Former Phillies star Chase Utley is one of many players and teams named today in new cheating allegations.
Cheating has been a part of Major League Baseball since its inception. There were the 1919 Black Sox, Pete Rose, the Steroid Era, the 2017 Astros, and countless others. Cheating comes in different forms, but it all shares one common thread: you’re not playing the game ‘the right way.’
Lately, however, it feels like there are new cheating allegations in MLB every week, and this week is no exception. On Wednesday morning, Ryan Spaeder, MLB analyst and co-author of Incredible Baseball Stats, levied some serious accusations against numerous teams, including the Astros, Royals, Yankees, and Dodgers. He also directly named former MLB stars Adrian Beltre and Carlos Beltran.
The Phillies were not one of the teams named, though he did directly call out Utley, who made his MLB debut with the club in 2003 and played thirteen years in Philadephia before departing to the Dodgers for the remainder of his career. The 6-time All-Star and 4-time Silver Slugger retired after the 2018 season.
The Phillies might not be one of the many teams around MLB using the current methods of sign-stealing, but they have been accused in the past.
The Phillies were accused of using technology to steal signs numerous times in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
During a game at Coors Field in 2010, then-bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer was seen using binoculars in the bullpen. As ESPN reported at the time, then-Phillies manager Charlie Manuel contested the accusations, claiming that Billmeyer was watching their catcher Carlos Ruiz, and that he didn’t know it was even happening.
But Manuel did cop to the fact that the Phillies would be interested in stealing opposing teams’ signs if they could, presumably meaning the legal way, sans technology.
"“We were not trying to steal signs. Would we try to steal somebody’s signs? Yeah, if we can. But we don’t do that. We’re not going to let a guy stand up there in the bullpen with binoculars looking in. We’re smarter than that.” – Phillies manager Charlie Manuel"
The longtime rule in MLB is that if a team can interpret their opponent’s signs without technology (like a runner on second base figuring it out) and manage to relay them to your dugout, that’s allowed. It’s even considered impressive, being able to decipher code in the midst of a game. But using any form of equipment (cameras, Apple Watches, trash cans, binoculars) is against the rules.
Should MLB crack down on sign-stealing or change its rules?
At some point, MLB needs to ask itself what is cheating and what isn’t anymore. Maybe “player-driven schemes” like the Astros’ trashcan shenanigans go too far, but if every team has a video room, maybe that aspect of the rules needs to evolve. After all, in many ways, for better and worse, baseball remains rooted in the past.
But the real problem with cheating in MLB over the last few years has been that the office of the commissioner and its investigative team has cherrypicked which teams to investigate. The New York Yankees were named over seventy times in Evan Drellich‘s exposé of the Red Sox in The Athletic two years ago, yet only the Astros and Red Sox were subjected to lengthy investigations. Meanwhile, many executives and players around the league said they knew of plenty of other teams engaging in similar misbehavior.
If MLB truly cares about eliminating cheating – which feels like a fool’s errand after all this time – then they need to investigate every credible accusation. It’s simple: you either put in the effort to completely solve the problem, or you make scapegoats of teams or players so people think you’ve solved the problem. Based on the precedent set by the Steroid Era, it’s likely the latter.
Cheating has always been a part of sports, and unfortunately, that isn’t likely to change. If MLB bans something, teams will pivot to something new. Any form of cheating should be considered wrong, but since eradicating it throughout baseball seems impossible, it better to just let it continue unchecked? Or make some of it allowed? We’ve been in this grey area for over a century now.
It’s interesting to think about what the baseball landscape would look like today if then-commissioner Bud Selig had gone on a sign-stealing crusade akin to his one against performance-enhancing substances. Technology has evolved so much since that day at Coors Field, it’s likely Selig wouldn’t have been able to plug every hole in the dam.
In the end, the Phillies were accused of cheating numerous times by various teams in the early 2000s, and nothing ever really came of it.
Manuel’s response at the time? “Keep crying.”
Editor’s Note:
Spaeder has deleted his previous tweets (you can find them here) and issued a retraction.