News about Major League Baseball (MLB) gambling scandals in Ohio — one old and two new — came to light over the holiday weekend. On Friday, newly released FBI documents revealed that Pete Rose frequented a bar of which the owner was known to be a cocaine dealer and bookie, and Sunday, MLB announced that it is leaving the suspensions of two Cleveland Guardians players open-ended.
Heavily redacted FBI files about Rose’s gambling history that were released shone a spotlight on Rose’s bookie, Ronald Peters, and focused on a late-1980s gambling investigation that included tidbits like Rose often entered the bar “through its private entrance,” and that many were seen entering the bar with “briefcases handcuffed to their wrists.”
According to ESPN, which got a look at the files ahead of the Friday release, the FBI regularly releases investigative files after a person dies. Rose passed away Sept. 30, 2024. Rose, who was banned from baseball for life for gambling on the sport and on the Cincinnati Reds team he managed, is Major League Baseball’s all-time hit leader.
MLB: No more comments until probe done
Two days after the FBI file release, MLB addressed two gambling investigations, saying Sunday that Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz will remain on non-disciplinary leave “until further notice.” Both are under investigation for potential first-pitch microbetting irregularities.
Clase and Ortiz are on paid leave, and MLB previously extended their suspensions through Aug. 31, but Sunday announced that it and the MLB Players Association had agreed to the extensions.
Since 2022, there have been six key scandals around baseball gambling. The most high profile is that of former Shohei Ohtani translator Ippei Mizuhara, who is serving a 57-month prison term for stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani. Mizuhara bet those funds and more with illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who Friday was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison. MLB banned Tucupita Marcano for life in 2024, after determining that he bet on baseball.
MLB wrote that it will not comment again until the investigations are complete, and the Guardians said in a statement, “We have been informed of the extension and will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation.”
With less than a month left in the regular season, the Guardians are in third place in the American League Central, 10½ games behind division-leading Detroit and four games out of the wild card race.
Rose bet $1,000-$2,000 per game on NFL
As the Guardians battle for a shot at the postseason without two key pitchers, the Reds continue to have to deal with one of the biggest baseball betting scandals in history. Rose ultimately admitted to betting on baseball, and appealed to MLB multiple times to reverse his ban on entering the Hall of Fame. Commissioner Rob Manfred repeatedly denied Rose’s requests, but after his death, took him off the permanently ineligible list after considering a request from Rose’s family. As of May 2025, Rose is eligible to be on the HOF ballot, and could be on the next Classic Baseball Era Committee ballot, which is set for December 2027.
Rose remains a paradox for many — he is considered one of the greatest baseball players in history, but broke the cardinal rule of sports by betting on his game and team. On Jan. 1, 2023, he placed the first regulated bet in Ohio history, at a Hard Rock sportsbook.
The more than 100 pages of the investigation released focus mainly on Peters’ illicit drug and gambling businesses. One memo shows that Rose was a partner in a Cincinnati bar with Peters, and that he at one time “owed Peters $90,000 in sports wagering losses.” It’s not clear when, how, or if Rose resolved the debt, but the documents appear to indicate that a debt led to a third party dissolving a partnership with Rose.
According to a 1987 memo with the name of the person interviewed redacted, Rose normally bet on 10 games per NFL Sunday, and put down between $1,000-$2,000 per game. The interviewee, who often delivered bets for Rose, said that Rose never owed Peters more than $80,000 at one time, and that he never saw Rose bet on baseball. The source said he “believed” that Rose only bet on football, basketball, and horse racing.
