Injustice in The Queen City

Gambling. For some, the word carries a negative connotation. “Oh, gambling. What a great way to ruin your life.” For others, the word carries hope. This is where the practice can become dangerous. For all, the word contains a sense of thrill. Putting the money that belongs to you (hopefully it belongs to you) on the line with only two possible outcomes: You win more, or you lose it.

In the past 50 years, the United States has undergone a massive expansion in legalized gambling. You can seemingly bet money on anything these days. However, it is a little known fact that sports betting has been on a holdout during this time. What? Doesn’t Vegas hold millions in terms of Superbowl bets each year? Aren’t there sites dedicated for building a team in hopes of generating cashflow? Yes. There are.

(2015’s emergence of online fantasy gambling is led by sites such as DraftKings and FanDuel. FanDuel collects around $1 million daily.)

In the establishing ages of the American sports entertainment system, there was a lot of corruption when money and political power became involved. There were figures lurking in the shadows, offering cash sums to players to perform in a certain way or lose on purpose. There is not a more famous example of this than the Black Sox scandal in 1919, where a number of players of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose World Series games. Ironically, they were playing the Cincinnati Reds, the team of which our subject of discussion played for during his Hall of Fame worthy career. We’ll get to that soon.

Whether you’re betting on a Seabiscuit or the Seahawks, there are two types of wagers when it comes to sports. These categories would be legal and illegal. Company regulated gambling where taxes can be drawn are legal. The “black market” bets involving the exchange of money on personal terms is illegal. This is the basis for fans. For the individuals who actually participate in these sports, however, the terms are much more strict. The Major League Baseball association forbids it’s players and coaches from wagering money on the outcome of any regular season or postseason games. This is to prevent scandals such as the 1919 World Series. Peter Edward Rose had one of the most consistent and successful careers ever seen in the game of baseball. He is in the conversation for being one of the best hitters to ever play. However, it was his involvement with gambling during his tenure with the Cincinnati Reds that would lead to him being banned from baseball, restricting him from any Hall of Fame access.

charlie hustle

image by Sportsrants.com

I know this blog is to contradict the idea that sports are nothing but numbers, but I am going to throw some stats your way. Pete Rose holds the all-time Major League record for hits with 4,256. To put this into perspective, a “good” season for a hitter contains an average of about 170 hits. At this pace, it would take 25 years of playing in the pros to reach Rose’s mark. Pete reached this number in 23 seasons. During these 23 seasons, he also won three World Series rings, three batting titles, one MVP award, two Gold Gloves, Rookie of The Year, and made 17 All-Star Game appearances. Even if you don’t know what all of these accolades mean, the mouthful that they produce when listing shows evidence of the kind of caliber player that Pete Rose was.

Rose was championed “Charlie Hustle” by Whitey Ford during Spring Training of his rookie year. He never took a play off. During the 1970 All Star Game, Pete collided with American League catcher Ray Fosse at home plate and ultimately separated Fosse’s shoulder. Rose scored on the play, winning the game in walk off fashion. The MLB All Star Games aren’t quick as relaxed as the NFL Pro Bowl, but they certainly don’t see any players colliding into each other intentionally very often, either. This kind of play was what gave Pete Rose his reputation of playing at one gear: full speed.

every rose has it’s thorn

Establishing a way of playing the game that people still attempt to emulate to this day, Pete gained the respect and admiration of baseball fans, players, and coaches everywhere. If you asked anyone today that knew a thing or two on the topic of baseball, they would tell you that Pete was one of the best. He played a huge role in bringing back to back World Series titles to the city of Cincinnati in 1975 and 1976, helping coin the team the “Big Red Machine” during this decade for their dominance. As far as the game of baseball and the city of Cincinnati is concerned, Pete Rose’s name is immortal.

Rose began his managerial career in 1984, where he acted as a player/coach until 1986 when he unofficially retired as a player and performed took the sole role of a manager. This may seem like an odd combination, managing and playing at the same time, but the practice was more common in this age of the game.  Pete was just as colorful as a manager of the Reds as he was as a player. Late in the 1988 season, he was suspended for 30 games for making physical contact with an umpire regarding a questionable call that helped decide the outcome of the game.

(image by The Starting Nine via wordpress.com) Rose is the last example of a player manager in the MLB.

Albeit these rough interactions, he was heavily admired for his tenacity on the field. To no surprise, Rose made plenty of enemies throughout his career for this kind of choppy play. Also, the destined Hall of Fame player couldn’t resist the urges of gambling toward the end of his career. This illegal practice would result in the strain of his legacy.

In 1989, there were reports that Rose had bet on baseball. Some slight efforts were made by the commissioner of baseball position to question Pete, but a real investigation would not be put into effect until lawyer John M. Dowd was assigned to the case. Long story short, Pete accepted a permanent place on baseball’s ineligibility list under the terms that MLB would make no formal finding with regard to the gambling allegation. This was the best way of saying, “Alright, I screwed up and am accepting the consequences. Just don’t ruin me by listing everything that I did.”

Just what did he do? Dowd documented Rose’s day-by-day alleged betting on baseball games in 1987 in his report. In these allegations, the documents accounted for a total of 52 games during this season that Rose placed wagers on. The monetary number per day that he would put into these bets ranged from $2,000-$10,000. Pete denied accusations until August of 1989, where the agreement was made for him to be banned from baseball.

(image by cincinnati.com) Pete Rose’s ban from baseball still stands today and has produced a tug of war between his following and Major League Baseball for 26 years.

where is he now?

To this day, Rose remains banned from the game. In each decade since the agreement was made, there has been an attempt to reinstate him. The end result has usually been that the current commissioner of baseball has not taken any action on it. Fortunately, this year has seen the most headway made for Pete’s return to the game. 26 years later, on September 25, 2015, Rose met with current Commissioner Rob Manfred to discuss his request for reinstatement. A verdict is expected to arise before the year ends.

Here’s my two cents.

The act of gambling on games that your team plays in as a manager should not ever be allowed and was dealt with in the right way in this situation. This helps prevent the fixing of games and lowers the value of political hands in baseball. But are we really not going to allow someone who had this much value and impact to the game be reinstated during his lifetime? Are we going to let 4,256 hits rot in banishment? The fact that the MLB has not taken action during multiple reinstatement events is unfortunate to say the least.

Pete Rose should be able to get off the banishment list and be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player. Say what you want about him as a coach, but no amount of money got him all of the accomplishments that he obtained throughout his career. Those came from his sheer will and determination. The history that Rose is working against is that no one has ever been reinstated from the ineligibility list. If he is successful, it will truly be a first for the game of baseball.

Oh, the irony.

(image by MLB.com) A graphic from MLB Network’s “Daily Picks” segment regarding player’s monetary worth on DraftKings for this specific day.

As I said before, gambling on major sites is a legal practice. If you’ve watched an MLB game in 2015, you cannot miss the DraftKings commercials that air on seemingly every break. You can’t watch a game without being encouraged to go throw your money into these sites. That is because DraftKings is now the MLB’s “Official Daily Fantasy Game.” In other words, the site is thriving and owns a huge monetary partnership with Major League Baseball now.

Maybe it’s just me, but I get a bad taste in my mouth when I compare the process that Rose has gone through and this mega million dollar partnership. He is obviously under different circumstances than the people who participate in this sites; yet, for the same thing that he is held from the Hall of Fame for, people are making millions on today. And this is being advertised heavily by the same league that keeps Pete from the game? I just don’t think that’s right.

Hopefully, following the World Series, we will see the return of Pete Rose. It is only right.

other articles worth reading

Argument for Rose’s place in the Hall of Fame: https://thestartingnine.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/why-pete-rose-belongs-in-the-hall-of-fame/

Washington Post’s 2015 article on prosecutor lawyer John Dowd on his thoughts about the Pete Rose situation, 25 years later:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/03/10/fairfaxs-john-dowd-investigated-pete-rose-in-1989-responds-to-sports-illustrated-push-for-rose/