SPT 510 - Milestone Three

Johnathon Blake Davis

4-1 Milestone Two: Examine the Impact

SPT 510

Professor Ledford

July 3, 2022

4-1 Milestone Two: Examine the Impact

Pete Rose, a famous baseball player in Major League Baseball, was involved in gambling, resulting in his permanent ban from the sport. In 1989, Pete Rose's gambling on Redd's games was revealed, and it took fourteen years of investigation. During fourteen years, the MLB spent millions on court proceedings, law hirings and other procedures to find the truth and punish the actual criminal. Rose denied his involvement in gambling for fourteen years, but suddenly he confessed, and the case was ended by punishing Rose. The economic impact was more significant, along with the challenges to MLB's public image and reputation. Pete Rose committed the gambling of $ 5 billion on his baseball team, which didn't bring him much but regret and continuous losses. MLB spent millions on the training of participants, and the organization's role is no minimum when it comes to the role of Pete Rose as a player. But the player's gambling act negatively impacts the organization's spending on the training and well-being of its players (Ozanian, 2015). MLB lost most of its contracts with significant sports companies at that time. The company faced the economic ramifications of gambling because of a wrong act by one of its athletes.

Numerous factors determine the event's economic impact, such as the organization's loss of fame and fanbase. Pete Rose was a career leader, and the majority of society was impressed by his performance in the field. Involvement in gambling and the decision of permanent ban from participation in baseball negatively impacts the fanbase of MLB. Most people favor Rose's regret and think his apology should be accepted. But the opposite decision by professionals at MLB negatively impacts the audience's expectations and their participation in sports offered by Major League Baseball, leading to lower economic gain and losing market position (Nightengale, 2022).

Gambling has been alive in baseball culture for a long. In the history of MLB, numerous players committed gambling, but the officials' decision was hard on Pete Rose. Baseball is meaningful in American culture, and the place of Pete Rose in America's mind was also respectable, which is why the incident brought higher criticism to the organization. Although Americans are strict towards violations of sports rules, when it comes to Pete Rose's case, most Americans show favor for Rose as he regrets what he did. The public's response is a significant factor that shows the incident's socio-cultural impact on people's perception and participation in sports (Nightengale, 2022).

After the case of Pete Rose gambling, Major League Baseball introduced strict boundaries for players. To minimize gambling practices, the organization also announced an increase in players' salaries so that they do not choose gambling as a source of earning. The organization becomes strict regarding crime investigations as they did for Pete Rose. Despite his multiple apologies and regret, the organization didn't accept him back on the team, leaving an example for future players (Bush, 2010). Numerous changes were also made for eligibility for the hall of fame and reentry into a team, resulting in a permanent ban of Pete Rose from gambling.

Public policy and law play a crucial role in deciding the case. The law supports the sports organization and its decision of permanent eligibility of Pete Rose from gambling. According to Baseball rule 21(d), "Any player, umpire, or club official or employee, who shall bet any sum upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform shall be declared ineligible for one year. Any player, umpire, club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible” (Bush, 2010). This law rule was used as a reference to define punishment for Pete Rose.

Changes made after the Pete Rose gambling incident brought numerous cultural and political changes to the organization. For example, gambling cases were decreasing because players understood that their careers would be diminished if they were involved in gambling. Strict policies and practices were implemented that helped the organization to achieve a stable position in the society once again (Clark, 2019).

Society's response to the incident was drastic. Most of the audience supported the player and expected a positive response from the organization regarding Pete Rose's punishment. But the decision to permanently ban him from baseball raised criticism for the organization. Surrounding society's perception changed towards the organization because, in the history of MLB, numerous gambling cases happened, but decisions were not as strict as for Pete Rose. This is why society claims that MLB directors and decision-makers are discriminative towards Pete Rose and doing wrong to him.

References

Bush, B. (2010). Rule 5: An Analysis of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Character Clause. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/brettbushthesis/chapter-4/discussion-of-the-research-questions-1/2-who-in-major-league-baseball-history-is-considered-a-scandalous-player/2-who-in-major-league-baseball-history-is-considered-a-scandalous-player-b-not-in-the-h

Clark, D. (2019, October 15). Pete Rose: $100 million lost for betting on Cincinnati Reds; baseball is punishment enough. Retrieved from https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2019/10/15/pete-rose-gambling-cincinnati-reds-1980-s-cost-me-100-million/3982711002/

Nightengale, B. (2022, April 21). 'I was 30 years too early': Pete Rose opens up about MLB's new gambling stance. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2022/04/21/pete-rose-mlb-gambling-charlie-blackmon/7393304001/?gnt-cfr=1

Ozanian, M. (2015, June 23). Pete Rose And The $5 Billion Sports Gambling Lie. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2015/06/23/petes-roses-5-billion-gambling-lie/?sh=3081248b47bf