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N0KFQ > TODAY 23.08.11 16:10l 70 Lines 3368 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 23
Path: IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 110823/1451Z 11218@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.0.4
Aug 23, 1989:
Pete Rose gets booted from baseball
On this day in 1989, as punishment for betting on baseball,
Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose accepts a settlement that
includes a lifetime ban from the game. A heated debate continues
to rage as to whether Rose, a former player who remains the
game's all-time hits leader, should be given a second chance.
Although gambling on a sport you play or coach is now considered
unacceptable in nearly all levels of sport, it was relatively
common among those connected with baseball in the early 20th
century. Some of baseball's most talented and well-known players,
such as "Turkey" Mike Donlin and Hal Chase, as well as manager
John McGraw, who publicly won $400 dollars when his New York
Giants won the World Series in 1905, were often suspected of
gambling on their own games. Chase was considered a dangerous man
to have on a team because of his willingness to make extra money
by dropping fly balls or misplaying first base. This all changed,
however, after the White Sox purposefully lost the World Series
in 1919 for a payoff from gambler Arnold Rothstein. Outraged, a
group of baseball's faithful--including American League
Commissioner Ban Johnson, former player and manager Christy
Matthewson and White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, among
others--made it a priority to clean up the game and repair its
reputation. Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a former federal judge, was
hired as Major League Baseball's first commissioner to crack down
on corruption.
One of Landis' first moves was to ban eight White Sox players
found to be involved in the World Series betting scandal from the
game for life, including Chase and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, one of
the greatest players in baseball history. Major League Baseball
Rule 21(d) now states that a player faces a ban of one year for
betting on any baseball game, and a lifetime ban for betting on
his own team. In addition, signs posted prominently in every
clubhouse remind players that gambling is not permitted.
It was known in baseball circles since the 1970s that Pete Rose
had a gambling problem. Although at first he bet only on horse
races and football games, allegations surfaced in early 1989 that
Rose was not only betting on baseball, but on his own team. Major
League Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti began an
inquiry, and hired Washington lawyer John Dowd to head the
investigation. Dowd compiled hundreds of hours of testimony from
numerous sources that detailed Rose's history of gambling on
baseball while serving as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds,
including betting on his own team.
Although Rose continued to proclaim his innocence, he was
eventually persuaded to accept a settlement that included a
lifetime ban from the game. At a subsequent press conference,
Giamatti characterized Rose's acceptance of the ban as a
no-contest plea to the charges against him.
In 2004, after years of repeated denials, Rose published My
Prison Without Bars, in which he finally confessed to gambling on
the Reds, though he added that had always bet on the Reds to win.
Because of the lifetime ban, Rose cannot work in Major League
Baseball and, despite his stellar playing career, he is not
eligible for the Hall of Fame.
73, K.O. n0kfq
Another old retired guy
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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