By betadmin Yes, Pete Rose, the all-time Major League Baseball hit leader, was banned from baseball in 1989 after an investigation found that he had bet on baseball games, including those involving his own team, the Cincinnati Reds, of which he was the player-manager at the time. The investigation was conducted by Major League Baseball and was led by lawyer John Dowd. Although Rose never admitted publicly to betting against his own team, the Dowd Report contained overwhelming evidence that he had bet on baseball games, and it was widely believed that he had done so.
The evidence suggested that Rose had placed bets with bookmakers, and while it was not proven that he specifically bet against his own team, the act of betting on baseball games while being a player-manager was a serious violation of baseball rules. Commissioner Bart Giamatti banned Rose from baseball under the “best interests of the game” clause, a decision that has stood despite Rose’s attempts to be reinstated. This ban has kept him from being eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.