Player wagering in the 19th Century.

[runningshoes]

From Baseball Notes in the Washington Post, December 9, 1894:

Uncle Anson has already started making wagers on the position the Chicago Colts will have in the race for the National League Pennant next year. He put up $100 a few days ago that his team would finish higher up in the race than the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After seeing this, I was left asking myself if this was common practice among the players and when did the practice stop?

Did one single event occur to send player wagering underground, or did it slowly end up there?

I can’t imagine this, but did the players, for the most part, stop wagering?

I’m going to do more research, but I’m wondering what you guys know about the practice.

I'll post anything I find.

[Brian McKenna]

wagering was rampant - whatever you see in the paper is just 1/100 of what took place - most 19th century references are just vague statements - bettors often yelled throughout the stands in ear shot of the players - surely the players wanted in - it's amazing that we have so few specifics about actual game-fixing that took place, especially, during the 1870s

a book filled with newspaper articles from the 19th century concerning gambling and game-fixing would startle most about the prevalence of such - the practice tailed off somewhat during the deadball era but the game needed judge landis to really put the smack down - you can even tell today about the popularity of gambling - mlb would probably be the top sport today if gambling on football was prohibited

[TonyK]

When a certain part of the grandstand is known as the "Gamblers Section" then you get a sense of what was going on.

I would imagine the Natl Baseball HOF Research Library has plenty on gambling in ML and minor league ball. I don't know when it finally got stamped out.

[SABR Steve]

From Baseball Notes in the Washington Post, December 9, 1894:



After seeing this, I was left asking myself if this was common practice among the players and when did the practice stop?

Did one single event occur to send player wagering underground, or did it slowly end up there?

I can’t imagine this, but did the players, for the most part, stop wagering?

I’m going to do more research, but I’m wondering what you guys know about the practice.

I'll post anything I find.

Be careful with this rock. We may not like what we find underneath.