Gambling in baseball: Scandals through the years

The lifetime ban of San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano announced on Tuesday was a double black eye for Major League Baseball. On the same day Marcano was banned for gambling on baseball, Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for superstar Shohei Ohtani, pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges. He admitted to taking nearly $17 million from the baseball player’s account to cover gambling debts to an illegal bookie.

According to The Associated Press, Marcano is the first active major leaguer to be banned for life since 1924, when New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell was declared ineligible.

Gambling and baseball have been uneasy partners since 1865, even before the advent of professional teams. In 1865, the New York Mutuals was tempted to fix a game to help gamblers, CBS Sports reported.

Three members of the squad conspired to throw a game to the Brooklyn Eckfords, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. The players were banned.

In 1877, members of the National League’s Louisville Grays admitted to throwing exhibition games for money and were also banned. In 1903, the first modern World Series was nearly tainted by gamblers attempting to bribe Boston Americans catcher Lou Criger into throwing games, according to SABR.

Baseball’s biggest scandals have involved the World Series the game’s all-time hits leader. Here is a look at some major incidents that involved gambling or gamblers through the years.

1919 -- Black Sox throw World Series

The biggest team gambling scandal in major league baseball history occurred in 1919, when the heavily favored Chicago White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.

Eight members of the “Black Sox” -- including star outfielder “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, were banned for life by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

According to SABR, the plot was formulated by White Sox first baseman Chick Gandil and Boston bookmaker Joseph “Sport” Sullivan.

Along with Gandil and Jackson, the other players allegedly involved were pitcher Eddie Cicotte, who lost his first two starts; pitcher Lefty Williams, who lost all three of his starts; backup infielder Fred McMullin; shortstop Swede Risberg; outfielder Happy Felsch; and third baseman Buck Weaver.

Although the players were acquitted by a grand jury, they were banned for life by Landis.

The incident inspired the book “Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series” by Eliot Asinof in 1963 and the 1988 film, ″Eight Men Out,” which starred John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd and Charlie Sheen.

1924 -- O’Connell’s lifetime ban

Jimmy O’Connell and Giants coach Cozy Dolan were banned after the 1924 season. The outfielder had offered Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Heinie Sand $500 if he might be willing to avoid “bearing down hard” against his team. According to the Society for American Baseball Research website, the Giants were in a close race to win their fourth straight pennant and faced the Phillies in a two-game series to end the regular season.

The Brooklyn Robins (now Dodgers) were 1 1/2 games behind and were playing the last-place Boston Braves.

Before the Sept. 27 game at the Polo Grounds, O’Connell made the offer. Sand reported it to his manager, Art Fletcher, who passed it along to baseball’s hierarchy. Landis held hearings on Sept. 30 and Oct. 6-7, 1924, and O’Connell and Dolan were suspended for life.

1943 -- Phillies owner banned

In 1943, Philadelphia Phillies owner William D. Cox was banned for life by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis for making “approximately 15 or 20 bets” on his team, The Athletic reported.

Cox, a lumber magnate, became the youngest owner in baseball in 1942, buying the franchise for $850,000, Fox Sports reported. He saved the Phillies from bankruptcy after then-National League President Ford Frick refused to give the previous owners more cash to make ends meet.

The owner admitted to betting “from $25 to $100 per game” on the Phillies to win.

He was banned by Landis in November 1943 and was forced to sell his share of the team to Ruly Carpenter, according to The Athletic.

Writers at the time joked that Cox was not guilty of gambling, but of poor judgment -- the Phillies won just 64 games that year and finished seventh out of eight teams.

1947 -- ‘The Lip’ silenced

In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher was suspended for the season by Commissioner Happy Chandler because of his “accumulation of unpleasant incidents,” according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame website. The commissioner, while not citing specific instances of Durocher actually gambling, said that “The Lip’s” association with gamblers and bookies was enough to keep him out of the game for a year.

Durocher, who always denied the charges and was known for his mantra, “Nice guys finish last,” was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

1970 -- Denny McLain allegedly runs afoul of debtors

Pitcher Denny McLain was the majors’ last 30-game winner, leading the Detroit Tigers to the 1968 American League pennant with a 31-6 record in what has been called “the year of the pitcher.”

Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended the right-hander in 1970 because of bookmaking activities in 1967 and “his associations at the time.”

According to the Feb. 23, 1970, issue of Sports Illustrated, the magazine alleged that McLain and his bookmaking partners did not pay a debt of approximately $46,600. Members of organized crime allegedly stomped his foot, causing him to miss several weeks of one of baseball’s most hotly contested pennant races.

The man who was owed the cash eventually died in a “mysterious” automobile accident, the Times reported.

1989 -- Charlie Hustle banned

Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader, agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989. Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti and Rose came to the agreement after an investigation for MLB by attorney John Dowd found that the player known as “Charlie Hustle” placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win games from 1985 to 1987 while playing for and managing the team.

Rose denied the accusations until 2004, when he admitted that he had only gambled on games in which he managed, according to The Associated Press.

An investigation by ESPN suggested that Rose also gambled on games in which he played.

The Hall of Fame’s board decided in 1991 that players on the permanently ineligible list could not appear on the Hall’s ballot, the AP reported. Rose applied for reinstatement in 1997 and met with Commissioner Bud Selig in 2002, but a ruling was never made.

Rose appealed again in 2016, but current Commissioner Rob Manfred rejected his application.

He appealed the decision in 2016, but current Commissioner Rob Manfred has maintained that Rose would remain ineligible.

Rose, a 17-time All-Star, three-time World Series champion and 1973 N.L. MVP, is baseball’s all-time leader in hits with 4,256, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

According to CBS Sports, Rose placed Ohio’s first legal sports bet in January 2023.

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