Reinstatement finally! On Tuesday, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred removed Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, and other deceased players from the permanently ineligible list. Most players are from the 1919 Chicago White Sox, known better as the “Black Sox,” who threw World Series games in exchange for money. Manfred decided that MLB’s punishment of banned individuals ends upon their deaths.
Manfred’s ruling makes all the players eligible for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Only Rose and Jackson have baseball credentials that would likely warrant induction. The earliest they could be considered is December 2027, when the Classic Baseball Era ballot for players, managers, executives, and umpires is voted on.
The Baseball Hall of Fame voting process includes two eras for players not considered by the Baseball Writers of America: the Contemporary Baseball Era (1980 to present) and the Classic Baseball Era (pre-1980). Rose and Jackson started their careers well before 1980, therefore, they go into the Classic Baseball Era review.
An initial screening occurs to place eight candidates on the ballot. Rose and Jackson will likely make that, but it is not a sure thing. Once a ballot is ready, a 16-person committee comprising Hall of Fame players, longtime executives and media members meets to vote. 12 votes are needed for a candidate to be selected.
Rose built a career well on its way to a first-ballot HOF induction, no question. Known as “Charlie Hustle” for his exuberance and never-say-die baseball approach, he became one of the most popular players of his era.
He is the all-time hits leader with 4,256, and holds the record for most games played, 3,652, at-bats, 14,053, and singles, 3.215. He won the batting title three times, was a three-time World Series champion, a 17-time All-Star, and a National League MVP.
Rose bet on baseball games while managing the Cincinnati Reds, including those involving his team. This led to his banishment in 1989 by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti. Rose denied he ever bet and continued to hold steadfast to innocent claims until confessing in 2004.
Jackson dominated the deadball era, hitting .408 in 1911 and .356 in his career, ranking behind only Ty Cobb, Negro Leagues superstar Oscar Charleston and Roger Hornsby. Babe Ruth copied Jackson’s swing and called him the most natural hitter ever.
Jackson, though, due to his banishment at 32, finished with only 1,772 hits and a 62.2 Wins Above Replacement. Those numbers would be low for a HOF selection, when 3,000 hits and 70 WAR are the credentials to ensure strong consideration.
Jackson has acquired legendary status due to literary and cinematic representation, including books like “Eight Men Out” and “Shoeless Joe,” and the movie “Field of Dreams.” He has become baseball lore as he is better known now than during his playing days.
Rose broke the golden rule of baseball. It prohibits players, umpires, club officials, and employees from betting on baseball games. He broke the rule and lied about it for 15 years, only telling the truth to help sell his book “My Prison Without Bars.”
Rose deserved consequences, especially when he refused to admit doing anything wrong. Even after saying he bet on baseball, he refused to work on cleaning up his gambling activities. Yes, he may not have been betting on baseball, but continuously gambling on horse racing, for example, didn’t present a good look.
Examining the commissioner who kept Rose banned the longest is essential: Bud Selig. He was adamant that Rose not be considered for reinstatement while governing the game through one of its worst scandals, the Performance Enhancing Drug era.
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s chase of Roger Maris’s single-season HR record of 61 in 1998 brought the game up from its knees. Selig ran the show, and the owners he worked for reaped the benefits. PEDs inflated McGwire and Sosa’s stats, like they did many others.
MLB once had the most hallowed records in sports, such as Babe Ruth’s 60 HR’s and Roger Maris’s 61. Hank Aaron’s 755 career HR’s was the most celebrated and recognized record in any sport. Barry Bonds now holds the leading HR marks; they have become a fraud thanks to PEDs, which the owners turned a blind eye to for profits. These are the men who passed judgment on Pete Rose, led by Selig, who refused any consideration of giving a second chance.
Jackson participated in the Black Sox scandal. He received money through the agreement that led eight White Sox players to “throw” games. He deserved punishment, but a greater understanding of the background is needed.
Players didn’t get massive salaries like they do today. They were chained to one team throughout their career through the reserve clause. If that team wanted to move on from the player, they could do so easily. Players who sought to negotiate better terms and potentially use another team as a bargaining chip had no recourse to do so.
White Sox owner Charles Comiskey was renowned for underpaying his players, breaking promises of bonuses, and making them launder their uniforms. His cheapness pushed players to consider offers of “throwing” games that had been building towards this moment for decades.
Jackson could not read or write. This doesn’t mean he lacked intelligence, but it did leave him open to being taken advantage of by Black Sox ringleader Chick Gandil. It is fair to question whether Jackson understood fully what he was being roped into.
Jackson’s 1919 World Series performance stands as evidence, he hit .375, the highest among all players. He had 12 hits, a HR, 6 RBIs, and scored five runs in the eight games. He made no errors and threw out five Reds baserunners from the outfield. He played outstandingly when he was supposedly trying to lose.
MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis took a strong stance against the gambling rings, especially the Black Sox. He treated all involved, no matter what shade, as one, rather than case by case. Buck Weaver knew what was going on, but didn’t participate. He wasn’t at the same level of guilt as Gandil. Yet all got a lifetime ban.
Landis also became the face of MLB’s greatest sin, the “color ban.” It kept African American players from the major leagues for decades. Landis stood in the way of any attempt to end it, meaning Negro League stars such as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston and Buck Leonard failed to play on the biggest stage in the primes.
MLB became hypothetical and sanctimonious by refusing Rose and Jackson an opportunity to be on the HOF ballot while alive. Its leaders included Landis, who embraced segregation and bigotry, and Selig, who looked the other way through years of the game’s rampant steroid use.
Yes, Jackson should never have been allowed to play once more, and in Rose’s case, manage again, but a lifetime ban was cruel and excessive. What good does making the HOF do them when they are dead?
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