MLB has begun to embrace sports gambling. If that is the case, then it is time that Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson are reinstated.
Over the decades, and even into the second century of the major leagues, gambling on MLB games by players was a forbidden pastime. Even before the advent of major league baseball, the teams took a stance against associating with gamblers, as Thomas Devyr, Ed Duffy, and William Wansley were banned by the New York Mutuals in 1865.
In more modern times, legends Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were banned after they were hired by casinos for promotional appearances. Both of those banishments were later overturned in 1985, allowing Mantle and Mays to return to the game. Out of all the players, owners, and umpires (yes, there is one umpire banned from MLB – Richard Higham, who also had a shady reputation as a player prior to his umpiring career) to be banned, two players stand out as the most infamous.
Shoeless Joe Jackson was caught up in the Black Sox Scandal, although the extent of his involvement in throwing the 1919 World Series is debatable at best. Pete Rose was banished for wagering on games while a manager, although he claimed to have never bet on any contests involving the Reds. Rose has applied for reinstatement four times, only to be denied or ignored during each attempt.
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It is understandable why these players were banned. Betting on baseball, be it on your own team, against your team, or in any capacity whatsoever, is considered the Cardinal Sin of the game. It is truly the one thing that a player can do that is unforgivable, a blemish on a sport that prides itself on its history and purity, the Steroid Era notwithstanding.
That has changed. As sports betting has become legal throughout the country, MLB is starting to embrace gambling. Managers are required to submit their lineups to the league offices first, so that the information can be sent out to the various casinos for gamblers to place their bets.
The Red Sox have gone so far as to enter a multi-year agreement with MGM Resorts to be the official casino of the franchise, after MLB itself had forged their own agreement with the casino chain back in November.
This sudden infatuation with sports gambling, and the way that the game has embraced the concept since it was legalized in May 2018, opens up a major can of worms when it comes to those players banished for betting. Rose, in theory, has the opportunity to be allowed back into the game, if he could show signs of having rehabilitated his life.
Yet, as Rose continues to gamble on baseball, albeit legally in Las Vegas, his reinstatement has been pushed aside. Perhaps, if Rose had stopped betting, he would be allowed back into the good graces of the game.
However, at this point, Rose is not doing anything illegal. He has every right to continue gambling on baseball, a point that is driven home even further by the league embracing sports gambling. As there is no proof that he wagered on games that he was involved in, either as a player or a manager, the changing policy in the game should lead to a review of his case.
Rose, regardless of his self serving behavior and complicated history, should be allowed back into the fold. Otherwise, the new stance by MLB regarding sports gambling would be hypocritical.
Jackson, on the other hand, is a more complex case. He maintained his innocence throughout his life, but his statements were ignored. Jackson, along with his seven other defendants, was found not guilty in their court case surrounding the Black Sox Scandal. Nonetheless, commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned all eight players anyway, saying that, in his mind, there was no dispute in his mind that the players had broken the rules of the game.
Cincinnati Reds
His play would certainly bare out his protestations. While his alleged co-conspirators, such as Lefty Williams, Eddie Ciccotte, and Happy Felsch, played poorly enough to raise suspicion that the White Sox were throwing the series, that was not the case with Jackson.
He had a .375/.394/.563 batting line in the eight games in the series, hitting a homer and driving in six runs. His batting average was the best of any player in the series, and his home run was the only one hit in the eight games. Based on his production, it would seem that his claims of innocence would be founded in the truth.
Likewise, the other players involved maintained that Jackson was not a part of the fix. He had not been a part of any of the meetings, and Williams himself stated that Jackson’s name was brought up strictly in an attempt to gain more credibility with the gamblers. Yet, Landis, nearly a century later, remains an insurmountable mountain in Jackson’s path to reinstatement, and, subsequently, the Hall of Fame.
Now, MLB has a chance to right that wrong. As it is, Landis is likely spinning in his grave at the very thought that the game is associating itself with sports gambling, a sin that would have sent the former commissioner on the warpath. Reinstating Jackson, whose lifetime ban should have been considered over when he passed away in 1951, should be an easy choice.
As for Rose? He has admitted that he gambled on baseball, one of the conditions that had been set forth by A. Bartlett Giamatti when he was banished from the game for life. Giamatti also said that he would remain open to reinstating Rose, something that became a problem when he passed of a heart attack just eight days after banishing the former Reds player and manager.
Rose is still gambling, and still signing autographs in a mall in Las Vegas. He’ll even sign the ball with the line “I’m sorry I bet on baseball” if asked to. Then again, Rose will make fun of the situation, apologizing for things such as breaking up the Beatles. It is questionable as to how much remorse he feels for his actions.
Over the years, however, Rose has been slowly working his way back into the game. He was allowed to participate in the Reds Franchise Four ceremonies, and has made the occasional appearances when permitted by MLB. Perhaps now, Rose can finally get that reinstatement he has been so desperate for.
Times are changing in MLB, especially when it comes to sports gambling. If the league is going to embrace gambling, then it should look to reinstate Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, making the circle complete.