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MLB bans online game if there is any prize money

Posted July. 22, 2016 07:09,   

Updated July. 22, 2016 07:21

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Bowie Kuhn, former Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner, put the legendary Mickey Mantle (1931-1995) of the New York Yankees on the permanently ineligible list in 1983 because of his gambling, which occurred 15 years after he retired with his record of 536 home runs. Did the investigators find this out belatedly?

Simply put, the answer is no. After retirement, Mantle worked as an honorary ambassador at a golf club in New Jersey. The problem was that the club owner was a casino company. Though there was no reason to punish him according to the MLB rules, Kuhn punished him in his capacity. He explained that it was a decision for the interest of the entire baseball community.

Though Mantle restored his status in 1985, this case shows how strictly the MLB Secretariat handles gambling. The MLB suffered the “Black Sox” scandal in the 1919 World Series when the White Sox players joined in rigging the result. After the probe, the MLB Secretariat made a new rule that no player, referee, and employee of a baseball club can participate in any gambling and this should be exhibited in a dugout.

With the change of the time, rules have become stricter. Although a “fantasy game” in which players can buy and sell athletes is not gambling, MLB players are not allowed to play the game if there is any prize money. In April last year, the secretariat and the Major League Baseball Players Association revised the collective bargaining agreement to include this. After the change of the rule, each club posted a note informing this on each player’s locker.



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