MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL'S BETTING SCHEME JUST PROVES PETE ROSE HAS DONE HIS TIME

 

Back in August of 1989, Pete Rose accepted a permanent ban from baseball. This happened because in the baseball rules and here it is on the MLB website for the world to see, Rule 21:

"(d) GAMBLING. (1) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year. 

(2) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible. 

(3) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee who places bets with illegal book makers, or agents for illegal book makers, shall be subject to such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances of the conduct. Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee who operates or works for an illegal bookmaking business shall be subject to a minimum of a one-year suspension by the Commissioner. For purposes of this provision, an illegal bookmaker is an individual who accepts, places or handles wagers on sporting events from members of the public as part of a gaming operation that is unlawful in the jurisdiction in which the bets are accepted."

Following Rose's ban, the Baseball Hall of Fame decided that in 1991 they would bar players on the permanently ineligible list, like Rose, from induction.

In other words, the all-time hits leader, Peter Rose, would never be in baseball again even though he had lifetime 4256 hits. 

Betting on baseball is wrong if you're a player, and Pete Rose was signing baseballs years after even admitting to betting on baseball on autographed balls.  The fact of the matter is MLB really ran this guy through the ringer, humiliated him, disgraced him, made him feel like he did something so bad, he should never be allowed to be part of the game at all, ever, ever, ever again.

In 2017, the Phillies disassociated themselves from Pete Rose too, but not for betting, but instead being part of the cancel culture. As it goes:

"...the Phillies announced that they were completely disassociating from Pete Rose....This decision isn't about Rose being honorable enough to bow out of the weekend because he's concerned for the fans' best interest. What this is about, or rather, what it should be about, is a sports franchise saying unambiguously that sexual assault and rape in all forms is unacceptable."

This was right about the time where the #MeToo movement was a real rage and if a guy looked at a woman the wrong way, in 2017, or in 1977, it was a way to get men cancelled. Now obviously violence against women is terrible and should never happen, but the pile on against men was bad. We were being cancelled just for living, and Pete Rose was already banned from baseball, so the Phillies thought, "F this guy, and remove him from the Phillies Wall of Fame too."

So, with the world piling up against Pete Rose since 1989, it just made sense that Rose probably needed to go away. I hated every minute of that.

Then in 2022, something happened. 

This year the Phillies suddenly invited Rose back to the ballpark. We wrote here on Bleeding Yankee Blue back in July:

"The New York Post writes that Pete Rose will be welcomed by the City of Brotherly Love... Philly. And you know what? I love it.

"The sport’s all-time hits leader will be at the Phillies’ alumni weekend and be introduced on the field along with his former teammates from the 1980 World Series championship team on Aug. 7. That team’s shortstop, Larry Bowa, broke the news on Saturday night during the Phillies’ TV broadcast of their game against the Cubs.

The Phillies said in a statement that they “received permission from the commissioner’s office” to invite Rose, and the team consulted with Rose’s teammates from the 1980 club and “everyone” wants him there.”

And my thinking was, "Could it be that things were looking up for Pete Rose finally?" Well, at least the Phillies teammates that played with Rose understood how important Rose was to the game. The Phillies did too, but why did they cancel him in 2017 only to bring him back in 2022? MLB acted like no one was paying attention... and they're doing it again.

Things come full circle. It was announced the Reds, Pete Rose's old team has a new partner... IN SPORTS BETTING.

Sports Pro Media writes: 

"Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Cincinnati Reds are set to open a new sportsbook at their Great American Ball Park home through a new partnership with BetMGM.

The agreement, which designates the firm as the Reds’ official sports betting partner, comes with the legalization of gambling in Ohio from January 2023.

The new BetMGM Sportsbook will be situated on the northeast side of the ballpark and will allow fans to place wagers during games.

The deal marks the betting brand’s second MLB venue sportsbook, after a deal with the Washington Nationals saw an in-person location created at Nationals Park in January."

Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on here? 

Can someone explain to me how MLB has rules in place about sports betting for players, but can still have partnerships with sports books to allow betting IN THEIR OWN STADIUMS?

Meanwhile Pete Rose, the MLB's ALL TIME HITS LEADER is still on the outside looking in while MLB continues to do whatever the hell it wants.

I have never liked what Rob Manfred has done to the game. He has his own rules, his cronies clearly have no idea what they're doing, and in the end, it really does come down to making the MLB money and to hell with anyone else.

Pete Rose did his time. You can't eliminate the all-time hits leader from baseball all these years. Something needs to change.  In a world where sports writers are still trying to claim that "the Steroid Era" brought all-time home run leaders legitimately to the stat books, even though we know "the Steroid Era" is considered a stain on the game (or it wouldn't be called "the Steroid era", We cannot stand blindly and think that the MLB's partnership with sports betting should be allowed, but the time Rose has done since 1989 should not be considered time served. 

Pete Rose not only needs to come back to baseball.  Pete Rose needs to be in the Hall of Fame.  

FOX Sports has done the greatest job bringing Pete's expertise and personality back to baseball. It's a huge move that I just hope can change how people view this guy.  Yes, he made a mistake, he admits that. He's done more at admitting fault and has done more time than anyone in the steroid era has ever done. We're still waiting for those guys to admit guilt. It's ridiculous.

Manfred needs to be pressed on this. We need a hardnosed reporter that can ask the hard questions and really get him to answer. Because right now, this seems like a giant F-U to students of the game, and especially Pete Rose.

Fire Manfred. He's absolute garbage.