Hopefully, you were fading now ex-San Diego Padres infielder Tucapita Marcano.
Major League Baseball has permanently banned Tucupita Marcano after determining that the infielder placed hundreds of bets on baseball, including wagers on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates while he was with the team last season.
MLB announced Tuesday that Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 between October 2022 and from July through November of the same year with a legal sportsbook.
This marks him as the first active player in a century to be banned for life due to gambling.
Marcano is the first active major leaguer banned under the sport’s gambling provision since New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell in 1924.
Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader, agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation concluded he bet on Cincinnati Reds games while managing the team.
“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century. We have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people.”
Currently a member of the San Diego Padres, Marcano was found to have placed 231 MLB-related bets, including 25 on Pirates games while he was on the team’s major league roster.
Although he did not appear in any of those games due to a season-ending knee injury, he was receiving medical treatment at PNC Park during that period.
“We are extremely disappointed by Tucupita’s actions and fully support Major League Baseball’s ruling,” the Pirates said in a statement. “The Pirates, along with MLB, the Players Association, and every Club, work to ensure all involved within our game are aware of the rules and policies around gambling. While the thorough investigation revealed no evidence of any games being compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way in this case, protecting the integrity of our game is paramount.”
Marcano bet almost exclusively on the outcomes of games and lost all of his parlay bets involving the Pirates, winning just 4.3% of his MLB-related bets, according to the league.
MLB Rule 21, posted in every clubhouse, states that betting on any baseball game in which a player, umpire, league official, or team employee has no duty to perform results in a one-year suspension.
Betting on a game in which the person has a duty to perform results in a lifetime ban.
Additionally, Oakland Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly was declared ineligible for one year on Tuesday for betting on baseball while in the minor leagues.
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Minor leaguers Jay Groome of San Diego, Jose Rodriguez of Philadelphia, and Andrew Saalfrank of Arizona were also banned for one year for betting on major league games.
MLB said it was tipped off about the betting activity by a legal sports betting operator.
None of the players punished played in any games on which they wagered, and all players denied having inside information relevant to their bets or the games they bet on—testimonies that MLB says align with the data received from the sportsbook.
Marcano became the second North American athlete banned for gambling in recent months.
The NBA issued a lifetime ban to Toronto’s Jontay Porter in April after concluding he disclosed confidential information to bettors and wagered on games, including betting on the Raptors to lose.
The other four players did not bet on games involving their assigned teams.
