Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred made a momentous and far-reaching decision on Tuesday, removing Pete Rose, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, and other players who have passed away from Major League Baseball's roster of players who are forever ineligible.
Both Jackson and the all-time hit king, who have long been baseball outcasts due to gambling, which MLB views as the game's deadly sin, are now eligible to be elected into the Cooperstown, New York-based Baseball Hall of Fame.
Manfred decided that when a prohibited person passes away, MLB no longer punishes them.
In a letter to lawyer Jeffrey M. Lenkov, who requested that Rose be taken off the list on January 8, Manfred stated, "Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game." Furthermore, it is difficult to think of a punishment that has a stronger deterrent effect than one that is permanent and not subject to reprieve.
Consequently, I have determined that Mr. Rose will be taken off the list of people who are permanently disqualified following the death of the disciplined individual.
Following an MLB investigation that found the 17-time All-Star had placed wagers on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds, Rose accepted a ban from then-Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in August 1989. Manfred's ruling lifts that penalty.
In 1921, MLB's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned Jackson and seven other Chicago White Sox from professional baseball for their role in the 1919 World Series.
If elected, Rose and Jackson might be inducted as early as summer 2028, according to current regulations for athletes who have not played in over 15 years.
Jackson's colleagues, ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte, and third baseman George "Buck" Weaver are among the 16 deceased players and one deceased owner that are removed off MLB's prohibited list as a result of Manfred's decision. One of the darkest periods in baseball history, the so-called "Black Sox Scandal" is the focus of books and the 1988 movie "Eight Men Out."
The Hall of Fame board ruled in 1991 that any player on MLB's permanently ineligible list would also be disqualified for election, just before Rose's first year of eligibility. People started calling it "the Pete Rose rule."
Pete Rose's career was one of the most extraordinary in baseball history. He was a fierce competitor who played the game with unrelenting hustle and a sharp-elbowed recklessness. Rose leads Major League Baseball in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215), and outs (10,328) during his career. Rose's lifetime batting average was.303. With the Reds twice and the Philadelphia Phillies once, he won the World Series three times.
