Letters: Cheating has become the American (League) way

Cartoonist Jim Thompson illustrates the Astros' sign-stealing scandal.

Jan. 17, 2020 4:34 PM PT

Dear Houston and Boston,

Yours, Los Angeles

Steve Alcorn

Sierra Madre

I have a Hinch that baseball is rotten to the Cora.

Lewis Leader

Carmel Valley, Calif.

I find it hard to believe that such an analytics-based team as the Dodgers couldn’t have figured out something fishy was going on and taken appropriate countermeasures.

To paraphrase an old saying: Steal my signs once, shame on you; steal my signs twice, shame on me.

Bennett Beebe

Westwood

If baseball players know that only management will be held accountable for cheating, why shouldn’t they continue to cheat as much as possible?

Bill Nuss

Brentwood

If the Dodgers feel at all cheated in losing to the Astros in the World Series, then just perhaps they will have a sense of how 70% of their fan base has felt for the last six years after having been robbed of their viewing access to games.

Bill Waxman

Simi Valley

It is easy to understand Major League Baseball’s position on ignoring flagrant rule violations. After all what did they do about the obvious knowledge of steroid use? Absolutely nothing because it increased the interest it brought to the sport and that ultimately brought in more revenue. The Dodgers may or may not have realized what was going on, especially twice, but do they really care as long as revenue is up and the bottom line is very positive?

Edward A. Sussman

Fountain Valley

I for one would like to keep track of who was on that 2017 Houston team of dirty lowdown cheaters as I am watching future baseball games on TV, or live at my local ballpark.

I propose large black patches on each of their game-day uniforms, so even if they were subsequently traded, the scoundrels will be readily identifiable for the rest of their careers. Sort of a scarlet letter as it were.

Dan Husband

Huntington Beach

The real weakness in all this is that the Astros get to keep their World Series title. If the commissioner has any real integrity he would have vacated the title. He should not give it to the Dodgers because they did not win it. But taking away the title would punish both the organization and the players. The players are paying no price for cheating. They knew what they were involved in and took advantage of it. Take away the title and their giant gaudy rings become a scarlet letter. They will forever be known as a team that cheated to win and will never be able to wash away that stain.

Jay Slater

Los Angeles

If I discover that one of my students received an “A” by cheating, that student’s grade is vacated. Why should the Astros be treated differently? If MLB allows them to keep their World Series title, what will this teach our children?

Kelly Gallagher

Santa Ana

Did Commissioner Manfred earn his degree from the Vince McMahon School of Ethics in Sports?

Mike Kichaven

Sherman Oaks

If Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life, Alex Cora should be too!

Robert Parra

Rowland Heights

First, MLB has finally decided that the Astros cheated during the 2017 World Series, robbing the Dodgers. Next I found out that the Dodgers have signed Alex Wood for the 2020 season. Geez, I feel so much better now.

Wayne Kamiya

El Segundo

Not about the signs

Another typical Dodger offseason full of speculation and no action. Why would Stephen Strasburg or Gerrit Cole want to pitch for the Dodgers? So Dave Roberts can take them out of the game in the sixth inning after throwing 88 pitches? Why would Anthony Rendon or Josh Donaldson want to play third for the Dodgers? So Roberts can change their place in the batting order every game and sit them every fourth game so they “can be rested for October”?

Stan Kasten doesn’t have to worry about signing big-name free agents because it’s mutual, he doesn’t want to spend and they don’t want to come to L.A. Can’t wait for the excuses when Corey Seager signs with Atlanta and Cody Bellinger signs with the Yankees next year after being blamed for the loss to the Nationals in the playoffs.

But hey, the $100-million renovation at the stadium is right on schedule!

Scott Anderson

Tehachapi

Pay in megadollars is not small, even if a million dollars isn’t what it used to be.

However, comparing all the reported amounts, how can Max Muncy ask for so (comparatively) little? And how can the team not up his ask?

Bob Wieting

Simi Valley

Let me get this straight. The Dodgers sign a TV broadcast deal with Spectrum for over $8 billion. Bill Plaschke thinks that somehow the Dodgers are at fault for not giving away their product for free to non-Spectrum subscribers? Why doesn’t he interview DirecTV and Dish executives? You gotta pay if you want to play!

Bob Trentham

Palmdale

As a Detroit sports fan, I can only laugh at the grousing of my L.A. counterparts. Let’s review:

Detroit Tigers? Worst record in baseball last two years with no significant improvement on the horizon. Lions? Never appeared in a Super Bowl. Haven’t won a playoff game in 30 years. Record number of first-round draft choice busts. Red Wings? Worst record in hockey. Pistons? Another lottery year. No playoff win in a dozen years. Squandered overall No. 2 draft pick in 2003 on Darko Milicic, leaving Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade on the board. Michigan football was once a perennial title contender, but has never recovered its mojo since losing to Appalachian State in 2007.

You think maybe L.A. fans need a reality check?

Alan B. Posner

Santa Barbara

Roberts’ fellowship

What a disgrace! Dodger manager Dave Roberts agrees to be the keynote speaker for a Christian organization that is openly oppressive of homosexuals. He defends his decision saying “I love everyone and everyone is entitled to make their own decisions,” and “I’m not here to judge.”

He says that he will not directly challenge their position on homosexuality. And you give him a pass.

I was a 6-year-old boy and a Dodgers fan when Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play major league baseball. I heard Dodgers fans booing him on the radio. Robinson’s courage in speaking out against racism and continuing to play baseball while being called racist names was an act of courage that I will never forget. It changed my life.

Clearly Roberts does not have that kind of courage.

Julian Weissglass

Santa Barbara

So everything to LZ Granderson is either racism or bigotry. The problem is that those he accuses or insinuates are guilty of neither. Believing marriage is between a man and a woman as many Christian groups do is not bigotry.

Can you ask him to write about sports? Or does he know nothing about the subject?

Patrick Devine

Redondo Beach

Coach O wins the big one

USC did not feel that Ed Orgeron fit the image of USC. He was too rough looking, too tough talking and not refined enough. Not the type of person to represent USC. So they let him go. They were right — he doesn’t fit. He’s a winner.

Richard Zoesch

Corona

Just curious if LSU sent Pat Haden a thank you note….

Jerry Selby

Pasadena

Please, just stop, Bill

I was so looking forward to watching the UCLA-USC basketball game until I found out that Bill Walton was doing the commentary. Thank God for the mute button!

Kent M. Paul

Costa Mesa

I was totally turned off by Bill Walton’s constant ramblings about extraneous subjects that had nothing to do with the UCLA-USC game. The Big Redhead needs to be reminded the kids on the court are playing their hearts out, and should not be considered a sideshow for his nonsensical comments.

Art Sawyer

Fallbrook

I watched the ESPN telecast of the USC-UCLA basketball game last night because I wanted to see the game. I did not want to watch Bill Walton lick peanut butter off a camera lens.

Judith W. Hunter

Valley Village

Eight-slaps

UCLA coach Mick Cronin bemoans his team’s alleged “lack of toughness” and “softness” more than halfway through the season. Isn’t the essence of the coach’s job to instill the opposite of those traits into his players?

Noel Johnson

Glendale

In Bill Plaschke’s column, Jim Harrick’s defense that he “was told if it was over $25 to put some extra names on” the expense report is sadly, even poignantly ironic. As a faculty member at UCLA in the 1990s this was standard operating procedure in my academic department whenever we entertained prominent seminar speakers or candidates for positions. In addition to circumventing the unreasonable $25 limit per person by adding names, we also used faculty names to stand for graduate student attendees because reimbursement for students was not allowed by the “rules.”

UCLA’s treatment of Harrick is not only shameful, it’s hypocritical.

Henry Hespenheide

Hermosa Beach

Is it true that the tunnel between the home locker room and the field at the Rose Bowl is being renamed the Transfer Portal?

Alan Abajian

Alta Loma

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