Most Severe Punishments in Sports History

Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for a season apiece after an MLB investigation found Houston used cameras to see what pitch their opponent was about to throw, then relayed the information to their batters. The Astros were also fined $5 million and stripped of their first- and second-round draft picks for 2020 and 2021. This cheating took place in 2017 — the year Houston won the only World Series in franchise history. Hinch and Luhnow were fired immediately after the MLB handed out its punishment. Alex Cora, who was Houston’s bench coach before becoming manager for the Boston Red Sox, parted ways with Boston in the wake of the scandal as well.

Vontaze Burfict made his name in the NFL as a hard-hitting linebacker who frequently crossed the line from playing physically to playing dirty. He had been fined or suspended at least seven times for violent conduct while playing for the Cincinnati Bengals. His reputation caught up with him in 2019 as a member of the Oakland Raiders, when he delivered a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit on Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle. Burfict was suspended for the rest of the season, which amounted to a 12-game ban — the longest suspension for on-field conduct in NFL history. Burfict lost most of his $5 million due to the suspension.

New York Mets relief pitcher Jenrry Mejia became the first player in MLB history to earn a lifetime ban under the sport’s revamped steroid punishment system. In 2014, the league instituted a three-strike policy for players. One positive test would result in an 80-game suspension, a second would result in a full-season ban, amounting to 162 games, and a third positive test would result in a player’s lifetime ban from the MLB. Mejia tested positive for banned substances three different times within the span of a year and earned a lifetime ban from the MLB in 2016.

Donald Sterling was the longtime owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. He was barred from the NBA for life and forced to sell the team after gossip site TMZ published a recording of him telling his then-girlfriend he did not like that she was “associating with black people” in 2014. The comment was apparently in response to the woman posting a photo with Lakers legend Magic Johnson. In addition to the ban, Sterling was fined $2.5 million. Though it was intended as a punishment, Sterling actually made a lot of money from the situation. The Clippers were purchased for around $2 billion by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer. Sterling paid just $12 million for the team when he bought it in 1981.

Ty Cobb was beloved by fans for his great hitting, but also had a reputation for spiking opposing fielders and being unpleasant on the field, so opponents loathed him. Near the end of the 1910 season, Cobb seemed to have the batting title wrapped up, so he sat out the last two games of the season. St. Louis Browns manager Jack O’Connor aimed to deny Cobb the title out of spite. His Browns faced the Cleveland Indians — whose second baseman Nap Lajoie barely trailed Cobb for the top batting average in the American League. So O’Connor told his third baseman to play way back into left field, allowing Lajoie to rack up easy bunt hits during both games of their double-header. Lajoie got eight hits in eight appearances that day, which appeared to give him the title. When baseball officials found out about O’Connor’s scheme, they banned him for life.

One of the largest and most extensive doping scandals in world sports history resulted in massive bans for Russian athletes. From at least from 2012 to 2015, Russian state authorities tampered with test samples to make athletes appear clean even though they had taken banned substances.

Russia had been under intense scrutiny since 2014, when it hosted the Summer Olympics in Sochi. The mastermind of the scheme, Grigory Rodchenkov, fled to the U.S. in 2015 and revealed the extent of the scheme to investigations. In 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from the Olympics and other major international competitions for four years. Athletes may still be able to compete in individual and team sports as neutral athletes.

Defenseman Billy Coutu had developed a reputation for fighting and skirting the rules. In the 1920-21 season, he racked up a league-leading 117 penalty minutes in just 24 games. Coutu had been disciplined for infractions like brawling, hooking, elbowing, tripping, and more. In 1927, his Boston Bruins got into a particularly heated game with the Ottawa Senators, which featured a brawl so intense the police were the ones who broke it up. After the match, a referee was reportedly accosted by Boston’s manager and several Bruins players, most notably Coutu assaulted the ref. When another official tried to break up the fight, Coutu reportedly tackled him. The NHL took swift action, banning Coutu for life the next day — he is still the only person to receive this punishment in hockey history. Coutu played in lesser leagues in the years after. His lifetime ban was eventually overturned, but Coutu never played another NHL game after the incident.

Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter seemed to have a promising career ahead of him after he was drafted fourth overall in the 1982 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts. Soon, however, his gambling problem surfaced. Schlichter was suspended for the 1983 season for gambling. After two disappointing seasons in 1984 and 1985, the Colts released the QB. Schlichter pleaded guilty to another gambling charge in 1987 and was suspended again. Several teams were reportedly interested in signing him, but NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle refused to reinstate him, effectively amounting to a life sentence. Schlichter is currently in prison due to a fraud conviction, scheduled to be released in October 2020.

Marty McSorley’s violent slash on Donald Brashear in 2000 earned him a one-year suspension that effectively ended his career, as well as an assault conviction. With just a few seconds left in a game between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, McSorley skated up behind Brashear and hit him in the head with his stick, knocking him unconscious. McSorley was convicted of assault with a weapon and sentenced to 18 months of probation. The year-long suspension is the longest ever for an on-ice incident. McSorley, who was 36 years old at the time of the incident, never played in another NHL game.

Many NCAA athletes and athletics programs have been caught receiving improper benefits, but few have been punished as severely as the University of Southern California. After an investigation, the NCAA found that athletes like star running back Reggie Bush and basketball player O.J. Mayo received improper benefits, as student athletes are not allowed to profit from their status as such. USC football was stripped of over a dozen victories from 2004 and 2005, including the 2004 National Championship. Bush was also forced to return his Heisman Trophy. The team was also banned from postseason play for two years, lost 30 football scholarships, and put on four years of probation. The basketball program vacated one season’s wins and self-imposed a one-year postseason ban.

Ron Artest, who now goes by Metta World Peace, earned the NBA’s longest-ever suspension for a non-drug related incident because of the infamous “Malice at the Palace” brawl. Artest and his Indiana Pacer teammates fought with the Detroit Pistons after a hard foul on Detroit’s Ben Wallace. After the teams were separated, a fan threw a drink on Artest, and he charged into the stands and attacked a fan. He was suspended the rest of the season, which amounted to 73 regular season games and 13 playoff games. Teammate Stephen Jackson, who went into the stands after Artest, missed 30 games. Seven other players were suspended a total of 30 games.

Legendary New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was banned from baseball for several years after targeting one of his own players in a bizarre scheme. Steinbrenner signed outfielder Dave Winfield to a contract he thought was worth $16 million, but due to a cost-of-living clause was actually worth more like $23 million. The contract also stipulated $300,000 would go to Winfield’s foundation. Steinbrenner neglected to pay, so Winfield sued. Steinbrenner then paid a mob-connected gambler to try to dig up negative stories on Winfield — specifically that he was using his foundation’s money on his girlfriend. When the scheme came to light, Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball operations for two and a half years.

Stanley Wilson’s struggle with cocaine addiction cost him his NFL career and may have changed the course of league history. Wilson played running back and fullback for the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1980s, missing most of 1984 and the entire 1985 and 1987 seasons for violating the league’s drug policy. Following a solid 1988 season from Wilson, the Bengals made it to the Super Bowl. The night before the game, Wilson was discovered to be on drugs, forcing the Bengals to leave him off their roster. The Bengals lost 20-16 on a last minute touchdown to the San Francisco 49ers, leaving Cincinnati fans, players, and coaches to wonder if Wilson would have made a difference in the game. In 1999, Wilson was convicted of burglary and sentenced to 22 years in prison.

The “Black Sox” scandal may be the most infamous cheating scandal in sports history. In 1920, several members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox admitted to accepting tens of thousands of dollars to intentionally lose the World Series. Eight players accused of being involved with the scheme, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, were banned for life. Those members also stood trial for conspiracy, but were acquitted in part because key evidence went missing. Many believe to this day that Jackson was innocent, pointing to his high batting average for the series.

The SMU Mustangs went from a great program to completely decimated as a result of the NCAA’s vaunted “death penalty” it received in 1987. The NCAA discovered the football program and its boosters had been paying players to come to the Dallas school. SMU raised eyebrows when it lured top overall high school recruit Eric Dickerson away from larger, more established football schools in Texas. The NCAA found that the school had been in repeated violation of its amateurism rules and opted to shut down the program for the 1987 season. The school was also unable to field a team the next year and had to sit out 1988 as well. Faced with the loss of scholarships, broadcasting blackouts, and recruiting restrictions, the program was unable to attract players and was largely irrelevant for decades even after it started playing football again.

Once a promising player, O.J. Mayo is out of the NBA following a drug suspension. The third overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, Mayo played well in his early career, averaging over 15 points per game in his four years as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies. He was suspended for 10 games for a positive steroid test in 2011, but Mayo’s biggest punishment came in 2016 when he flunked another drug test and the NBA suspended him for two years. Though he is eligible for reinstatement, Mayo has continued to play overseas. As of 2020, Mayo plays for the Fubon Braves of the Asean Basketball League in Taipei.

Sports scandals rarely result in real-world consequences, but a St. Louis Cardinals front-office member wound up incarcerated for trying to give his team an edge. After two members of the Cardinals front office left for jobs with the Houston Astros, new St. Louis scouting director Chris Correa realized he could log in to Houston’s scouting database because his former coworkers had not changed their passwords. He accessed their systems dozens of times in 2013 and 2014. Correa says he only logged into the Astros’ system to see if they had taken proprietary algorithms with them from the Cardinals. Correa pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer and was sentenced to 46 months in prison and banned from the MLB for life.

After an investigation, the NFL found that the New Orleans Saints defensive players were given monetary rewards for injuring opponents from 2009 to 2011. A recording was released of Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams telling his players to target players’ heads and knees. The NFL said that coaches and about two dozen players were in on the scheme. Williams and head coach Sean Payton both missed a full season due to NFL suspensions, while Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended for eight games and assistant coach Joe Vitt was suspended for six games. Players Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Scott Fujita, and Anthony Hargrove were all suspended, but later had their suspensions vacated after they appealed the decision.

The MLB’s all time hits leader has been unable to take his place in the Hall of Fame because he gambled on his own team during his managerial career. In 1989, the MLB declared Rose “permanently ineligible” to participate in any MLB activities after a lengthy investigation. Rose admitted in his 2004 memoir that he bet on his Cincinnati Reds while managing them in the late 1980s. Though Rose has denied it, an ESPN report suggests that he also gambled on baseball as a player, too — journalists obtained records of Rose’s bets from 1986, when he was still playing and managing the team.