In Major League Baseball all bets aren’t off

Does betting on baseball games make them more fun to watch & follow?

When I was a kid, my family went to Las Vegas somewhat regularly. It was a long time ago and I admit I was and still am enamored of Sin City. By the time I was 16, the Sands casino figured I had to be old enough to sit in a casino since I had been coming there for years. Those decisions are always in the self-interest of the casino. I didn’t gamble, really wanting to hear the great jazz pianist who played in the lounge which was in the casino itself. When I did start gambling, Blackjack (21) became my preferred game, and I studied up, so I’d have the best chance at success. The results were mixed. There’s a good reason why casinos get larger and larger.

Going to a Vegas casino for a few hours was a fun thing to do. A few days in Vegas is all one ever needs. But over the years I’ve lost my taste for casino gambling. It wasn’t because I turned to sports betting which today brings in the largest share of gambling revenue.

This week (now former) MLB umpire Pat Hoberg was fired for sharing sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball. The same day the Hoberg story was reported, former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent passed away at age 86. Vincent had strong opinions regarding betting on baseball. In a recent (November 2024) interview with The Athletic as told by Tyler Kepner Vincent offered this:

“Gambling always leads to corruption,” Vincent said in a lengthy conversation with The Athletic in November. “Corruption always leads to problems that are very difficult to fix. And when you are trying to fix them in the heat of the white light and the stress and the pressure, you are likely to pay a very big price in terms of delay and an overstatement or an over-administration of absurd redress or punishment.

“So, if there were one piece of advice, I’d give to anybody reading your piece, it’s please do not think that the clock is not a ticking problem. It is.”

Baseball – we have a problem

The largest single betting event every year is the Super Bowl. Super Bowl 59 (or LIX as they prefer it), will happen this coming Sunday. Baseball has ‘bought in’ when it comes to sponsorships from gambling outlets notably having a partnership agreement with FanDuel. Gambling on baseball is ok. Cheating at gambling on baseball is not. That sounds straightforward enough.

In a few short weeks baseball spring training games will begin and bettors, as they are wont to do, will have the opportunity to bet on those spring games. I’ve written before that having betting lines and allowing betting on practice games that don’t count, is crazy. If there were no bets allowed on spring training games would the level of attention dwindle and become next to nothing? I tend to think the answer to that question is, yes.

Baseball is now married to gambling and a divorce would be catastrophic

In tying its fate to gambling to remain relevant, baseball has clearly made a bargain with a Devil. MLB would say it was a necessary evil as baseball had already fallen behind both the NFL and NBA in terms of its popularity, and younger fans (under 40) are more comfortable gambling doing it regularly. To Millennials and Gen Zer’s, gambling is not viewed as seedy or uncouth. That is not how it used to be. If you ever went into an OTB parlor you would know that we’ve come a long way from Off-Track-Betting.

The deal with the Devil is done and the genie WAY out of the bottle. All that can be done is that MLB (see Commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners for whom he works), do their collective best to protect the integrity of the game itself. Talk about the monkey watching the bananas!!

Fact: the late Pete Rose bet on baseball while he was managing the Cincinnati Reds. For that transgression he was made an example of for everyone to remember in denying him entry into the Hall of Fame while he was still alive. Even after his passing there does not appear to be any groundswell for Pete Rose to be reinstated and eligible for election. Take that would-be baseball gamblers!

In Kepner’s article he noted: “Tucupita Marcano, a utility player for three seasons, received a lifetime ban for betting on his team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, while he was on their injured list in 2023. Four other players were banned for one year for gambling while in the minors; one of them, Andrew Saalfrank of the Arizona Diamondbacks, had recently pitched in the World Series.”

Fully embracing gambling, the team formerly known as the Athletics are set to call Las Vegas home in 2028. Ground has not yet been broken so you may not want to bet on that!

MLB is trying to appear ‘tough’ and resolute, but I bet like me, you have your doubts. It’s a house of cards waiting to collapse and the fallout from that collapse will damage the sport’s popularity and viability. I don’t know that a gambling scandal will be the death knell for baseball because the game is so compelling, amazing, and historical. But the bets are off on that too.

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com. Mark can be reached on x @almostcoop and almostcooperstown@gmail.com