The MLB Commissioner held senior leadership accountable for illegal sign stealing - even though the conduct generally involved players and low-level operations employees.

On January 13, 2020, Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner, Robert D. Manfred, Jr., handed down significant punishment to the Houston Astros organization (the “Ballclub” or “team”), its General Manager Jeff Luhnow and Field Manager A.J. Hinch following MLB’s investigation into sign-stealing by the Ballclub during the 2017 season and playoffs, a year in which the team won the World Series. The Commissioner determined that the Ballclub will forfeit their regular first and second round draft selections in the 2020 and 2021 player drafts and pay a US$5 million fine (the maximum allowed under the Major League Constitution). The General Manager and Field Manager were both suspended without pay effective immediately through the completion of the 2020 World Series in October, meaning they would miss a full season of baseball. Shortly after the Commissioner announced his decision, the team’s owner, Jim Crane, fired both the General Manager and Field Manager, stating that “I have higher standards for the city and the franchise, and I am going above and beyond MLB’s penalty,” and that while “[n]either one of them started this, neither one of them did anything about it. …We will not have this happen again on my watch.”