When former Houston Astros GM Jeff Luhnow's fall from grace signaled the end of his tenure in the aftermath of 2017 cheating scandal

In an October 2019 interview with Vanessa Richardson, former Houston Astros GM Jeff Luhnow for the first time opened up about falling from grace with the team's 2017 sign-stealing cheating scandal.

Apparently, in 2017, Houston Astros were found to have engaged in stealing signs from opposing teams.The scheme involved using cameras and other electronic devices to illegally record and decipher the signs being used by the opposing team's catchers, which were then relayed to the Astros' batters in real time. This gave the Astros an unfair advantage during games, as their batters knew which pitches were coming and could adjust their swings accordingly.

The scandal was uncovered in 2019 following an investigation by MLB, which found that the Astros had indeed used this scheme during the 2017 season and into the postseason, including the World Series, which they won that year.

Jeff was suspended by MLB for his involvement in the widespread cheating scheme. On the same day, Houston Astros owner Jim Crane terminated his employment along with former Astros' manager A.J Hinch.

"It’s not a day I ever want to re-live, and it’s not a day I would ever want even my worst enemy to have to live through. It was the culmination of two pretty rough months; finding out in early November that our team had indeed broken the rules and had indeed cheated in 2017 and in parts of 2018 was devastating to me. It was devastating to our fans. And getting suspended by Major League Baseball; because I was GM during that time, I figured I would get some punishment. I figured I was looking at some suspension because I was the GM. I was not expecting a year-long suspension, I was certainly not expecting for the team I spent eight years building to fire me and let me go. So it was tough, no question about it," said Luhnow when Vanessa asked him about getting fired by Astros.

"Astros owner Jim Crane announces that GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch have been fired." - The Athletic MLB

Additionally, Houston Astros was fined and stripped of draft picks.

Jeff Luhnow's ultimate regret: Houston Astros' 2017 World Series title tainted

Colorado Rockies v Houston Astros

In the same October 2019 interview with Vanessa Richardson, former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow expressed remorse after MLB world question the team's 2017 World Series title in the wake of the sign-stealing scandal.

"Undoubtedly, the fact that the success has been stained by what happened in 2017, and ’18 to a certain extent. Vanessa, you gotta go back, you weren’t here… we were terrible. 2011, 2012, 2013.. It was the worst team in baseball and it wasn’t even close. And we didn’t have a very good farm system either. We turned it around completely. By 2015, we made the playoffs. Think about it. 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020… five playoffs in six years. Four American League Championships in a row. Two World Series appearances, one title. That’s a run that no other team has been on in baseball has been on that type of run," Luhnow explained.

Jeff had further plans to enhance the team's dominance over time. Instead, his world came crashing down after he was sacked from the organization.