were suspended one year for violating MLB policies in a sign stealing scandal in 2017. The investigation revealed that Hinch did not approve of the players using a replay monitor to decode signs, and even went as far as to wreck the monitor on at least two occasions. However, he admitted that he did not stop the practice or explicitly let it be known that he disapproved of it. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred harshly criticized Hinch for not doing more to stop the scheme. According to Manfred, the manager is responsible for "ensuring that the players both understand the rules and adhere to them.” Manfred concluded that there was "no justification for Hinch's failure to act,” since Hinch was the players’ immediate supervisor. If Hinch commits further "material violations" of baseball rules, he will be permanently banned from baseball. Hinch fully expected to be suspended, but believed Manfred would only suspend him for a month at most. The year-long suspension was the second-most severe punishment in baseball history meted out to a manager for in-game misconduct. The only longer suspension was for St. Louis Browns manager Jack O'Connor, who was banned for life for trying to throw the 1910 American League batting title to Nap Lajoie by bribing the official scorer to change a hit on error to a hit in the final game of the season. Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora was also handed a year-long suspension for his role in the scandal, but was sanctioned for his actions as the Astros' bench coach. On the same day, Astros owner Jim Crane fired Hinch and Luhnow, saying, "Neither one of them started this but neither one of them did anything about it." Crane said that he was going beyond MLB's sanctions because he had "higher standards for the city and the franchise." Largely on the strength of his final three seasons–all but one of the four 100-win seasons in franchise history at the time of his firing–Hinch ended his tenure as the second winningest manager in Astros history, behind only Bill Virdon. As of the end of the 2019 season, his .594 winning percentage is the highest in franchise history. Detroit Tigers On October 30, 2020, Hinch was named the manager of the Detroit Tigers, agreeing on a multi-year contract. Managerial record References External links A. J. Hinch at Baseball Gauge 1974 births Living people All-American college baseball