[Ancesthntr]

A couple comments:

First, I don’t really see much wrong with betting on your own team to win - you’re SUPPOSED to want it to win. The real trouble starts when you bet AGAINST your team.

Second, no matter which team Rose bet on, he broke the rules. He should be punished - but I’m just not sure that lifetime banishment for the (literally) greatest hitter in the game’s history is a just punishment. One could argue that his reputation has been forever damaged, and that he’s lost literally tens of millions in potential wages and endorsements because of what he did - many murderers get off with less than that, not to mention Wall Street embezzlers, inside traders, etc.

Third, this is a child’s game, so who REALLY cares that much. Oh, it is the one that I loved as a child, teen and young adult more than the others, and it has a storied place in US history, but it is JUST A KIDS GAME played by adults for big money. We do have more important things to deal with as a nation.

[Ransomed]

“The real trouble starts when you bet AGAINST your team.”

Or if you don’t bet every game. That’s the crux of the matter. How does managing to win affect the odds of winning the next game, when his bookies know he didn’t have a bet riding? Do you burn pitching when you know it is going to be needed in the next series when you know nothing is going to be riding? Or use players when they should have the day off in consideration of finishing strong down the stretch?

If you were a bookie making odds, would you pay attention to what games Rose bet on and which games he didn’t? How about when he bet 2000 bucks as opposed to 500? So then what do you do to reward Pete Rose for using your book? Because he’s a pretty sweet client and he knows it.

FReegards

[Political Junkie Too]

There are many ways to win and still lose the bet. It's called point-shaving. You can fail to cover the spread on the over-under. The team still wins for the season playoff, but the bet loses.

I don't know how baseball betting works, but it is possible for a team to win, and a bet against the team to also win.

-PJ

[PTBAA]

Pete Rose was a great player, but greatest hitter of all time? He isn’t even in the top 10.

Batting average, OBP, RBIs, HRs, he isn’t in the top 10 in any one of those categories. In the all-important OBP, he ranks 212th. In my opinion, RBIs rank second in importance and there he ranks 103rd.

Great player. Great hitter, but not the best.