Astros: Mckinsey Strikes Out
What happens when a bunch of fleece-vested jabronis take over a Major League Baseball team?
Becca and Adam hop the fence at the stadium formerly known as Enron field and bring you the tea from the front-office of the Houston Astros.
Two years after the Astros won the World Series, the Athletic dropped a bombshell: the team had cheated. The public fallout was swift - fines were levied, rules were changed, and championships were threatened. The players and coaches bore the brunt of the blame, while the true schemers at the root of the scandal evaded scrutiny. That is until a group of tenacious reporters uncovered how Astros leadership were infected by the business villains in All-Birds, (otherwise known as McKinsey consultants).
If you listened to our episode on McKinsey you know what happens next. Values were trashed as profits were maxed by any means possible. Ultimately, the Astros clubhouse became an environment where cheating was acceptable. Because after all, Winning Fixes Everything
Houston Astros owner Jim Crane keeps a close eye on things in his office at Minute Maid Park (Papercity Profile)
Jim Crane as a boy in Missouri
Obama photographed during a round of golf with Jim Crane and Tiger Woods at the Floridian
In 2019 Crane’s Ex wife, Franci Neeley had a full Karen moment, caught on camera, made the news the whole thing.
2017 - Astros owner Jim Crane and Whitney Wheeler were wed at his Floridian National Golf Club, near Palm Beach. (Photo by Terry Gruber of Gruber Photography)
Jim Crane and Whitney Wheeler at a Texas Children’s hospital fundraiser at the very swanky Post Oak Hotel in February 2024.
Meet Jeff Luhnow
Luhnow receiving the 2017 Esurance Executive of the Year award for the BLB
I <3 the Fraud Triangle
In 2015, Rob Manfred took over as commissioner of Major League Baseball from his predecessor Bud Selig
The cheating worked! The Astros won 101 games in 2017, finishing first in the American League West. They went on to beat the dodgers in the World Series and became the champions.
The world series win was a huge moment for the city of Houston as well - I remember being really excited for the team and the city, which had been battered by Hurricane Harvey a few months prior.
If you’re wondering, according to colleagues, Luhnow is a Trump supporter. “Jeff’s a rich white guy, of course he’s a Republican,” said one colleague.
On November 12, 2019. When Evan Drellich, a reporter at the Athletic and the author of this book, drops a bombshell
Jeff Luhnow now owns two Sports teams - Cancun FC, a Mexican Futbol club, and Leganes, which is a Futobol Club in in Spain.