Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson were reinstated by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday, making both eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame after gambling scandals tarnished their careers.
Rose’s permanent ban was lifted eight months after his death, and comes a day before the Cincinnati Reds will honor baseball’s career hit leader with a “Pete Rose Night.”
This might not be the popular opinion, but I was against Rose being declared ineligible for the Hall of Fame voting from the beginning.
That decision, handed down by then-MLB Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989, was made for betting on games, including those involving his team, the Reds.
Manfred reversed the decision after Rose’s family applied for reinstatement after his death on Sept. 30, 2024.
Manfred, who is often criticized, got this right.
I disagreed with Giamatti’s decision for a permanent ban.
Permanent is a long time.
And it should not have taken away from Rose’s 24-year MLB career, which left him as the game’s all-time hits leader, with 4,256.
For counting purposes, that’s 167 more than Stan Musial, who previously held the record, and 485 more than Hank Aaron, who is now in third place.
Musial had a 24-year career, while Aaron played 23 seasons.
So, an apples-to-apples comparison is fair.
My argument against Giamatti’s ruling was this: Rose, the player with the most hits in the sport’s history, was being denied Hall of Fame eligibility for something he did as a manager, not as a player.
Remember, the charges against Rose came when he was the manager of the Reds from 1984 to 1989.
Being Hall of Fame-eligible and being elected to the Hall of Fame are far from the same.
Whether or not a player is enshrined in Cooperstown should be a decision made by the electors, who are active and honorary members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Not by a commissioner who lasted only five months before his untimely death in 1989.
I’ve had the honor of visiting the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown many times, and it’s a must-see for any baseball fan.
After each of my visits, the Rose blackball bothered me a little more.
Why?
The Hall of Fame has plenty of interesting players.
Not all model citizens.
Ty Cobb was considered one of the dirtiest players in the game.
A slide, spikes up into second base, was his calling card.
Hotel fights usually centered around Cobb.
And while we’re speaking of baseball legends, let’s not forget about The Bambino, George Herman “Babe” Ruth.
A heavy drinker who routinely showed up in the clubhouse intoxicated, and a notorious womanizer, while maybe not a scoundrel, Ruth was at least a rascal.
My point here is that the Hall of Fame has always found room for the great people.
Now, certainly, Rose may have handled his punishment a little more diplomatically.
He probably was his worst enemy.
How?
Oh, like going to Cooperstown to sign autographs during the Hall of Fame weekend.
Also, he never admitted guilt, despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt.
Or his egoism in being banned by MLB.
I attended a card show in Richmond in the early 1990s and foolishly asked Rose if he thought he would ever be reinstated.
Rose’s reply was fairly direct saying, “Why the f**k do I care?”
OK, stupid question.
There is simply no arguing that Rose deserves induction into one of sports’ most significant shrines.
His hit record is likely to remain unbroken.
Careers don’t last that long now, and players now have silly “load management” concerns.
Rose is long overdue.
Now, I must admit that the case of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and seven of his teammates, who were banned from MLB after the 1920 season for allegedly attempting to fix the 1919 World Series, is a bit vague for me.
It was, after all, 105 years ago.
Jackson, like Rose, had his career stained by gambling, which any baseball fan considers the cardinal sin of the sport.
Manfred ruled that MLB’s punishment of banned individuals ends upon their deaths.
“Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” Manfred wrote in a letter to attorney Jeffery M. Lenkov, who petitioned for Rose’s reinstatement.
Jackson and seven White Sox teammates were banned from playing professional baseball in 1921 by Major League Baseball’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, for allegedly fixing the 1919 World Series.
It is important to note that Jackson was not banned from election into the Hall.
Voters considered him for almost 20 years before withdrawing his name from consideration.
I have a slight beef here with Jackson’s reinstatement.
Their differences lie in the origin of their offenses.
Jackson was banned for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, which occurred while he was still an active player.
Rose was banned for his offenses as manager of the Reds.
Now both are Hall of Fame eligible.
I’m betting Pete Rose gets in the first year he’s eligible.
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson may have to wait a few decades longer.
Share
