​PHILADELPHIA – For the better part of 90 minutes Tuesday, July 14, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players’ Association interim executive director Bruce Meyer laid out their alternative visions of reality, staking out opposite poles on a salary cap, revenue sharing, and perhaps the color of the sky as the sport grinds toward a Dec. 1 owners’ lockout.Yet there’s one subject in which they were in full agreement: If sports gambling and prediction markets are legal, they most certainly should get a piece of it.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMeyer, in his first major press briefing since Tony Clark’s February resignation, acknowledged that widespread legalized sports betting has created “an environment where our players are subject to constant threats, harassment. Always has been, but I think the players will probably say it’s reached a new low.”Yet in late April, the MLBPA struck a long-term licensing agreement with Hard Rock Bet, which it said integrates “MLB player name, image, and likeness directly into the core of the betting experience across Hard Rock Bet’s digital and retail platforms throughout North America.”That would seem to put the union at odds with one of its core principles, protecting player safety and welfare. Yet both league and union have adopted a mindset that could also serve as the titles of a ‘90s album: Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?“We believe a couple of things: One, to the extent that owners are promoting gambling entities, that players should have the same ability that owners do,” says Meyer. “It’s hypocritical for the owners to say, ‘Well we are allowed to do this, but you’re not allowed to do that.’ Recognizing, as we all do, the incredible importance making sure our game remains completely above reproach, that we have limitations we bargain with the league over what players can and can’t do.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“But in general, we believe players should capitalize on business opportunities the league can capitalize on.”In the middle of this push-and-pull are the players, who will surely benefit from both league and union shaking hands with sports gambling. Yet they’re also at the receiving end of social media posts from irate bettors – particularly relief pitchers whose appearances often swing the result of the game.“On social media, yeah – anytime you give up a run or something, someone will hit you up and say, ‘You owe me money,’ Texas Rangers closer Jacob Latz tells USA TODAY Sports. “You’ve just got to unfortunately turn off the comments and not react to it.“It’s been worse since gambling became a thing.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSometimes the threats are serious enough for law enforcement to get involved, as in the case of Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., who procured 24-hour security when a drunken gambler threatened his family’s lives. Houston police eventual