Former Commissioner Concerned With Baseball And Betting

When former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent speaks, baseball fans should listen. Recently, when Hall of Famer Rod Carew made his feelings known that baseball’s all-time hit king Pete Rose should be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, naturally, he captured my attention.

What could have provoked Carew’s opinion? Last month in the State of Ohio, sports gambling was legalized. In fact, to ring in the new dawn of MLB and betting, it was announced by the Cincinnati Reds that MGM Sportsbook will be open for business at the Great American Ballpark this season.

To Carew’s point, MLB is being hypocritical in promoting gambling, as the hometown Reds are on the field. Yet, Cincinnati’s hometown baseball hero Rose remains out of the game.

Back in August 1989, as a result of his gambling habits as a manager, then MLB Commissioner A. Bart Giamatti put a lifetime ban on Rose from the game he played professionally for decades. Repeated requests by Rose to current MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for reinstatement have been denied.

So, for clarity on baseball’s newest betting partner, and Rose’s situation, I put a call earlier this week to Fay Vincent.

Fay knows the Rose situation very well and has some very definite opinions on the game’s keen interest in betting and profits. Vincent, 84, was elected MLB’s 8th commissioner by club owners in September 1989. He was preceded by Giamatti, who died that same month. As Giamatti’s deputy commissioner, Vincent negotiated the settlement of Rose’s betting scandal.

Rose agreed to withdraw from baseball indefinitely.

Not 30 years ago, and not today, for baseball’s integrity, Vincent isn’t a fan of betting legally infiltrating the game.

"I worry about this,“ says Vincent about gambling and MLB’s relationship today. "As history shows us with the 1919 Chicago White Sox, many today believe that it’s only a matter of time until we have another scandal possibly involving players or umpires.“

Vincent points out the behavior of the 2017 Houston Astros, as they would win a franchise's first World Series championship, all under a cloud of cheating. Although no gambling was detected, it was the stealing of opposing teams’ signs with a camera and relaying their findings in code by banging trash cans that steamed Vincent.

"That should have been a warning sign for baseball. The Astros cheated and got away with it,“ tells Vincent.

When Rose was caught betting on games, Vincent reminded me it was a federal offense. He also doesn’t appear to have changed his mind on MLB's decision handed down in 1989 to the man who collected 4,256 hits.

After overseeing a World Series (1989 Oakland-San Francisco) that was interrupted by an earthquake, and an owners’ lockout the following season, Vincent resigned from office in 1992.

Carew, who won seven American League batting titles during his illustrious hall-of-fame career, is correct in calling out the obvious mixed message being sent by MLB. Gambling is now okay because the game is collecting a piece of the very big financial pie. When Rose called his bookie, that wasn’t legal. Had MLB been given a cut of the bet, would heads have been turned away by the powers that be?