Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Late baseball pariahs Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson were removed from the sport’s permanently ineligible list on Tuesday in a historic move that paves the way for the duo and other deceased players to be admitted into the Hall of Fame. Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said in a written ruling that sanctions against individuals banned from the sport should be lifted after their deaths. The edict means that all-time hits leader Rose, who was handed a life ban in 1989 for gambling, and Jackson, who was banished from the sport for helping to rig the 1919 World Series, could now be elevated into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Manfred’s decision came in a letter to attorney Jeffrey Lenkov, who had lobbied for Rose — who died last September aged 83 — to be removed from baseball’s list of permanently ineligible players. “Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” Manfred wrote. “Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve. Therefore, I have concluded that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual, and Mr. Rose will be removed from the permanently ineligible list.”
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Baseball Hall of Fame board chairman Jane Forbes Clark confirmed in a statement that Rose, Jackson, and 15 other deceased players who were on the permanently ineligible list could now be considered for admission into baseball’s pantheon. “The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration,” Forbes Clark said. “Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered.” Forbes Clark said Hall of Fame officials would now consider which players would be put up for consideration for a meeting in December 2027.
Nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” for his hard-charging effort and dogged determination, Rose set MLB career records including 4,256 hits. But he left the sport in disgrace when he was permanently banned for gambling on games as a manager for the Cincinnati Reds. Rose denied for years that he had gambled on baseball but in 2004 admitted he bet on Reds games, saying he always bet on his team to win, never on them to lose. The baseball star also spent five months in prison in 1990 and early 1991 for tax evasion.
The question of whether Rose should be allowed into the Hall of Fame had rumbled on for decades following his 1989 ban, with President Donald Trump among those arguing for him to be allowed into Cooperstown. Trump in March said he planned to grant Rose a posthumous pardon while arguing for him to be given a place in the Hall of Fame. “Over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!”
Jackson, meanwhile, earned his notoriety — and a lifetime ban from baseball — for his role in the “Black Sox Scandal” in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of accepting payments from a gambling syndicate to fix the result of the 1919 World Series. Although the players were subsequently acquitted during a criminal trial, all were given a lifetime ban from baseball. Jackson’s involvement in the scandal gave rise to the expression “Say it ain’t so, Joe,” a question reputedly asked of Jackson by a young baseball fan on the steps of the courthouse during his trial. Jackson is reported to have replied: “Yes, kid, I’m afraid it is.”
© 2024 AFP
