Report: Handicapper admits to fabricating MLB game-fixing story
A childhood friendship, professional jealousy and an ignored Facebook message nearly conspired to cause Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jeff Locke a major headache, and Major League Baseball an enormous scandal.
In an incredible report posted Wednesday, Sports Illustrated's Center for Investigative Reporting outlines the crazy tale of Kris Barr, a sports handicapper and childhood friend of Locke who, through aliases and handicapping connections, spread a story that he and Locke were conspiring to fix baseball games.
The cliff's notes are as follows: Barr and Locke were friends and occasional teammates in Conway, N.H., until Barr moved away; Locke became a highly-successful pitcher in Conway, later making the majors, while Barr, under various pseudonyms, became a handicapper; Barr tried to reconnect over Facebook and Locke ignored the message; bitter, Barr began betting against Locke all of the time and relaying tips that Locke was throwing games.
From the report:
Sweet! Barr thought. After that he began picking Pittsburgh to lose whenever Locke pitched. No research was involved. “He was just pitching, and I was hoping he gets rocked,” Barr says.
Remembering the lack of interest in the Pirates’ game he handicapped the previous year, Barr decided to up the ante: He advertised his picks by claiming that he and Locke were conspiring to fix the games. “I was telling everybody ... ‘I just talked to him and he’s throwing this game,’ ” Barr says.
The report details the ultra-secretive investigation of the matter by MLB's investigators, which eventually concluded with Barr admitting he had made it all up.
After hours of reviewing Locke's game tape, the investigators found nothing suggesting Locke had been doing anything other than occasionally pitching poorly (understandable for a pitcher who doesn't miss bats and owns a 4.04 career ERA in 303 1/3 innings).
The entire time, Locke knew nothing of the investigation, only being looped in before the 2013 season when the investigation had concluded.
Don't have Facebook. Just don't. That's the lesson here.