A former minor league pitcher revealed publicly this month that Major League Baseball has barred him from playing since 2021 because he bet on baseball. The revelation came after the commissioner’s office denied his latest request for reinstatement from MLB’s ineligible list. However, key details of the former player’s story vary greatly from the findings of an investigation launched by the league, according to a document obtained by The Athletic.
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Peter Bayer wrote on Twitter that he placed wagers through legal sportsbooks on MLB games during the canceled 2020 minor league season. Bayer said in a Feb. 15 interview with The Athletic the extent of his baseball-related betting was fewer than 20 wagers in July and August of that year, though in a later interview he upped the number to 30. He estimated that two bets were on Athletics games, his organization at the time. Overall, he said his wagers mostly ranged from $20 to $50 but “never more than $100.”
However, the league’s investigators paint a different picture. “Data collected shows that you placed over 100 baseball-related wagers from May 2020 through August 2020,” read a letter to Bayer from commissioner Rob Manfred, “including at least 12 wagers involving the Athletics and at least 25 wagers of $1,000 or more.”
That correspondence, dated April 11, 2022, also accused Bayer of attempting to obstruct the league’s investigation.
Some personal news:
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.
I am currently still ineligible for the 2023 season, a third straight year. pic.twitter.com/623z0s6BXk
— Peter Bayer (@PeterBayer47) February 15, 2023
Bayer, 27, initially said that the league had not informed him of its findings, though he reversed himself on Thursday when presented with a copy of Manfred’s letter. He maintained that he did not make that number of bets for those amounts as claimed by the league.
“They did not prove any of that, and I did not admit to any of that,” said Bayer, who seeks reinstatement because he wants to coach in organized baseball. “I admitted that I had bet on baseball, and a lot of what they are saying in that report is completely inaccurate information. Yes, I had wagers on the A’s. No, they were not for those amounts. I don’t even have that much money.”
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The league declined The Athletic’s interview requests for Manfred and Marquest Meeks, who led Bayer’s case for MLB’s department of investigations. But a league spokesperson issued a statement: “After a thorough investigation, it was determined that Mr. Bayer repeatedly bet on baseball in violation of Major League Rule 21 and MLB’s Policy on Sports Betting and engaged in other misconduct that was not in the best interests of baseball. Therefore, he was placed on the ineligible list, where he remains.”
Major League Rule 21(d)(1) states: “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year.” As noted in Manfred’s April 11, 2022, letter to Bayer, each bet constitutes a separate violation of Rule 21.
The widespread legalization of gambling in the United States has brought baseball and betting closer than ever before — MLB and some individual clubs now have official gaming partners — and cases like Bayer’s could become more common as sports betting becomes more accessible.
Bayer made the bets in Colorado, where a gaming official confirmed that the ex-player’s wagers on baseball violated the state’s sports betting regulations. Dan Hartman, director of the Colorado Division of Gaming, declined to discuss specifics of Bayer’s case. But he said Bayer’s relationship with MLB made him a prohibited bettor, and state regulators are obligated to report those violations to the league.
“For the integrity of sports betting,” Hartman said, “this collaboration between regulators and law enforcement and leagues has to take place and has to be a two-way street in order to make sure people that aren’t prohibited players are getting a fair, legal market.”
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Bayer last pitched in 2019 in High-A for the A’s, who released him at the end of the 2020 season, around the time that Colorado gaming officials began their investigation. In February 2021, shortly after Bayer signed with the Reds, MLB began its own probe and placed him on administrative leave. Bayer remained there until April 2022, when the league issued its findings and moved him to the ineligible list.
In Manfred’s April 11, 2022 letter, the league contends that Bayer “engaged in conduct not in the best interests of baseball” and “engaged in conduct in violation of the Rules and Procedure for Investigations Conducted by the Office of the Commissioner.” The letter stated that those assertions were based on three violations beyond gambling:
• Bayer lied about betting on baseball to state regulators and to an unnamed pro baseball executive
• Bayer attempted to obstruct MLB’s investigation by threatening a state regulator in an email that assisting MLB’s investigation would not be a “good look” for the regulator if Bayer were to “take this to the media,” and then asking the regulator to “let this go before (Bayer took) this to the press”
• Bayer admitted to MLB investigators that he submitted a false “chargeback” claim to recover funds wagered
A “chargeback” occurs when a debit or credit card holder disputes a transaction with their issuing bank, attempting to have the transaction reversed. In the letter to Bayer, Manfred further stated that “state regulators, licensed sportsbooks, and geolocation software providers gave my office information strongly suggesting that you have fabricated similar claims repeatedly.”
On Thursday, Bayer denied that the email to the state regulator constituted threats or lies. He also denied admitting to a fraudulent chargeback claim; he said that his credit card number was compromised at the time, an issue his bank then helped him rectify.
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“There’s no wrongdoing here,” said Bayer, who was not charged with any crimes relating to his prohibited bets, on Thursday. “There’s no investigation with it (in Colorado).”
Throughout investigations by MLB and the Colorado Division of Gaming, and in interviews this past week, Bayer contended that the uncertain nature of his employment in the summer of 2020 should be a mitigating factor. He had been with the Athletics in minor league spring training in Mesa, Ariz., but the pandemic closed camps in mid-March. Minor league contracts were suspended on March 31, 2020.
“I pretty much should have been treated as if I was a normal citizen during that time, allowed to be betting on these games,” Bayer said in his initial interview with The Athletic. “We weren’t playing. We weren’t under contract. There was a lot of weirdness to it.”
The suspended contracts did impact regular pay as minor leaguers instead received a $400 weekly stipend from clubs. However, they did not sever a player’s employment status with a club, and employment policies such as those regarding performance-enhancing drugs, domestic violence and sports betting remained in place.
Bayer acknowledges he was aware MLB Rule 21 prohibited club employees from betting on baseball, and he claims he did not bet on baseball at any point earlier in his pro career. But because he felt his employment status existed in a gray area, and because he wasn’t sure he planned to play again after 2020, he began betting on games.
In hindsight, he said he should have played it safe.
“It was essentially me being stupid,” Bayer said on Feb. 15. “I tend to be someone that’s a little bit more impulsive, and takes more risks, and doesn’t really think things through very well all the time. I fell victim to that. During 2020, I wasn’t all mentally there. It was such a blur to me. I don’t think I was thinking clearly. I thought I could get away with it. Honestly, that’s all it was.”
Bayer is eligible to apply for reinstatement again after the 2023 World Series.
(Top photo of Peter Bayer in 2017: Andrew Woolley / Four Seam Images via AP Images)
