Jason Giambi doesn’t condone cheating, but the former New York Yankees slugger doesn’t seem surprised to see it happening in MLB, whether it’s the steroid era or the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. The truth is, the league has a long history of cheating.
Houston beat the Twins in a 2017 game during which an Astros fan recorded 48 instances of banging a trash can to tip pitches. Jose Berrios was knocked out during an eight-run second inning. Baseball fans have decided cheating is no longer acceptable in any form. (Or at least they better.
Giambi, who is up for baseball’s Hall of Fame for the first time this year, went on SNY, a regional sports channel in New York, and shared his thoughts on what the Astros did during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, during which they won the World Series.
“It’s no different than the PEDs,” Giambi said on SNY, via NJ.com. “There’s always going to be things going in this game when you’re talking about people making a lot of money and wanting to win.”
Giambi admitted to steroid use in 2017 after a two-year period of apologizing by not fully owning up to the rule-breaking. He found that, upon opening up about his wrongdoing, the baseball community finally welcomed him after getting shunned during his years of lying about his usage. It gave his career a second life.
“I sleep at night great,” Giambi said. “I don’t have to worry about it. The biggest thing that came out of it is I created a whole new set of fans who first gave me a second chance, but also I don’t know how many parents I run into that say ‘Hey, thank you so much for coming forward where I can tell my children if they make a mistake to tell the truth.’
“I think that’s the biggest thing that came out of that, and I think that’s what helped me be embraced for the second time around. It was because of that situation.”
If he is guilt-free after using steroids, then does he think the Astros — after issuinga pathetic series of apologies — can move on without guilt? Perhaps they, too, have to properly own their actions before the MLB community will embrace their successes. Perhaps Houston will amend their awful apology in quicker fashion than it took Giambi. And perhaps once the Astros show true accountability, baseball can move on.
While the Astros likely expected hostility from opposing fans at road games across the Grapefruit League, the first week of spring training has already seen the heckling unfold at the Astros’ home facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.
And it’s getting to the point where Astros players can’t ignore the noise.
During Sunday’s Grapefruit League game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Jose Altuve was waiting in the on-deck circle as a fan let the Astros star hear about the tainted 2017 American League MVP award.
This fan shouted at Altuve to give his MVP “back” to the 2017 runner-up Aaron Judge, and Altuve could be seen engaging with the fan’s heckling.
Judge himself admitted that he deleted a congratulatory tweet to Altuve upon seeing the initial news of the Astros cheating scandal.
“They cheated. It didn’t sit well with me, and I just didn’t feel like the post that I did really meant the same anymore,” Judge said at Yankees spring training.
Though we can’t hear what Altuve said back to the fan, it’s not a particularly encouraging sign for the Astros if these remarks are getting to them a week into spring training. The games across the Grapefruit League typically present far more subdued atmospheres than what the Astros will see in the regular season.
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And if that is getting under Altuve’s skin, you can only imagine what the 81 road games will be like this regular season.