The History of Baseball and Gambling: From the Black Sox to Legal Sportsbooks
How baseball went from fixing scandals and a lifetime ban for Pete Rose to league-approved sportsbook partnerships, and what Rule 21, the 1919 Black Sox and the 2018 Supreme Court ruling actually say.
Baseball has spent most of its history trying to keep gambling away from the field, and the reason is simple: a sport is only worth watching if the outcome is not for sale. The game's founding scandals were all about that fear. In 1919 eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the World Series, and the response created the office of commissioner. In 1989 Pete Rose, the all-time hits leader, accepted a lifetime ban after an investigation into his betting. The rule that governs both cases is still posted in every major-league clubhouse.
Then the law changed. In May 2018 the United States Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on state-authorized sports betting, and within a few years the sport that had banned its greatest hitter was signing official partnerships with sportsbooks. This article walks through that arc: the early years, Rule 21, the Black Sox, the commissioners, the Rose case, the 2018 decision and what has changed since. It is a history, not a betting guide. Gambling carries risk, is for adults of legal age where it is legal, and the US helpline is 1-800-GAMBLER.
Gambling in the early game
Betting and baseball grew up together. In the nineteenth century, spectators wagered openly at the ballpark, and professional clubs were often financed by men whose other businesses included saloons and betting houses. A game's result could mean money for hundreds of people in the stands, and the temptation to arrange it was real from the start.
The first major scandal in the National League came in 1877, when four players from the Louisville Grays were accused of throwing games during a pennant race. The league's president, William Hulbert, expelled them for life. The episode set a precedent that has held for almost 150 years: a player who is shown to have taken part in fixing games does not return.
Rumors continued into the following decades, and several players were accused of throwing individual games, though proof was hard to find. Hal Chase, a first baseman who played for the New York club in the 1900s and 1910s, is the best-known example, accused repeatedly by teammates and managers; the National League's president heard accusations against him in early 1919 and found no proof that he had intentionally broken the rules, and he left the major leagues after 1919. The pattern of suspicion without clear enforcement is one reason the sport was so exposed when 1919 arrived.
Rule 21: what the rulebook says
The sport's rule on gambling is Rule 21(d) of the Official Baseball Rules, and its structure is simple. The rule distinguishes between betting on a game in which the bettor has a duty to perform and betting on a game in which he does not.
| Conduct | Penalty under Rule 21(d) |
|---|---|
| Betting on a game in which the person has a duty to perform, such as a player, manager or umpire in that game | Permanent ineligibility |
| Betting on any other baseball game | Ineligibility for one year |
The rule applies to players, umpires and club or league officials and employees. It is reproduced on a placard posted in major-league clubhouses, so that no one can claim not to have seen it. The key idea is that betting on a game you can influence is treated as the more serious offense, whichever side the bet is on, because a person with a duty in the game who also holds a financial stake has a reason to care about something other than playing the game honestly.
The rule leaves a good deal of room for the commissioner's judgment. Beyond Rule 21, the commissioner has long held authority to act "in the best interests of baseball", a phrase that was written into the sport's governing documents after the 1919 scandal.
1919: the Black Sox
The Chicago White Sox won the American League in 1919 with an 88-52 record, and the Cincinnati Reds won the National League at 96-44. The Series was a best-of-nine at that time, and the Reds won it five games to three, a result that startled many observers because the White Sox were widely regarded as the stronger team.
Within a year, rumors that the Series had been fixed became public. In September 1920, while the White Sox were still in a pennant race, a grand jury in Chicago heard testimony, and eight players were indicted: Chick Gandil, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, Joe Jackson, Happy Felsch, Swede Risberg, Fred McMullin and Buck Weaver. The facts surrounding the plot are still argued over. Gamblers were involved, players were said to have agreed to lose, and the amounts of money and the degree of each player's participation are disputed. Weaver, for example, is generally described as having known about the plan without taking part in it, and Jackson hit .375 in the Series according to many accounts, a figure the historical regular-season data does not cover.
What the historical data do show is what the players were giving up. Cicotte won 29 games with a 1.82 earned run average in 1919 and 21 in 1920. Jackson hit .351 in 1919 and .382 in 1920, finishing third in the American League batting race behind George Sisler and Tris Speaker, and he retired with a career average of .356. The 1920 White Sox finished 96-58, two games behind Cleveland in the pennant race, and were still playing when the indictments came down.
In August 1921 a Chicago jury acquitted all eight men. The verdict did not end the matter. The new commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal judge who had been hired by the owners to restore confidence in the sport, announced that no player who had thrown a game, or sat in on discussions of a plan to throw one, and did not report it, would play professional baseball again. He banned all eight for life.
Landis and the commissioner's office
The creation of the commissioner's job was a direct result of 1919. Landis was named the first commissioner in November 1920 with broad power to discipline players and officials, and he used it to build a reputation for unbending enforcement. During his tenure, other cases arose, and he acted quickly in several. In 1924 a Giants player was banned for offering a bribe to an opposing player. In 1943 the owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, William Cox, was forced out for betting on his own team. In 1947, under Landis's successor, the manager Leo Durocher was suspended for a season for conduct that included associating with gamblers, which the sport treated as a problem even without evidence of fixing.
The sport's relationship with casinos is a smaller part of the story. In 1983 the commissioner barred Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle from working for baseball clubs because both held public-relations jobs with Atlantic City casinos, a decision that was reversed within two years under a new commissioner. The episode shows how broad the sport's concern with gambling was, and how its judgments changed.
Pete Rose and the 1989 ban
The most visible gambling case in the modern era involved the sport's biggest hitter. Pete Rose finished his career with 4,256 hits in 3,562 games, the most in major-league history, along with a Most Valuable Player award in 1973, a Rookie of the Year award in 1963 and a World Series MVP in 1975, according to the historical awards. He became the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the team where he had spent most of his playing career, and in 1989 the commissioner's office opened an investigation into allegations that he had bet on baseball, including on Reds games.
The investigation was led by an outside attorney, and in August 1989 Rose agreed to be placed on the permanent ineligible list. His agreement did not include a finding that he had bet on baseball, and for years he denied that he had. In 2004, in a memoir, he acknowledged that he had bet on the Reds while managing them. He said he had never bet against the team. Whether that distinction is meaningful is the subject of long argument, and Rule 21 treats betting on a game in which one has a duty to perform as the gravest offense in either case.
The ban led to a consequence in Cooperstown. In 1991 the Hall of Fame's board voted that people on the permanent ineligible list could not appear on the ballot. The historical Hall of Fame file shows Rose receiving 41 write-in votes in 1992, out of 430 ballots cast, and he was not on an official ballot afterward. His request for reinstatement was denied by the commissioner in 2015. Rose died on September 30, 2024. In 2025 the commissioner announced that permanent ineligibility ends with a person's death, a decision that affects Rose and the 1919 players. As of the 2025 season none of them is a Hall of Famer, and readers should check the current status with the Hall and with Major League Baseball.
2018: Murphy v. NCAA
For most of the twentieth century, legal single-game sports betting in the United States was largely limited to Nevada. In 1992 Congress passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, known as PASPA, which prohibited most states from authorizing sports betting. Nevada kept its existing system and a few states had limited exemptions, but the rest of the country could not legalize betting even if its voters wanted to.
New Jersey challenged the law, and the case reached the Supreme Court as Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association. On May 14, 2018, the Court struck down PASPA, holding that Congress could not order states to keep their own laws against sports betting in place. The opinion did not legalize sports betting. It returned the decision to each state, which could pass its own laws.
States moved quickly. Over the following years, a large number of them authorized sports betting in some form, some through casinos and some through mobile applications, and a lawful, advertised industry grew where an underground one had existed. For baseball fans the consequence was immediate: a sport that had long dealt with gambling as a threat now had to deal with it as a legal activity in much of the country.
After 2018: partnerships, integrity and new cases
Major League Baseball changed its posture from opposition to participation. The league signed agreements with several sportsbook and data companies, and clubs opened betting lounges in and around some ballparks. The league also built an integrity program that includes education for players and staff, monitoring of betting markets for unusual movements and reporting channels for suspicious activity.
Rule 21 did not change. Players may not bet on baseball, and the sport's willingness to profit from betting on its own games has led some critics to question the consistency of its position. In 2024 the league banned infielder Tucupita Marcano for life for betting on baseball games, including some involving his own team, and suspended four other players for a year each for betting on baseball. The size of the penalties matched the structure of Rule 21: permanent for betting on one's own team, one year for betting on other games.
The existence of a legal market also created new problems. Some bets involve individual pitches, or very small events inside a game, which are easier to manipulate than a final score, and sportsbooks and leagues have restricted some of those wagers. The reasoning is that the fewer participants needed to influence the outcome of a bet, the greater the integrity risk. This is the same logic that drove the Black Sox investigation, now applied to modern products.
What this means for fans who bet
Legal betting changes the sport's culture, but it does not change its math. Baseball is a game where even the best teams lose about four of every ten games, which is why favorites lose so often, a point covered in why baseball favorites lose so often. A bettor who understands that variance is less likely to make the errors the long season invites. Practical subjects such as how prices differ between books are covered in how to compare odds and shop for lines and how to size wagers in bankroll management for baseball bettors. The postseason has its own pricing, explained in betting on the postseason.
Nothing here is a recommendation to bet. Betting can become a problem for anyone, and the warning signs and sources of help are laid out in responsible gambling and baseball. The National Council on Problem Gambling publishes resources at https://www.ncpgambling.org/, and the US helpline is 1-800-GAMBLER.
Common questions
What is Rule 21 in baseball? It is the rule on misconduct, and its gambling provision, 21(d), sets permanent ineligibility for betting on a game in which the person has a duty to perform and one year for betting on any other baseball game.
Was Joe Jackson guilty? He was acquitted at the 1921 trial and banned for life by Commissioner Landis. What he knew and did is argued by historians. The historical record shows he hit .356 for his career.
Why is Pete Rose not in the Hall of Fame? Because of his permanent ineligibility, which led the Hall to exclude people on that list from its ballot. His playing record, 4,256 hits, would otherwise qualify him.
Can players bet on baseball today? No. Rule 21 still prohibits betting on baseball, even though betting is legal in many states.
Did the 2018 ruling legalize sports betting? It removed the federal prohibition and let each state decide. Legality still depends on where you live.
Where to go next
The business side of the story, including how salaries and player rights changed, is in the free agency era, and a primer on reading a game is in how to read a baseball box score. Current prices are on the odds page, and the broader topic is gathered in baseball betting. Keep betting within your means, and seek help if it stops being fun.