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Major League Baseball just levied one of the harshest punishments in baseball history against the Houston Astros for its sign-stealing in 2017, the year the team won the World Series.
The league suspended Houston manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for a year, and the team was fined $5 million and also docked first and second round drafts picks in both the 2020 and 2021 MLB drafts. Despite the punishment, it appears the league will allow the Astros to retain its 2017 World Series Championship.
Major League Baseball is no stranger to meting out harsh punishments — over 100 years ago it banned eight Chicago White Sox players for life in the infamous 1919 “Black Sox” scandal, when the players were punished for intentionally losing a World Series.
Here are 5 of the most severe punishments given out by the major U.S. sports leagues:
Pete Rose
Major League Baseball’s all time hits leader Pete Rose was punished with ‘permanent ineligibility’ after investigations concluded that he gambled on baseball games as a manager in 1987, a clear violation of baseball’s rules.
Rose is not allowed to have any affiliation with baseball, and to this day has not been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, despite his overwhelming statistics as a player.
Since Rose’s wrongdoing became public in 1989, the MLB as well as other sports have softened their stances on gambling. Some leagues have even created partnerships with gambling brands as another source of revenue for the league. It’s fair to wonder if a similar scandal would result in the same type of punishment in 2020 as it did in 1989.
Donald Sterling
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling received a lifetime ban from the NBA in 2014 after a recording of him surfaced saying a slew of racists remarks. In the recording, Sterling scolded his mistress to “not to bring them (black people) to my games.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life from the NBA, and also levied a $2.5 million fine, the maximum fine allowed by the NBA constitution. Sterling and his wife were thereafter essentially forced to sell the Clippers, netting $2 billion cash in a sale to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
Alex Rodriguez
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was suspended 162-games by Major League Baseball for his role in a performance enhancing drugs scandal. Rodriguez illegally received performance enhancing drugs from Biogenesis of America, a Florida based drug clinic.
Rodriguez’s 162-game suspension is equivalent to an entire season worth of games, making him forfeit his entire $25 million salary.
Ron Artest
Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest was given an 86-game suspension for his role in what is infamously referred to as “Malice at the Palace.” In this 2004 NBA game, a brawl broke out between players on the court and fans in the stands.
Punches were thrown and it’s one of the black marks on the history of the NBA. The Artest suspension is still the longest non-drug-related fine in NBA history, according to ESPN. Artest’s suspension is even longer than the one Gilbert Arenas received for bringing a gun to his team’s locker room.
Sean Payton
New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was suspended for a year for his role in a “bounty” scandal against players on other NFL teams. According to reports, the Saints coaching staff would give out cash payouts to players who injured important players on other teams or even levied big hits. This scandal is popularly known as “Bounty-gate.”
One notable player who had a large bounty on his head was Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. According to reports, a player would receive $35,000 to knock him out.
As part of the punishments, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also banned Saints GM Mickey Loomis for eight games, suspended assistant coach Joe Vitt for the six games, and suspended defensive coordinator Greg Williams indefinitely. Goodell also fined the Saints $500,000 and took away their second-round draft picks in 2012 and 2013.
Payton is the first head coach suspended by the league for any reason, and forfeited all of his $6 million salary in 2012, according to the NFL.
