Minor league pitcher Pete Bayer said he is being unfairly punished by Major League Baseball for sports wagers he made during the 2020 COVID pandemic. MLB suspended the former member of the Oakland A’s farm system for three years.
Bayer said the suspension didn’t fit the crime. He said via Twitter that he made bets only when the 2020 minor league season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since the beginning of the 2021, I have been on the MLB Ineligible List due to placing wagers on a few MLB games during the 2020 COVID year when MILB did not have a season,” Bayer wrote on Twitter. “I am currently still ineligible for the 2023 season, a third straight year.”
Bayer told the Athletic in an interview two weeks ago that he only made fewer than 20 wagers in July and August of 2020. He later amended that number to 30.
He also said the amount of the bets were in the $20-$50 range and he bet twice on the Oakland Athletics.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred disagreed with Bayer’s bet count. In a letter to The Athletic he said there were “over 100 baseball-related wagers” and “at least 12 wagers involving the Athletics and at least 25 wagers of $1,000 or more.”
“My entire life, I’ve spent the summers playing baseball and, without competing and playing, I did not know what to do with myself,” Bayer said in one of the Twitter posts. “When the season was canceled in 2020, a lot of us were uncertain about our careers moving forward. These were unprecedented times in which many of us weren’t thinking clearly. I made this mistake and I’ve owned up to it.”
Manfred cited the rule on betting as reason for the suspension.
“Any player, umpire or Club or League official or employee who shall bet any sum whatsoever on any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year,” the rule states. The punishment for betting on games in which the person has a duty to perform is a lifetime ban.”
Bayer was notified of his suspension at the beginning of 2021, after he had signed a deal with the Cincinnati Reds. He is listed now as a free agent, but is eligible to apply for reinstatement after the 2023 World Series.
