From the Black Sox to Pete Rose to Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, baseball has endured its fair share of gambling scandals throughout its history.
MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark said before Game 1 of the World Series that “there is a lot of work to be done” by MLB on the heels of this week’s gambling scandal in the NBA.
“It’s just a different world,” Clark told reporters Friday at Rogers Centre, according to ESPN. “So every time, again, something happens, yeah, our concerns become greater, and everyone on some level recognizes that the world was going to be different.”
Clark acknowledged that he worries about player safety issues, brought about by threats from gamblers towards athletes.
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The former Mets and Yankees first baseman said after the U.S. Supreme Court gave states the green light to legalize sports betting in 2018, “within 24 hours [players] reached out [to the union] suggesting they were being followed by gambling sites and other entities.”
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Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were placed on non-disciplinary leave in July as part of an MLB sports betting investigation.
Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was banned for life in 2024 for placing bets on games.
“We work closely with the league to ensure the safety and well-being of our players,” Clark said. “So that remains front and center. That alone, with the educating of our players, making sure that they understand what they can and can’t do is consistent and constant.
The FBI has arrested 31 people involved in a rigged poker game ring backed by the New York City organized crime families.
- Ernest Aiello — reputed Bonanno mobster
- Nelson “Spanish G” Alvarez
- Louis “Lou Ap” Apicella
- Ammar “Flapper Poker” Awawdeh
- Saul Becher — professional poker player
- Chauncey Billups — Portland Trail Blazers coach, NBA Hall of Famer and 2004 NBA champion
- Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino
- Eric “Spooky” Earnest
- Lee Fama — professional poker player
- John Gallo
- Marco Garzon
- Thomas “Tommy Juice” Gelardo — reputed Lucchese mobster charged in 2013 for beating porn star girlfriend
- Jamie Gilet
- Tony “Black Tony” Goodson
- Kenny Han
- Shane “Sugar” Henne
- Osman “Albanian Bruce” Hoti
- Horatio Hu
- Zhen “Scruli” Hu
- Damon “Dee Jones” Jones — NBA player from 1998 to 2009
- Joseph Lanni
- John “John South” Mazzola
- Curtis Meeks
- Nicholas Minucci
- Michael Renzulli
- Anthony Ruggiero Jr.
- Anthony “Doc” Shnayderman
- Robert “Black Rob” Stroud
- Seth Trustman
- Sophia “Pookie” Wei
- Julius Ziliani
“But rest assured, every time there’s a situation that arises related to gambling, the concern doesn’t lessen. It gets greater.”
Among other topics, Clark also said that the union remains firmly against the implementation of a hard salary cap in upcoming collective bargaining negotiations, brushing off the idea as “a lot of chatter.”
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