Major League Baseball vs. Unlucky Gamblers
I probably have a few words to say about today’s announcement by Major League Baseball about a disciplinary action. Have you seen it? Link here, but here’s the key paragraph:
In March 2024, MLB learned from a legal sports betting operator that it had identified past baseball betting activity from accounts connected to multiple Major and Minor League players. MLB obtained data from that operator and other sportsbooks, including authentication data for bets. None of these players played in any game on which they placed a bet. Further, all of the players denied that they had any inside information relevant to the bets or that any of the baseball games they bet on were compromised or manipulated, and the betting data does not suggest that any outcomes in the baseball games on which they placed bets were compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way. None of the players are appealing their discipline.
Press relase from Major League Baseball, dated 6 June 2024
Major League infielder/outfielder Tucupita Marcano has been ruled ineligible for life, and Major League pitcher Michael Kelly and two Minor League players have been ruled ineligible for one year, for participating in sports betting. That terminology is legalese; it means they’re banned from participating in major or minor league baseball play for the time period noted, which is the highest form of punishment MLB can dish out.
That means a player “ruled ineligible” can’t play in games, can’t manange or train other players, can’t work in the front or back office, and will never be able to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Betting has been a cardinal sin in baseball going back a very long time. The leaders of the league hated the scandal that fans and historians call the Black Sox. Back in 1919, players on the Chicago White Sox were accused of fixing the outcome of the World Series for a payout from a mob boss, Arnold Rothstein. In response to the scandal, team owners created a new office of the Commissioner of Baseball and the person selected, Kennesaw Landis, demanded full power over the game and the players, includingi the ability to permanently ban anyone. Despite the players being acquitted in court, the new Commissioner of Baseball, flexed that ability by banning all eight White Sox players forever.
If this sounds familiar, it’s backstory for one of my all-time favorite baseball movies, Field of Dreams. Ray Liotta played a very sympathetic “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who would have been a Hall of Famer for triples and career bests in home runs, except for this little scandal.
The list of people ruled ineligible isn’t that long but there are some famous names on there. Willy Mays in 1980 and Mickey Mantle in 1983, of all people, were banned after they were retired, all because they took a job promoting a casino in Atlantic City. The bans were eventually overturned.
George Steinbrenner, owner of the Fucking Yankers, was banned for trying to blackmail a player, 12-time MLB All-Star, seven-time Gold Glove Award winner, and six-time Silver Slugger Award winner, Dave Winfield. What a fucking mess. I’ve never understood Steinbrenner’s motivation here; just an enormous asshole. When Bud Selig took over the Commissioner’s seat, he reinstated Steinbrenner, creating a stain on both of their tenures.
Marge Schott, owner of the Cincinatti Reds, was banned in 1996 for being a fucking racist in public. That’s all that needs to be said. Bud Selig was the one who declared Schott ineligible, which just proves even a broken clock can be right sometimes.
And of course, the most famous player banned from baseball is Pete Rose. I’ve always been on Pete Rose’s side in the story; he did bet on his team, the Cincinatti Reds, but never betted against them. But as I said, betting is the worst sin. Rose’s case is unique in that the ban wasn’t unilaterally given by the Commissioner; Rose agreed there was a case, and it was instituted by mutual agreement. I hold out hope that this be overturned at some point but it’s unlikely and sad.