He shouldn’t expect any “Get Well” cards with a Bronx postmark.
No other player draws the hate from Yankees fans like Astros second baseman Jose Altuve — partially because he’s a terrific player who has beaten the Yankees time and again, in the regular season and postseason; partially because he’s seen as a cheater who stole a championship from the Yankees in 2017 and an MVP from Aaron Judge.
It’s been five years since the cheating scandal and fans still greet him with “[Bleep] Altuve!” chants at Yankee Stadium.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Altuve will miss roughly the first two months of the season with a broken right thumb after being hit by a pitch in the World Baseball Classic.
Altuve was removed during the fifth inning of Saturday night’s game between United States and Venezuela after being hit on the right hand with a 95-mph sinker from Daniel Bard that hit Altuve in the right thumb and knocked him to the ground.
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Do Yankees fans wish him a speedy recovery? Maybe not. But they probably want him back in time for the August series at Yankee Stadium. If the Yankees can’t get past the Astros in the postseason, at least they can troll Altuve.
Think Yankees fans have forgotten? Check out the replies to this tweet that tried to absolve Altuve from cheating.
Heck, even Judge enjoys mocking him. In 2021, after hitting a homer in. Houston, Judge’s two-handed shirt tugging during his home run trot surely was a subtle message that he believed Altuve was wearing a sign-stealing contraption under his jersey when he hit that pennant-winning homer off Aroldis Chapman in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS.
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“No,” Judge said with a smirk at the time. “Whenever they keep the roof closed here it’s pretty chilly, so I was just letting my team know to button it up.”
Last fall, when the two teams met in the ALCS and the Yankees were swept, Altuve was neutered by a deep slump and wasn’t really a threat. Still, Yankees fans celebrated his misery at the plate.
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