Carvalho: Meet William Cox, last person before Pete Rose to be banned by MLB for gambling
From SABR member John Carvalho at The Sporting News on December 16, 2015:
Before Pete Rose was banned from Major League Baseball in 1989, the last person to be ejected from the game for gambling was William Cox, president and owner of the Phillies, in 1943.
The accompanying saga, beyond the pain once again inflicted on Philadelphia sports fans, was a sure bet to keep the audience glued to the sports pages and radio broadcasts over the months it developed.
Cox was supposed to be the answer to the ownership problems the Phillies had suffered under Gerry Nugent, whose financial struggles kept the team in the National League basement and in debt.
A local lumber magnate, Cox bought the team in February 1943 from the NL, which had to take it over and assume its debts a few months before.
Barely six months later, rumors emerged that Cox was betting on Phillies games. The supposed informant was Bucky Harris, whom Cox had dumped as manager on July 27, though a more likely source was Harris’s outraged friends.
Read the full article here: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb-news/4688235-pete-rose-gambling-ban-reinstatement-william-cox-phillies
Originally published: December 16, 2015. Last Updated: December 16, 2015.