Tuesday morning, The New York Times published a fascinating headline: “Cardinals Face F.B.I. Inquiry in Hacking of Astros’ Network.” At first glanc,e the story might appear to sports fans as another example of a team stretching the rules for a meaningless advantage, i.e. “spygate” or “deflategate.” However, this alleged incident, if true, would be an unequivocal breach of law. As Times reporter Michael S. Schmidt stated, “The attack would represent the first known case of corporate espionage in which a professional sports team hacked the network of another team.”
The alleged incident apparently revolves around the work of former St. Louis Cardinals front office executive Jeff Luhnow. Luhnow is now General Manager for the Astros. During his time with the Cardinals, Luhnow, a major proponent of “moneyball” sabermetrics, set up a proprietary computer network called Redbird to process all of their player information. Luhnow took his concepts to Houston and built a system called Ground Control.
The immediate reaction across Twitter was swift and damning. Major League Baseball tweeted out the following statement, part of which read, “”Once the investigative process has been completed by federal law enforcement officials, we will evaluate the next steps and will make decisions promptly.”
MLB statement regarding investigation into last year’s security breach involving Astros: pic.twitter.com/eGgrfLYDon
— MLB (@MLB) June 16, 2015
Sports Illustrated legal expert Michael McCann tweeted:
It’s telling Major League Baseball is already calling it an “illegal breach” rather than an “alleged illegal breach.” Someone broke the law.
— Michael McCann (@McCannSportsLaw) June 16, 2015
The incident represents an explosive combination of issues for Major League Baseball. On the most basic level, it is a story of a petty personal rivalry that escalated to alleged illegality. It raises the question of how and why a successful organization feels compelled to flaunt rules and laws to gain a questionable edge. Now, just like the NFL, MLB is forced to adjudicate Nixonian tactics. The story also represents another case study in how technology can be advantageously employed off the playing field. Recently, the Atlanta Falcons were punished for piping extra crowd noise over their speakers, and the Cleveland Browns were penalized for illegal texting from skyboxes to the sideline during games. This is just the latest example of the effect of modern technology on games that have been around far longer.
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