Not happy with Astros? Neither was this Cubs fan

Brendan Donley doesn’t have much time to talk — a Houston Astros’ spring training game against the Miami Marlins will be starting soon, writes Chuck Schilken of the Los Angeles Times.

Donley isn’t an Astros fan. But the 27-yearold writer from Michigan doesn’t have time for many things lately because of the team whose sign-stealing scandal has rocked baseball.

“I’m barely sleeping and eating because I’m trying to monitor everything, come up with content,” Donley said Friday via phone.

Donley is the mastermind behind the “2020 Astros Shame Tour” Twitter account, which goes by the handle @Asterisktour. The concept is simple — “One year to shame them all, one year to jeer them, one year to boo them all and from your seat deride them,” according to the account’s bio.

A lifelong baseball fan, particularly of the Chicago Cubs, Donley said he felt a “helpless anger” when he learned the Astros illegally used technology to steal signs during their 2017 World Series run and part of the 2018 season. He was unhappy with members of the team for their perceived lack of remorse and with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for seeming to go easy on the participants in the scheme.

“Just the same feeling I had when I was a kid during the steroid era,” Donley said. “You feel deceived . ... Just make it up to us — properly apologize or take the proper punishment. Neither of those two things happened.”

Unable to find anywhere online to vent with like-minded fans, Donley decided to create a hub himself. He created the “Shame Tour” account and started posting on Feb. 15.

As of Saturday, the account had more than 134,000 followers.

“What I love about this, I’m glad there’s somewhere we can go and come together and share laughs about it, share the anger,” Donley said.

The feed features clips of every time an Astros batter gets hit by a pitch (seven times so far during spring training games) as well as other items he finds while scouring Twitter for anything Astros related.

Donley says he has no intention of letting the Astros off the hook, at least not this season.

“I’m in too deep now,” he said. “I might have to drop some of my other projects. I can’t bail now.”

Trivia question

On this date in 1969, Yankees great Mickey Mantle retired after 18 seasons. How many times was he selected for All-star Games?

They said it

• From Jim Barach of Jokesbyjim.blogspot.com, after an Astros batter was hit with the fourth pitch of a spring training game: “But only because the opposing pitcher missed him with the first three.”

• From Ravens guard Bradley Bozeman ,to ESPN, on the state of his stomach after downing a 72-ounce slab of meat to win The Big Texan Steak Ranch eating challenge in Amarillo, Texas: “It was making every noise I’ve ever heard and plus some.”

• From Bob Molinaro of the Norfolk Virginian-pilot, on the Orioles playing split-squad games in spring training: “C’mon now. The Birds don’t have enough big-league players for even one squad.”

Trivia answer

Mantle was selected for the All-star Game 20 times. From 1959-62, two All-star Games were held each season.