Major League baseball has evolved from the 

days of spit balls, bean balls and sliding into base,
spikes first. 

   Today careers are everything, and players are unionized...fraternal. Except when they're not.  
    

 Cheaters! 

   When the Houston Astros held their first spring workout, an impolite man was beating on a garbage can. That was the method by which Astros relayed stolen pitch signs to their hitters - on their way to the 2017 world championship and beyond. So much for, "Yeh, we did that, but let's put that behind us and move on." Whatever you say, guys. 

   Unlike the old days when players normally stayed with the same team, today a cheater might later find himself in the same locker room with someone he cheated. It's more than winning games; it's affecting fellow union members' stats...or worse, ending a young pitcher's career before it takes hold. 
   
   Victims, along with pitchers, include catchers, coaches, bosses, team owners, fans and business partners. Here are lines from just a few unhappy pitchers:

  "People lost jobs, lost opportunities. It shows you how the ego can take over and blind you from what's true, what's right." - Chris Archer 
   
   "I would rather face a player that was taking steroids than a player that knew every pitch that was coming." - Alex Wood

   "I'm not going to let them forget the fact that they are hypocrites; they are cheaters. They've stolen from a lot of people and the game itself." - Trevor Bauer

   "It's a disgrace what they've done and they're going to have to live with it." 
- David Robertson 
   
   "Somebody in that locker room had to say, 'This is (messed) up. 
We shouldn't be doing this. We're cheating other players.'" - Andrew Heaney 

   Pitcher Mike Bolsinger, who never got back in the majors after getting pounded in one-third of an inning, filed a lawsuit. 

   Maybe the bean-ball will have a comeback this season.

       Jimmy