox knew or should have known” what was happening.  Yeah, right.  This guy was acting all on his own, passing information to a “limited number of Red Sox players only.”  May I suggest a new team mascot, like an ostrich in a Red Sox jersey? 

 

The commissioner goes on to say that the team’s front office “took more than reasonable steps to ensure that [all] its employees…adhered to the rules.”  Then why penalize the team its second-round pick in the upcoming draft?  And, again, no players punished for cheating, just the video guy suspended for a year?

 

That sound you hear comes from the Black Sox collectively spinning in their graves.