Baseball gambling scandals: Padres’ Tucupita Marcano joins Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Pete Rose, Black Sox

On Monday, Lindsey Adler and Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal reported that San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano is under investigation by Major League Baseball for allegedly violating the league’s gambling policy. Marcano, who allegedly gambled on baseball, could be suspended for life. Four other players are also under investigation, although their identities are not yet known.

It’s been a busy season for MLB when it comes to illegal or improper play.

The regular season opened with controversy when longtime Shohei Ohtani performer Ippei Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers organization amid allegations of illegal gambling. It is important to note that Mizuhara was not accused of betting on baseball (although he agreed to plead guilty to other charges). MLB folks are allowed to bet on non-diamond sports (in other words, not baseball or softball), as long as – and this is the important part of the situation – sports gambling is legal in their jurisdiction.

Gambling remains illegal in California, leading Mizuhara to allegedly place bets with Mathew Bowyer, an accused gambler at the center of a wider investigation. Mizuhara wasn’t the only member of an MLB organization with ties to Bowyer. MLB has since launched an investigation into Atlanta Braves minor league infielder/pitcher David Fletcher, also alleging that he placed illegal bets with Bowyer.

Wherever investigations into Marcano, Fletcher and others go, it’s worth knowing that organized baseball and gambling have a long and often sordid history.

In light of all these allegations, CBS Sports felt this would be an appropriate time to revisit some of that history, highlighting some of the most notable scandals and stories. (Please note that this article is intended to be a brief and incomplete overview and is not an adequate substitute for a complete education on these incidents.)

1865: New York City Mutuals make history

Although the Mutuals were an amateur team, they are worth including because they represent the first time in documented history that a baseball club was tempted to fix games or play games.

The Society for American Baseball Research went into detail about the Mutuals’ game-fixing allegations in 2013, noting that three team members “conspired with a player to throw a game for the Eckfords of Brooklyn.” These players were, for a time, banned by the National Baseball Players Association.

1871: Chadwick reprimands the league when the game reaches the professionals

The National Association, formed in 1871, was the first professional baseball league. It didn’t last long, as it was filled with attempts and claims of game fixing.

Baseball Hall of Fame journalist Henry Chadwick, later christened the “Father of Baseball,” became an outspoken critic of the National Association’s methods. At one point he wrote the following, according to “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball” by Derek Zumsteg: “No positive evidence can be presented in support of any direct accusations of collusion among players for fraudulent purposes, but not one man in out of ten that we attended most of the games last October can be convinced that the contests were fairly or honorably contested.”

The National Association went bankrupt in 1875, with the teams leaving to form the National League – a creation that Zumsteg wrote in “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball” was “intended to be better organized, more professional, and set higher standards than the National Association.” Notably, the National League continued to allow known criminal players to participate, undermining these efforts in the process.

1877: Grays mess up, find out

The National League would soon face its own game-fixing allegations when a league investigation uncovered evidence linking utility player Al Nichols to gamblers. Several members of the Louisville Grays then admitted to playing exhibition games for money. As a result, each of them was banned from the National League.

Let’s skip ahead several decades – and dozens and dozens of other stories related to gambling and game rigging of various meanings – shall we?

1903: Criger rejects bid to launch first World Series

You may know that the first modern World Series was played between Cy Young’s Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Did you know that one player’s attempt to fix the series was thwarted by American outfielder Lou Criger, who alerted American League President Ban Johnson after receiving a letter from the individual promising him $12,000 in exchange for playing games, according to the Omaha Morning Bee.

The Sporting News obituary for Criger in 1934 claims that Johnson later repaid Criger for his integrity by using league funds to help care for Criger when he contracted tuberculosis.

With the recognition that allegations of game-fixing persisted over the ensuing years, let’s move forward again – to when they boiled over and resulted in the most infamous example of game-fixing in sports history.

1919: The Black Sox Scandal

Yes, here we have the most important game-fixing scandal in the history of professional baseball (and possibly professional sports). It occurred when the Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The White Sox were accused of releasing the series in exchange for money from crime boss Arnold Rothstein. In short, this is why “Shoeless” Joe Jackson has remained a household name for over a century.

Although the White Sox were later tried, with a grand jury finding them innocent of all charges, eight players were banned for life by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, appointed the league’s first commissioner in 1920 in response to the scandal.

Whether or not Landis’ punishments were fair or reasonable remains a debated issue. But as SABR’s Bill Lamb once noted“Game fixing virtually disappeared from the major league scene after the penalty was imposed on the Black Sox.”

Still, the Black Sox suspensions were not the last time employees were punished for their gambling ties.

1947: Dodgers’ Durocher receives suspension

Leo Durocher was a three-time All-Star shortstop and later had a long Hall of Fame career as a manager. In 1947, however, he was suspended that season by commissioner Happy Chandler because of his “accumulation of unpleasant incidents.” Among them? His acceptance and association with players.

In Paul Dickson’s biography of Durocher, then-shortstop Pee Wee Reese is quoted as saying, “It seemed like we always had someone around who was a gambler and a bookie.”

Dickson adds that Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey discovered that several gamblers were prone to betting on horse races and high-stakes poker games. However, there was no evidence that anyone had bet on baseball. This included Durocher, who was allowed to return to the bench for the 1948 season.

1970: McLain suspended for gambling links

Nearly a quarter century later, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain indefinitely for “betting activities in 1967 and his associations at the time.”

A New York Times article about McLain’s suspension heavily references Sports Illustrated reportingwhich suggests that McLain suffered a foot injury that sidelined him during a pennant race after he was trampled by a bandit following his and his partners’ failure to “pay off a debt of nearly $46,600.”

McLain, who would win 31 games in 1968, was allowed to return to the mound in July 1970.

1980, 1983: Mays and Mantle suspended

If you need more proof that Commissioner Kuhn took any links between baseball and the game seriously, consider how he later placed retired Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle on the permanently ineligible list after they took ambassadorial jobs in casinos. Kuhn even told Mays that “a casino is no place for a baseball hero and Hall of Famer.” according to a 2020 article by scribe Craig Calcaterra.

Mays and Mantle would remain unable to work in baseball for the remainder of Kuhn’s tenure. Kuhn’s successor, Peter Ueberroth, reinstated them in 1985 – although, remarkably, without any questions or exceptions to Kuhn’s original decision.

1989: Rose banned

After Ueberroth resigned in 1989, his successor, Bart Giamatti, embarked on an eventful five-month tenure before his death. To this day, Giamatti is best remembered for banishing Cincinnati Reds legend and player-manager Pete Rose following an investigation into whether or not Rose gambled on baseball during his time at the helm.

Rose repeatedly denied the allegations until 2004, when he admitted that he had only bet on games in which he had won. A 2015 ESPN investigation suggested that Rose also bet on games in which he played.

Although Rose’s ban remains to this day – preventing him from being elected to Cooperstown – he was allowed to return closer to the game, serving as an analyst on FOX’s coverage. The Philadelphia Phillies intended to enshrine him on the team’s Wall of Fame in 2017, but canceled those plans after a woman accused Rose of having a sexual relationship with her during the 1970s when she was a minor.

By the way, Rose placed the first legal sports bet in Ohio in January 2023. Maybe time really is a flat circle.

2024: A tidal wave of allegations

This brings this brief story to the present day, with Mizuhara reaching a plea deal and Fletcher, Marcano, and others waiting to learn their fate.

At the very least, it’s clear that professional baseball’s attitude toward gambling has changed greatly as sports betting has become legal across the country. While any kind of association with a casino used to be enough to land a beloved retired gambler on the ineligible list, the league itself is now partnered with the gambling industry. In fact, Commissioner Rob Manfred named MGM Resorts as the first “Official Gaming Partner of Major League Baseball” in 2018. And last March, MLB touted a multi-year deal with FanDuel that made it “an official co-exclusive sports betting partner of MLB.”

Whether this is for better or worse will be determined in the long term. At the very least, it ensures that professional baseball and gambling will continue to be more than mere acquaintances.