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An interview with Jose Altuve after his huge home run to send the Houston Astros to the World Series last season — coupled with the infielder’s behavior after the homer — have fueled speculation about the Astros illegally using an electronic buzzer to communicate signs.
Altuve hit a monster home run off Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6 of the ALCS against the Yankees last October. As Altuve approached home plate, he was seen making a conscious effort to keep his jersey closed and getsured to teammates to not rip it off in celebration.
Here’s the clip of Altuve screaming at his teammates not to rip his jersey off including audio from the interview with @Ken_Rosenthal. pic.twitter.com/y7Lv76QFpX
— ً (@NYYDJ2) January 14, 2020
Altuve then was asked by Ken Rosenthal in a post-game interview about not wanting his jersey ripped off. He asked for the question to be repeated — the only time that interview he needed a question repeated — and then said his wife got upset last time it was taken off.
It was almost like he was buying time to come up with an answer.
Jose Altuve’s reason for not wanting his teammates to rip his jersey pic.twitter.com/gl8FDWG7Ay
— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) October 20, 2019
Altuve also went into a private area to change into his American League champions T-shirt before coming back onto the field.
Jose Altuve went all the way down through the dugout and into the clubhouse to take his jersey off after that homer while his team was celebrating in the field. pic.twitter.com/mJG2UiHiB7
— Shelfy (@RealShelfy) January 16, 2020
Jose Altuve takes his LCS Champs tee in hand to the dugout, still in uniform; where he seems to change privately unlike his teammates on field, later reappearing to do the Rosenthal interview wearing the tee. pic.twitter.com/AMRtWe2OFr
— ً (@NYYDJ2) January 16, 2020
There has been speculation that some Astros players wore electronic buzzers, possibly under their jerseys, through which they could be signaled which pitch was coming.
Altuve’s agent Scott Boras addressed the electronic buzzer speculation.
Reach out to Scott Boras about his client Jose Altuve: “When this came up today, Jose Altuve immediately contacted me and this is his statement: ‘I have never worn an electronic device in my performance as a major league player.’” #Astros
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 16, 2020
I asked Boras about Altuve not wanting to have his shirt ripped off as he came to home plate to end the ALCS and Boras said, "that is the shyness of Jose Altuve." Said his client didn't want the shirt ripped off.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 16, 2020
There were also questions online whether Josh Reddick had something like that on his body in this photo, though some believe it was confetti.
Many teams and players around baseball that lost to Houston are upset. Former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia has said he felt “cheated" Former Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer has long insinuated the Astros were up to no good.
And on Thursday, Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger lashed out at the Astros via Twitter.
They shouldn’t feel comfortable looking at any of us in the eye let alone on the field and any other MLB player feel different, they can get it too=
— (@Mike_Anthony13) January 16, 2020
Best part is their fans still actin with the same pompous ass attitude those boys walked with, while taking millions of dollars from boys and jobs completely, staring at the camera, carrying a bat to first, maybe some don’t get it.But this is worse than steroids.
— Mike ℕℍℕ Clevinger (@Mike_Anthony13) January 16, 2020
More must-reads:
- Astros star Jose Altuve denies wearing electronic buzzer
- MLB: No evidence Astros used wearable devices
- The 'NBA Slam Dunk Contest winners' quiz
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