Gambling in Baseball

Lesson EQ – How has gambling impacted the sport of baseball?

Top 5 Gambling Reports• 1865 – 3 players from Mutuals banned from

baseball from taking $100 to throw a game• 1877 – Louisville Grays lost 7 straight games– Players were banned– Players said owned failed to meet payroll

obligations• 1905 – John McGraw (Giants Manager) won

$400 betting team would win 1905 World Series

• 1919 – Black Sox

Top 5 Gambling Reports• 1926 – Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker involved in

scandal involving betting on fixed games in 1919 World Series– Result K.W. Landis – players found guilty of betting

on baseball suspended for one year; player found to bet on own team barred for life

• 1989 – Pete Rose banned from baseball– All time leader in hits and games played – Bet on own players while managing– 2004 – admitted to gambling on baseball

Pete Rose

• “Charlie Hustle”– All-time hits leader 4,192– Career• Player 1963-1986

– Red, Phillies, Expos

• Manager 1984-1989• 17 MLB Records• 7 NL Records

1970 All-Star GameRose and Indians Catcher Ray Fosse

The Scandal• Feb 1989 – Rose was questioned by MLB

Commissioner on report he had bet on baseball (Peter Ueberroth and Bart Giamatti)– Giamatti – John Down to investigate charges

• March 21 – SI first report on Rose’s gambling• Dowd Report – – Rose bet on 52 Reds games in 1987 ($10,000 a day)– No evidence Rose bet against Reds

The Scandal

• MLB Rule 21 MISCONDUCT, (d) Betting on Ball Games – Any player, umpire or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible

The Scandal• August 24, 1989 – Rose voluntarily accepted

permanent place on baseball’s ineligible list– Rose accepted there was factual reason for ban– MLB – no formal finding with regard to gambling

allegations• MLB Rules – Rose could apply for

reinstatement in 1 year– 1992, 1997 – applied for reinstatement

• 2004 – admitted to betting on baseball (including Reds) but never bet against Reds

Assignment• Read the article on Pete Rose and Gambling in

Baseball• Answer the prompt in a 5 paragraph essay,

including SRA and citing examples from the article

• Prompt – Pete Rose has come clean regarding his betting on baseball and there is no evidence that he ever bet against the Cincinnati Reds. With all of Rose’s career accomplishments, is it time baseball allowed the “Hit King” not only back into baseball, but also in the Hall of Fame?