Rumor was that Micheal Jordan’s one year of minor league baseball was an agreed-to punishment for making illegal (at the the time) bets.
Pete Rose bet on games in which he had a duty to perform, but he was never accused of betting against his own team. The danger was if a player becomes indebted to gamblers, he may be coerced into failing to perform to favor gamblers.
Shoeless Joe Jackson likely never collaborated with gamblers, but he was offered bribes. His play during the World Series does not indicate that he was trying to throw the games, although his teammates did.
Denny McLain got himself into big trouble more than once. Had he not, he’d be in the MLB Hall of Fame.
the issue with rose was he did bet on his own games, which might influence decisions on which pitchers to swap in etc that otherwise would have been made differently if no side money on the line.
also didn’t his bookie later say (or have notes saying) he bet against his own team?