Tucupita Marcano has been fired.
Okay, that’s not quite the whole story. Tucupita Marcano has been banned for life from Major League Baseball.
Why? He committed baseball’s original sin: he bet on games.
Even worse, he bet on his own team.
MLB said Tuesday that Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 in October 2022 and from last July through November with a legal sportsbook. He became the first active player in a century banned for life because of gambling.
Marcano appears to be the first active major leaguer banned under the sport’s gambling provision since New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell in 1924. Pete Rose, baseball’s active career hits leader, famously agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation concluded he bet on Cincinnati Reds games while managing the team.
…
…
Marcano bet almost exclusively on the outcomes of games and lost all of his parlay bets involving the Pirates, winning just 4.3% of all of his MLB-related bets, according to the league.
MLB Rule 21, posted in every clubhouse, states betting on any baseball game in which a player, umpire, league official or team employee has no duty to perform results in a one-year suspension. Betting on a game in which the person has a duty to perform results in a lifetime ban.
Four other players have been suspended for one year, also for betting on baseball. They only got one year suspensions because they were minor league players betting on major league games.
Him and Rose bet on themselves to win.
Not like they were throwing games where they’d bet on losing.