David Jolley: Pete Rose’s lifetime punishment shows sports’ gambling double-standard

When Pete Rose, the all-time major league baseball hits leader, passed away recently, the subject of gambling once again took center stage. Given Rose’s status as the gambling punishment poster boy, the major sports leagues must finally own up and answer the question about exactly where they stand on gambling.

It appears they are on both sides of this issue, and straddling the fence is not a good place to be.

Watch any professional or college sporting event on television and you are likely to see advertisements for FanDuel, MGM Sportsbook and other big business legal sports betting organizations. Yet, while the major professional and college sports leagues and others reap the benefits from significant advertising dollars and other promotional spending by gambling outlets, they take a righteous indignation stance about betting by their players and employees.

Don’t think for one moment interest in the NFL is not enhanced by people betting on everything from the scores to who wins the coin toss. The odds even appear on-screen throughout games. Interest is promoted further by the millions of people who play fantasy football, simply another way to gamble. The NFL is not alone in this regard.

The legitimacy of wins and losses is, of course, paramount. The sanctity of the game must be preserved and remain above reproach. At the same time, punishment for rule breakers must be reviewed and revised. The way things currently stand, the leagues come off as hypocritical.

Their position reeks of double standard, especially when you understand gambling is a medical disorder, not merely people making poor choices. It’s one strike and you’re out for addicted gamblers like Rose, yet the accepted standard of care for players with alcohol and other drug addictions is medical intervention and rehabilitation, often multiple times.

The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines gambling as a behavioral addiction, explaining, “in certain ways, gambling disorder resembles substance use disorder.” The Cleveland Clinic notes both “change your brain chemistry and can have features of withdrawal and tolerance.”

It is estimated 2-4% of the U.S. population is affected by gambling disorders, a number that seems ridiculously low. The Cleveland Clinic agrees, noting this estimate “may be inaccurate because not everyone with gambling disorder receives a diagnosis or professional treatment.”

Gambling disorder has multiple causes, including genetics, changes in brain chemistry, personality traits, and coexisting mental health conditions. Like other addictions, gambling disorder requires professional medical treatment for affected individuals to identify and come to terms with their condition, so they can work together to change unhealthy thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. And it requires continual recovery.

That sure sounds like a medical condition, not simply poor choices. So, why is it treated differently? The leagues always fall back on their “maintaining integrity” theme.

Many books have been written about Pete Rose, his amazing exploits while playing baseball, his time as manager, and the lifetime ban handed down by then baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti in 1989 because of Pete’s gambling activity. Giamatti died from a heart attack soon after announcing his decision, and Rose maintained the commissioner told him the lifetime ban could and likely would be lifted after a period of time when Rose showed MLB he was sorry.

After all, apologizing is part of the 10-step recovery process, right?

We will never know if Giamatti said that or not, but we do know subsequent commissioners never reinstated Rose and he never got his opportunity to be eligible for baseball’s Hall of Fame. When baseball someday finally rights this wrong, it will be at least one important step forward in sports acknowledging gambling as an addiction.

The convenient double standard surrounding Rose does not end there. Visitors to the hall and museum go there, in part, to see players’ equipment and other memorabilia from significant events in baseball history. While Pete was never welcomed into the family of Hall-of-Famers, there are still plenty of Pete Rose artifacts on display in Cooperstown.

Among the historical items are the shoes Rose wore on Sept. 11, 1985, when he got his 4,192nd hit and passed Ty Cobb to become major league baseball’s all-time hit king, as well as the Montreal Expos cap he wore on June 29, 1984, when he played in his 3,309th career game, setting a new record previously held by Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox.

It’s okay for Rose to be a Cooperstown tourist attraction, but not to be elected to the hallowed hall of baseball’s legends.

Rose agreed he was no saint, just a flawed human being, and you can find enough material to back that up. Among other indiscretions, it took him decades to finally admit he bet on baseball – but never against the Cincinnati team he managed – and he spent several months in prison for tax evasion.

That said, the issue compounding his troubles was gambling, an acknowledged medical disorder yet a pastime the sports world uses to its financial advantage every day.

Halls of fame are for athletes’ accomplishments in their chosen sports, and you can find numerous examples of those elected having less than stellar resumes outside the field of play. Look at O.J. Simpson and his issues; he was convicted of robbery but remains a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The opportunity to be considered hall-worthy for his baseball ability, though, has long been denied to Rose. Even the players from baseball’s steroid debacle at least made it to the ballot, but gambling remains the mortal sin to be brushed under the rug.

Rose said he “would walk through hell in a gasoline suit” just to play baseball. He played so well; it is a shame he served a life sentence away from the game he loved.

(David Jolley is a sports fan and historian, former player, coach and manager, a public relations and marketing communications consultant, writer, and author.)