⚾ Biggest sports punishments: Astros' $5M fine, two firings top

Luhnow denied knowing, Brady admitted no wrongdoing and the Pakistan cricketers denied the charges. These are the rulings on record. 🗣️

By , sports desk · Desk editor Gustavs Ērkšķis-Kreicbergs · · 3 min read

Photo: Houston-Astros-Logo.svg: Houston Astros derivative work: Trlkly, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Desaturated and cropped by MrScandal.

By the numbers

  • 1 mofrom first to latest entry on recordJan 2020 to Feb 2020, 3 dated entries in the file
  • 10receipts behind this story9 news reports, 1 statement, 1988 to 2020
  • #3in biggest punishments in sportAlex Rodriguez: Biogenesis doping suspension, 2013. Scandal Score 87 of 100

Counted by MrScandal from the receipts, the Files and our rankings.

MrMuscles keeps a scoreboard for sport's heaviest punishments. Five cases made this Pantheon, ranked by the MrScandal Scandal Score from 0 to 100. Four were decided by a league, a tribunal, an Olympic body or a court. One rests on the athlete's own admission. Rulings are stated plainly below, and every denial sits next to the penalty it answered.

What we know

  • MLB's commissioner fined the Houston Astros $5 million and took their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, per MLB's decision.
  • An ICC tribunal found Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt guilty of corruption and gave Amir a five-year ban, per BBC Sport.
  • The IOC stripped Ben Johnson of the 1988 Olympic 100m gold after a stanozolol test and awarded it to Carl Lewis, per Sports Illustrated.
  • Alex Rodriguez told ESPN he took a banned substance while with the Texas Rangers, per ESPN's report of the interview.
  • A federal appeals court reinstated Tom Brady's four-game suspension; the Patriots lost two draft picks and paid a $1 million fine, per NFL.com.
RankWhoYearScandal ScoreMoney on recordRecordWhy it ranks
1Houston Astros202096$5 million (about $6.4 million in 2026 dollars)AdjudicatedFine, lost first- and second-round picks in 2020 and 2021, GM and manager fired
2Mohammad Amir201093No money figure on recordAdjudicatedICC ban of five years; PCB suspended central contracts of Butt, Amir and Asif
3Ben Johnson198887No money figure on recordAdjudicated1988 Olympic 100m gold stripped and awarded to Carl Lewis; lifetime ban from Canada's national team
4Alex Rodriguez200953No money figure on recordAdmittedAdmission to ESPN; no adjudicated penalty in the documents read
5Tom Brady201543$1 million in fines (about $1.4 million in 2026 dollars)AdjudicatedFour-game suspension served; Patriots lost a 2016 first-round and a 2017 fourth-round pick
01

Houston Astros: sign-stealing, fined and stripped of picks

Commissioner Rob Manfred's decision found the Astros used a live camera feed and a banged trash can to relay opposing signs in 2017, and fined the club $5 million. They lost first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, and owner Jim Crane fired GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch within the hour. Luhnow "adamantly denies knowledge" of the schemes, per USA Today; Hinch said he knew and, in Manfred's words, "admits he did not stop it."

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02

Mohammad Amir: five-year ICC ban for the Lord's no-balls

An independent ICC tribunal found the charge proved that Amir agreed to bowl and did bowl two deliberate no-balls in the Lord's Test, and gave him five years of ineligibility. Butt received 10 years with five suspended and Asif seven with two suspended. The three have always denied wrongdoing, per BBC Sport; Amir's lawyer said they were "hopeful we can appeal."

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03

Ben Johnson: gold medal gone in 72 hours

Sports Illustrated reported that Johnson ran 9.79 in the Seoul 100m, then tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. The IOC executive board found him guilty of violating its rules, declared the race null, stripped his gold and awarded it to Lewis. Canada's sports minister announced a lifetime ban from the national team, while Johnson's manager insisted foul play and Johnson himself said nothing in public.

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04

Alex Rodriguez: the admission, with no penalty attached in these documents

Rodriguez told ESPN's Peter Gammons: "I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful." He said the use came with the Texas Rangers beginning in 2001 and that he did not know exactly what he took. Per the New York Times, he was not subject to suspension by baseball, because the 2003 test came before punishments were enacted.

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05

Tom Brady: four games, upheld on appeal

The NFL suspended Brady for four games after an NFL-commissioned investigation concluded it was "more probable than not" that he was "generally aware" of Patriots staff deflating footballs. A federal appeals court reinstated the suspension and Brady later dropped his appeal; he did not admit wrongdoing, and owner Robert Kraft called the penalty "unprecedented, unjust and unreasonable." The Patriots paid a $1 million fine and lost a 2016 first-round and a 2017 fourth-round pick.

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How the score works: https://mrscandal.com/pantheon/methodology

Earlier on file: Investors sue Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen over FTX promotion · Biggest punishments in sport: Armstrong's stripped titles lead · Astros fined $5M, lose four draft picks; Hinch, Luhnow suspended

The Houston Astros file

Last entry Feb 10, 2020
  1. Filed

    Pitcher Mike Bolsinger sued the Astros in Los Angeles Superior Court; the team said it was not commenting. Astros fined $5M, lose four draft picks; Hinch, Luhnow suspended

  2. Ruled

    MLB fines Astros $5 million, removes 2020-2021 first- and second-round picks; Luhnow and Hinch suspended, then fired. Biggest punishments in sport: Armstrong's stripped titles lead

  3. Ruled

    MLB commissioner fined the Astros $5 million and removed first- and second-round picks for 2020 and 2021, per MLB's decision. This story

On file: The Houston Astros file · The Alex Rodriguez file · The Ben Johnson file · The Mohammad Amir file · The Tom Brady file

The Ledger

On the record

  • MLB fined the Astros $5 million and removed four draft picks; an ICC tribunal banned Amir for five years; the IOC stripped Johnson's gold; Rodriguez admitted using a banned substance; a federal appeals court reinstated Brady's four-game suspension.

Still rumour

  • The 162-game suspension in Rodriguez's ranking label is not stated in the documents read; the criminal charges announced against the Pakistan trio and the result of any appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport are not covered in them either.

That's the record. The rest is rumour. - MrMuscles

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