As Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase threw a low, inside pitch against the Brewers in a game played in Cleveland in early May, an advertisement for an online gambling service filled the lower ribbon board behind home plate at Progressive Field.
This image was presented through X as an indication of the apparent hypocrisy of Major League Baseball accepting advertising from sports gambling outlets while also endeavoring to conduct competitions that are fair, just and free from any bet-related shenanigans.
The post was, in fact, more evidence of the needlessly puritanical approach so many in and around American sports and sports media continue to maintain, even seven years after the Supreme Court ruled on Murphy v. the NCAA and opened the possibility of individual states legalizing sports gambling.
Clase was placed Monday on a non-disciplinary paid leave through August relative to an agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association “while MLB continues its sports betting investigation,” according to the league’s statement. He became the second Cleveland pitcher impacted, joining starter Luis Ortiz.
In the years since the Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, 38 states have joined Nevada in permitting sports gambling. Ohio entered this space in on New Year’s Day, 2023.
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If one follows the (lack of) logic that professional sports teams accepting sponsorship from gambling-related businesses are functionally endorsing this activity among their players, big-league players would spend their time from the first pitch to the last out drinking beer, eating chicken wings and pulling out their mobile phones to take selfies.
Because there are ads for those businesses throughout most every televised baseball game.
If one follows the (lack of) logic that the existence of legalized sports betting means athletes in every sport inevitably will engage in the the functional equivalent of point shaving — an activity that has been prosecuted by American law enforcement for at least 74 years — it would follow that those involved in stock trading inextricably be drawn to seek insider advantages that, as well, are against the law.
With legality in place from coast to coast, and only a few states continuing to exempt themselves, athletes in every sport are instructed about the gambling rules in their sport. The most obvious one, regardless of whether it’s baseball, basketball, football or soccer, is this: You do not bet on THIS SPORT. EVER.
In Major League Baseball, athletes are not permitted to wager on any level of the sport, all the way down to the Little League World Series. It is not a draconian restriction. If they enjoy gambling on NFL games, or March Madness, they may do so through legal venues. The prohibition against doing this relative to baseball is no secret to any of them, and no matter how many times Kevin Garnett, Jamie Foxx and Kevin Hart appear on their TV screens to promote sports betting, it’s even more clear what the consequences can be if one engages in activity that could influence the outcome of a game for the sake of winning a bet.
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The Black Sox scandal happened more than a century ago. Eight players, including superstar Joe Jackson, never appeared in another big-league game because of lifetime bans. It’s only been a year since infielder Tucupita Marcano of the Padres, who had signed a one-year deal for $746,000, was banned for life for placing nearly 400 bets involving big-league games, according to MLB.
Clase is in the third year of a contract signed in 2022 that is scheduled to pay him $20 million over five seasons, including $4.9 million this year. That is scheduled to escalate to $6.4 million in 2026, with two club option years at $10 million following that.
There was plenty of warning, and so much at stake.
There is no public evidence of any problematic activity by Clase. There is only the fact of his removal from active competition.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported activity involving the Guardians’ Ortiz was investigated, and the pitcher later suspended, after a service that monitors gambling markets for unusual activity detected uncommon action on particular pitches he threw in games against the Mariners and Cardinals.
To place the blame for either’s circumstance on exterior forces, whether it’s the league or TV networks or online media outlets including Sporting News that have accepted gambling sponsorship, is preposterous.
Drinking alcohol is legal, for those of age. It is not legal to become intoxicated and then attempt to operate a motor vehicle. Gambling on sports is legal. It’s quite clear in that space what is beyond the boundary of the law, as well as the rules of the particular sport.
What too rarely is acknowledged in the continued lamentation over the legalization of gambling is the enormous benefits to all sports this path has afforded. Legal books in Nevada were the agency that identified the suspicious betting patterns involved in the 1994 Arizona State point shaving scandal that was so thoroughly recalled by the 2021 Netflix documentary “Hoop Schemes”.
The only enterprise with at least as much investment as the league itself regarding the integrity of any given sport – perhaps even more – is the legal sports book. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is among the few to acknowledge this value. The books need sports to be clean in order to avoid taking unnecessary losses. The leagues need sports to be clean for the public to continue investing the money, time and emotion required of fandom.
In every endeavor, there are those willing to break rules or laws to guarantee success, or to increase the odds. The belief that legalized gambling creates more such individuals inside pro sports is a fallacy. The ease of betting on one’s phone might increase the temptation, but it’s never been easier to get caught.
