Major League Baseball (MLB) has taken the unprecedented action of reinstating Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, among others, from the permanently ineligible list.
As ESPN’s Dan Van Natta reported Tuesday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred decided to reinstate MLB’s all-time hit king (Rose) and Jackson, though both were heavily tainted by gambling.
The move now, presumably, makes both eligible for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
“Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” Manfred wrote in a letter to attorney Jeffrey M. Lenkov, who petitioned for Rose’s removal from the list. “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.”
Rose was placed on the permanently ineligible list in 1989 by then-MLB Commissioner A. Bartlett Giammatti after a league investigation determined that Rose had bet on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
In the case of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, he and seven other members of the Chicago White Sox were banned from baseball in 1921 for their part in fixing the 1919 World Series.
“Manfred’s ruling removes a total of 16 deceased players and one deceased owner from MLB’s banned list, a group that includes Jackson’s teammates, ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte and third baseman George ‘Buck’ Weaver,” Van Natta writes. “The so-called ‘Black Sox Scandal’ is one of the darkest chapters in baseball history, the subject of books and the 1988 film, ‘Eight Men Out.”
Lenkov hailed MLB’s decision and vowed to continue to push for Rose’s Hall of Fame induction.
“This has been a long journey,” Lenkov said. “On behalf of the family, they are very proud and pleased and know that their father would have been overjoyed at this decision today.
“My next step is to respectfully confer with the Hall and discuss … Pete’s induction into the Hall of Fame. The attorney said he and Rose’s family will attend Pete Rose Night on Wednesday at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park.
“Reds Nation will not only be able to celebrate Pete’s legacy, but now optimistically be able to look forward to the possibility that Pete will join other baseball immortals. Pete Rose would have for sure been overjoyed at the outpouring of support from all.”
Lenkov’s campaign for Rose’s reinstatement nearly a decade ago.
Unlike Jackson, whose name repeatedly appeared on Hall of Fame voting ballots over the years, Pete Rose’s name never came up for consideration due to a rule change enacted by the Hall of Fame’s board in 1991, which said that no player on the permanently inelegible list could have his name considered for enshrinement.
A rule that became known as “The Pete Rose rule.”
“Based on current rules for players who last played more than 15 years ago, it appears the earliest Rose and Jackson could be enshrined is summer 2028 if they are elected,” Van Natta writes.