Top 5 MLB betting scandals following Shohei Ohtani-Ippei Mizuhara fiasco

Over the past few days, the baseball world has been set ablaze by a controversy involving Shohei Ohtani's interpreter and longtime friend, Ippei Mizuhara.

While the details of the case in question are still hazy, it is understood that some $4.5 million were transferred from an account belonging to Ohtani to a California bookmaker. Although it was originally claimed that Shohei Ohtani had made the transfer to cover for Mizuhara's gambling debts, subsequent statements from Ohtani's lawyers claimed that the star has suffered "massive theft."

With sports gambling illegal in the State of California, the IRS has already become involved. Although Mizuhara maintains that no bets were placed against baseball - something MLB strictly prohibits, the whole fiasco has ignited great interest in the history of MLB players getting into gambling trouble.

Top 5 gambling-related MLB scandals

5. 1919 World Series

In 1920, information surfaced that implicated eight players from the Chicago White Sox for throwing the 1919 World Series against the Reds for personal financial gain. One of the league's first experiences with betting, the scandal led to lifetime bans for the eight players involved, as well as the establishment of a commissioner of baseball role to oversee that such a trespass would never happen again.

4. Dick Higham

In modern baseball, accusing the umpire of cheating has become heresy. And although the occurance is basically extinct now, that was not always the case. After failing to gain traction in baseball, English-born outfielder Dick Higham began to umpire in 1882. However, it was not long before William G. Thompson noted Higham's strange calls in games involving his team, the Detroit Tigers. It was subsequently revealed that Higham had been betting on games that he was calling, and remains the only umpire to have received a lifetime ban from baseball.

"Dick Higham led the National League in doubles in the leagues inaugural season. He later was an umpire and is credited with being the first umpire to don a mask. Oh… he’s also the only umpire to be banned from the game for fixing games" - Baseball

3. Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays

Although MLB greats Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were never caught up in any sort of gambling controversy during their playing days, their proximity to sin in their later years was too much for some. In 1984, then-Commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned both Mays and Mantle from working as door greeters at an Atlantic City Casino. Though the ban was soon overturned, Kuhn claimed at the time that "gambling has no place in baseball" in response to the former star's occupation.

2. Peter Bayer

6-foot-4 right hander Pete Bayer never had the chance to play in the MLB, but that did not stop him from betting on it, a lot. In 2021, it was revealed that Bayer had placed over 100 bets on MLB games, including 12 on his own organization, the Oakland Athletics. As of 2023, Bayer is still banned for his activities.

1. Pete Rose

With 4256 career hits, former Cincinnati Reds icon Pete Rose is the all-time leader in the category. However, Rose's inability to quell his gambling issue damaged his legacy severely. In 1989, when Rose was managing the Reds, allegations surfaced that the seventeen-time All-Star was gambling on baseball daily. Lawyer John Dowd soon issued his infamous Dowd Report, which implicated Rose and led to a lifetime ban from baseball.

"Breaking news - Pete Rose is again appealing his lifetime ban from baseball.. He now claims his gambling problem was actually his interpreters fault" - LD Basler