OT: It's opening day for baseball - is the Ohtani betting scandal even bigger news?
I grew up going to opening day at the corner of Michigan & Trumbull and still remember opening day in 1978 watching Mark "the Bird" Fidrych and the whole city going nuts over him. A true one-of-a-kind and if you were alive and a baseball fan back then you'll remember the hysteria every time he took the mound. Gone too soon from baseball and life - RIP Mark.
Fast forward to today and baseball has a mess of biblical proportions on it's hands. it's biggest star, it's biggest international star, Shohei Ohtani, is embroiled in a possible betting scandal that looks worse every day. Initially reported as him having no connection to the interpreter's debt of 4.5MM, then he was simply helping a friend out of a debt, then changed to the interpreter stealing the money from him. Yet no charges have been filed by Ohtani against the person who allegedly stole 4.5MM dollars and he refuses to answer any questions regarding the situation. The LA Times published an excellent piece on the situation last night that exposes all the inconsistencies in Ohtani's ever-evolving explanation for what happened. And asks some very interesting questions like "why would an illegal bookmaker extend 4.5MM in credit to an interpreter? And how did all the various banking tripwires get evaded so the theft on this magnitude goes undetected?
I know Pete Rose is watching this situation closely.
I mean, isn't insider trading considered immoral if not outright illegal in many cases??
I don't think Pete Rose betting on games as a manager should detract from his specific accomplishments as a baseball player for which he is being judged for inclusion in the Hall. Pete Rose should be in the HoF. You can put an asterisk or footnote on it for all I care but his baseball accomplishments are HoF worthy.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:45 AM ^
There's no proof Ohtani is anywhere near Rose, a noted gambling junkie.
But this scandal opens the door for all kinds of doubt.
At best, Ohtani didn't actually know, but he was compromised by a known gambler and open to outside influence.
At worst, Ohtani could have been using his interpreter as a front for his own gambling. After all, what kind of bookie gives a normal person a $5 million line of credit?
March 28th, 2024 at 12:39 PM ^
I’d say at best Ohtani didn’t know and so none of this matters. “Open to outside influence” is a ridiculous statement to me because that just existing. If he had a bad drive to the stadium that’s an “outside influence”
"I’d say at best Ohtani didn’t know and so none of this matters."
Take five minutes and read the article I linked from the LA Times. The enormous number of banking protocols that are in place to prevent someone from "stealing" 4.5MM in the manner they've suggested with their 3rd version of the events would suggest otherwise.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:34 AM ^
Yeah, Pete Rose was a horrible pitcher.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:02 AM ^
My guess on Ohtani is the interpreter was actually the one betting. The bookie knew the connection to Ohtani and figured getting leverage on Ohtani was a good business move.
I also think Ohtani actually did just try to make it go away by paying off the debt and the money wasn't stolen.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:11 AM ^
I so hope that you're right. Seeing a once-in-a-lifetime athlete go down for gambling would be awful.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:14 AM ^
I agree with you re the bookies but man if you read that LA Times story this thing is a LONG way from being over and it's not going to simply go away, as much as the Dodgers and probably MLB want it to.
Right now you've got the IRS, Homeland Security and soon the FBI all investigating. Good rule of thumb in life is if you have three federal agencies all actively investigating you for something you're kinda fucked.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:22 AM ^
I don't think it's good news for Ohtani if he willingly paid 4.5 million dollars to a bookie for illegally placed bets. I think that's why the story changed from he paid off his friend's debt to it was stolen.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:10 AM ^
So there's actually an explanation for why the story changed. The communication team that issued the original statement screwed the pooch and got its information from Ohtani via Mizuhana. In other words, the person claiming that Ohtani willingly paid a friend's gambling debts was, in fact, the friend.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:37 AM ^
Yes. That is the story.
March 28th, 2024 at 12:23 PM ^
The fact that they're putting out statements explaining why their story is changing does not engender a lot of confidence.
March 28th, 2024 at 12:29 PM ^
So the communication team chose to get the details through the interpreter who was being accused of placing 4.5 million in bets instead of directly from Ohtani. Got it, makes perfect sense. Because Mizuhana must be the only person available to speak Japanese and communicate what he was accused of to Ohtani.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:59 AM ^
Good rule of thumb in life is if you have three federal agencies all actively investigating you for something you're kinda fucked.
Either that or you're the presidential nominee of a major political party.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:07 AM ^
The last time a huge star got caught gambling, instead of suspending him, they sent him to play baseball for a year.
Maybe Ohtani should try basketball for a year.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:09 AM ^
David Stern was pretty dang creative with that one, wasn't he?
Random opening day memory: Tuffy Rhodes hitting 3(!) home runs for the Cubs in '94 against the Mets. Cubs lost that game (shocker, I know!) but that was pretty crazy.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:32 AM ^
I've felt that "baseball" thing - many years ago - with daily tracking of his performance against the Mendoza line enticed a number of Chicago area fans.
Personally, it seems to reflect where we are in society - that reflect accountability (or lack thereof) with regulatory organizations deciding to selectively enforce rules - particularly against "more visible" entities (players or teams).
March 28th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
The last time a huge star got caught gambling, instead of suspending him, they sent him to play baseball for a year.
I'm not sure I buy the narrative that Jordan quit basketball because he was secretly suspended for gambling. That doesn't make any sense, what's the point of a secret suspensions? What would the NBA gain from losing their biggest star without at least taking a public stand against whatever gambling actions might have occurred, if the goal was to maintain the integrity of the game in the eyes of the public.
I think what is far more likely is that Jordan was having a sort of early midlife crisis, having achieved so much already, and dealing with the recent murder of his dad. I think that's more likely than the secret suspension conspiracy theory that gets passed around as fact.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:19 AM ^
The murder of his Dad has been speculated to have not been random, but in fact connected to his son's gambling. I don't think there was any formal suspension, secret or otherwise, but there were rumblings and Michael decided to be proactive and "retired" first. Two years later the NBA was begging him to come back. Michael's 6 titles could have been 8, or at least 7.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:14 AM ^
It would be pretty funny if Ohtani was actually just this huge villain character, up to all sorts of trouble, and it's all just been kinda hidden because no-one ever really got to talk to him much and Japanese manners appear so polite and genteel to Americans.
I think one way or another, MLB has like zero interest in going after their number one cash cow, the first ballplayer in many years who could pass as an international celebrity and actually drives some interest in the league.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:24 AM ^
Spot on. MLB wants this thing to be buried six feet deep, no matter what he was actually doing for exactly the reasons you described. They have their biggest star, an international star, playing in their biggest market (sorry NY, it just is) with a heavy Asian population watching.
The investigation into this by MLB will go about as deep and wide as the B1G's look at the officials calls made in the 2016 Michigan/OSU game.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:44 AM ^
So MLB's investigation is already done? Makes sense...
March 28th, 2024 at 11:28 AM ^
Never forget.
March 28th, 2024 at 12:42 PM ^
What? MLB literally just did this with Tatis, another face of the sport the idea they’d now cover for this seems silly. Also there’s federal investigators looking into this, what the MLB does could not be less important.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:27 AM ^
MLB wants to bury that scandal faster than the mob took out Hoffa.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:28 AM ^
Ohtani will probably be well protected like most of the PED guys from the 90's and early 2000's until he is no longer bringing MLB large amounts of revenue.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:29 AM ^
mGrowOld - I saw Mark Fidrych pitch at Tiger Stadium a couple of times in 1976. My mother got the tickets through some friends at work. I was there for the Monday night games against the Yankees. The ballpark was electric that night. Great memories.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:37 AM ^
I saw him pitch like two or three times. I remember going to his "comeback" game in 77 and I literally sat directly behind a pole. And the freaking pole completely blocked my view of the pitching mound!
March 28th, 2024 at 10:57 AM ^
I was in Tiger Stadium watching the day he blew his shoulder out in the 1st inning. The first couple of pitches were good. Then, after throwing one, he jumped up and walked a circle around the mound stretching his arm. The next couple of pitches were wide and had no pop. He was replaced in short order by Jim Coleman (pretty sure that's the name), a middle reliver of no particular acclaim. Coleman proceeded to throw a 9-inning gem that won the game. I believe they were playing Cleveland, but don't quote me on that one.
The atmosphere before the game was electric - unlike anything I had ever witnessed in my young life at the time. Still not sure I've witnessed it since... When Bird left the game, there was a noticeable pall of sadness in the air. But as the game went on, and Coleman kept mowing down batters, the excitement steadily built. When the game ended, Coleman had to make a curtain call to end the chants of his name by ~52,000 people. Nobody left early... What a memory!
March 28th, 2024 at 12:33 PM ^
Saw Mark Fidrych twice myself that year. Once in a great win over Oakland, once in perhaps his worst outing against the Red Sox. Like you said, great memories. After the disaster year of '75, it was so great to have something to be excited about again. I cooled on baseball as a kid after the strike season. Loved '84 and then Verlander, but it's never been quite the same as when I was young.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:41 AM ^
I think the Ohtani "scandal" is big, see https://www.wsj.com/articles/ohtani-sports-gambling-scandal-927fdd22, yes, but most sports fans won't care enough to be distracted from watching the games while enjoying their brews.
Of course, at some point, fans may start to question if the game results are without influence by a few players, coaches, or even officials throwing a game for the sake of a bet.
My view is that the various leagues will continue to support sports gambling as a way of keeping fans watching so that they (leagues, conferences, etc.) can maximize broadcasting rights contracts and related ad revenues.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:49 AM ^
Why would a bookie extend the $4.5MM line to an interpreter? Simple. Because interpreter's employer was always going to be good for it, either above or below the table.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:54 AM ^
Note to self. "If HighBeta is ever hiring make sure to fill out an application. He must be the world's best boss because he thinks it's normal for a supervisor to cover millions of dollars of gambling losses from his subordinates."
I can safely say that before they legalized gambling my bookie wouldnt take "hey my boss is going to cover this, trust me" as a line of credit.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:00 AM ^
Interpreter was always going to be good for it to avoid the stink of the debt going public. And here we are: debt got paid.
Note. I'd hire you. Bring the boat, we'll take meetings on it. Have your people call mine to set it up. 😉
Edit/add: Just FYI? I'd never pay off an employee's gambling debts, but I have paid off an employee's medical bills which happened before his insurance coverage kicked in. Disclosure: the guy had worked (well) for me in prior gigs and I wasn't going to let him "tough it out" until insurance kicked in.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:30 AM ^
True, but I would add that if your boss was a famous baseball player that might tip the scales a bit, especially if you could perhaps squeeze said guy for info about baseball if necessary.
I'm not saying you're doing this, but it is funny that people are talking about bookies like they wouldn't try to leverage a massive debt held by one of their gamblers to gain an upper-hand on the betting public.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:40 AM ^
I think High Beta is getting playfully mocked for saying that the interpreter KNEW that Ohtani would pay off his debt.
Because if you believe Ohtani, he did not, in fact, pay off his debt.
I think we all understand that a bookie would extend credit if he thought he could get leverage on Ohtani, though I agree it does get asked as a question a lot. But it happens to have a very plausible answer.
March 28th, 2024 at 10:58 AM ^
It's amazing how quickly principles disappear when this type of money is involved.
As someone stated earlier, Ohtani will be protected until baseball has wrung as much value out of him as it can. Let's say he is the one doing the gambling. With his back-weighted contract, could the Dodgers/MLB protect him until his time is done then "find" new evidence of gambling and cancel the rest of his contract?
March 28th, 2024 at 11:05 AM ^
I have a suspicion that the end result will be Ohtani retiring and going back to Japan.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:11 AM ^
Tony Petiti told me this is the biggest scandal in MLB history.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:29 AM ^
Man, I almost forgot about this ridiculous statement. This would be like the pope saying the biggest scandal in the history of the Catholic Church was that time when that priest was phrasing his incantations wrong when giving communion.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:45 AM ^
It ain't far off!
1) Black Sox
2) Rose
3) Roids
4) ?
March 28th, 2024 at 12:36 PM ^
4) Denny McLain pitching Mickey Mantle a gopher ball.
(not really worthy of #4, but it's a light-hearted local scandal for those old enough to remember)
March 28th, 2024 at 12:44 PM ^
I definitely remember. It was 68 and two very bad knees and years of alcohol abuse had left him a shell of his former self. It was his final at bat in Tiger Stadium and McClain wanted the Mick to go out with a bang so he called Freehan to the mound and said "ask him where he wants it". Legend has it Mantle didnt believe them on the first pitch so he took it (letter high fastball, right down main street). It was the 2nd grooved pitch that Mantle took deep.
Yes, MGrowOld, yours is the version I remember Dennis Dale himself recounting. McLain said he later received a call from the commissioner, "Something about the integrity of the game."
March 28th, 2024 at 11:11 AM ^
Ohtani is simply too big to fail. End of story.
As far as Opening Day is concerned, I'm looking forward to not having to listen to Shep call any more Tigers games, thank God.
But my favorite team already got rained out, so one more day for another season of GKR.
March 28th, 2024 at 11:14 AM ^
That illegal bookie probably went from feeling great, to not so great, about getting all that money from Ohtani.