{"id":9526,"date":"2012-03-21T23:21:16","date_gmt":"2012-03-22T06:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=9526"},"modified":"2012-12-03T19:47:03","modified_gmt":"2012-12-04T03:47:03","slug":"this-day-in-history-sports-illustrated-publishes-an-article-alleging-pete-rose-bet-on-major-league-baseball-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2012\/03\/this-day-in-history-sports-illustrated-publishes-an-article-alleging-pete-rose-bet-on-major-league-baseball-games\/","title":{"rendered":"This Day in History: Sports Illustrated Publishes an Article Alleging Pete Rose Bet on Major League Baseball Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This Day In History<\/a>: March 21, 1989<\/strong><\/p>\n

On this day in history<\/a>, 1989, Sports Illustrated published an article alleging that Cincinnati Reds Coach and former star baseball player Pete Rose bet on Major League Baseball games.<\/p>\n

Pete Rose started managing in 1984, while he was still a player, and continued on managing until 1989, with the latter three years of that as just a manager and not a player\/manager.\u00a0 He was placed on the permanently ineligible list in 1989 after allegations surfaced that he was betting on baseball games, including betting on Reds games, the team he was managing.\u00a0 Major League Baseball subsequently investigated these allegations and placed Rose on the permanently ineligible list when they found them to be true.<\/p>\n

In exchange for Rose voluntarily being placed on that list, Major League Baseball agreed not to formally reveal their findings on his gambling habits.\u00a0 However, it is known that he bet on at least 52 Reds games between 1986 and 1987, though there was never any evidence that he bet against the Reds, which I personally think would be the key point.<\/p>\n

Shortly after being banned from baseball, Rose was arrested and served five months in prison for failing to count horse racing winnings and money earned from selling autographs on his income taxes.\u00a0 The total amount he was deficient in back taxes was $366,041.<\/p>\n

Despite numerous appeals, Rose has remained on the permanently ineligible list to this day, which has kept him out of the Hall of Fame. Before 1991, Rose still would have been technically eligible for the Hall, but that year the HoF voters elected to ban those on the permanently ineligible list, likely due to Rose.<\/p>\n

Although officially banned from all MLB related events and activities, costing him millions in potential income, Rose was allowed to participate in the pregame events before Game 2 of the 1999 World Series.\u00a0 The ban was lifted for a night because Rose had been selected by fans to the “All-Century” team.<\/p>\n

It’s interesting that the Baseball Hall of Fame keeps people out due to gambling, via the permanently ineligible list ban, but not for cheating, even admitted cheating.\u00a0 For example, once his career was over, Hall of Famer Whitey Ford admitted that later in his career he had frequently cheated by doctoring baseballs.\u00a0 His favorite method was to mark up the ball using various sharp objects, such as his wedding ring.\u00a0 He also would have his catcher mark up the ball by sharpening a buckle on his shin guard and rubbing the ball against that before throwing it to Ford to pitch.\u00a0 Elston Howard, his catcher, also used the mud around the batter\u2019s box to coat one side of the ball before giving it to Ford to throw.<\/p>\n

Another cheater who was celebrated for it and is in the Hall of Fame largely because of it is Gaylord Perry.\u00a0 Perry’s case was particularly amusing because everyone knew he was doctoring the baseballs (often with Vaseline), but nobody could catch him at it.\u00a0 He even admitted it in his 1974 autobiography Me and the Spitter<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 He also stated, “I’d always have it in at least two places, in case the umpires would ask me to wipe off one. I never wanted to be caught out there without anything. It wouldn’t be professional.” It wasn’t until 21 years into his career that on August 23, 1982, he was finally caught and removed from a game for it.<\/p>\n

Another Hall of Famer, Rogers Hornsby, once stated, “I’ve cheated, or someone on my team has cheated, in almost every single game I’ve been in.”\u00a0 I guess columnist Thomas Boswell was right, “Cheating is baseball’s oldest profession. No other game is so rich in skulduggery, so suited to it or so proud of it.”<\/p>\n

More Baseball Cheating Quotes:<\/p>\n

The tradition of professional baseball has been agreeably free of charity. The rule is, ‘Do anything you can get away with.’\u00a0 (Heywood Broun, New York World, 1923)<\/p>\n

I don’t put any foreign substances on the baseball. Everything I use is from the good old U.S.A. (Yankee Pitcher George Frazier)<\/p>\n

I’d trip my mother. I’ll help her up, brush her off, tell her I’m sorry. But mother don’t make it to third. (Leo Durocher)<\/p>\n

I didn’t begin cheating until late in my career, when I needed something to help me survive. I didn’t cheat when I won the twenty-five games in 1961. I don’t want anybody to get any ideas and take my Cy Young Award away. And I didn’t cheat in 1963 when I won twenty-four games. Well, maybe a little. (Whitey Ford)<\/p>\n

If you know how to cheat, start now.\u00a0 (Hall of Famer Earl Weaver)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bonus<\/span> Facts:<\/p>\n