Shocking Scandals That Shook Major League Baseball
Oct 6, 2026
Scandals are littered throughout every sport, and baseball is no different.
Here is a list of the biggest scandals in MLB history.
In 1919, the eight Chicago White Sox members took money from professional gamblers to
purposely throw the World Series, with the accused later being banned from the sport.
The Houston Astros were caught up in a sign-stealing scandal
in 2019 when their illegal methods were uncovered.
The Astros used cameras to zoom in on center field
to see what sign the catcher was signaling to the pitcher,
before smashing into a trash can to inform the batter what ball was about to be thrown.
The scandal led to fines, suspensions, and the introduction of Pitchcom,
which allows teams to communicate signs wirelessly.
It also cast doubt over the legitimacy of the Astros' World Series win two years prior.
The MLB's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, was banned from baseball in 1989
after an investigation found that he was gambling on Reds games that he managed.
In 2016, former Miami Marlins player Jose Fernandez and two other men crashed a boat,
with a toxicology report finding that the pitcher had cocaine and alcohol in his system at the time.
Shohei Ohtani fired his interpreter, Ipe Mizuhara, in 2024 after the latter was
accused of stealing money from the LA Dodger star to pay off gambling debts.
Ohtani denies any involvement in Mizuhara's wrongdoings,
with the interpreter later pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud.
In 2020, pitcher Trevor Bauer alleged that 70% of pitchers used Spider-Tac,
a resin-based substance that improved the grip on the ball.
The MLB later implemented ejections from games and 10-game bans
for anyone found to have used the substance.