Phillies

Astros Chairman Says Sign Stealing “Didn’t Impact the Game,” then Says It Did Impact the Game

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 13th, 2020 · 11:00 AM EST

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Astros press conference today.

It was relatively awkward, with Chairman Jim Crane joining Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and newly-hired manager Dusty Baker in front of reporters.

The 30-minute session was probably highlighted by this moment where Crane said that he didn’t think the sign-stealing affected the outcome of games, then said the opposite thing less than a minute later:

"Our opinion is that this didn't impact the game." – Jim Crane

"I didn't say it didn't impact the game." – Jim Crane 55 seconds later pic.twitter.com/MnpPeeTUPL

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) February 13, 2020

Crane did apologize in his opening, noting that he fired Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch after the GM and manager were initially suspended by Major League Baseball. He reiterated that he did not think the players should be punished.

Bregman and Altuve got up to speak, and offered apologies that went like this:

Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve apologize on behalf of the Astros for the sign-stealing scandal:

"We have learned from this, and we hope to regain the trust of baseball fans" pic.twitter.com/5cwjyHE1Q2

— SNY (@SNYtv) February 13, 2020

Here’s the entire thing if you wanna watch it:

https://twitter.com/astros/status/1227963153163542529?s=20