Major League Baseball on Tuesday removed Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson – two of the sport’s most famous players who were previously kicked out of baseball for gambling on the game – from the league’s permanently ineligible list.
The historic decision by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred allows Rose to be considered for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, an honor that had been ruled out as part of the settlement he reached with Major League Baseball. Rose died in September, and Manfred ruled that his lifetime ban ended with his death.
“In my view, once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served. 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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Jackson was a member of the Chicago White Sox who were accused of conspiring with gamblers to lose the 1919 World Series on purpose. The Black Sox Scandal is among the most infamous in baseball history and Jackson, along with seven of his teammates, was banned for life from MLB by then-commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
The eight members of the White Sox were acquitted of conspiring with gamblers in 1921 but nonetheless were forced away from the game.
Jackson always denied ever gambling on the World Series.
According to the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum, he hit for a .375 average in the 1919 World Series, had a then-record 12 hits in the series, drove in six runs, didn’t commit an error and threw out five Cincinnati Reds players. His story was immortalized in the 1989 film “Field of Dreams.”
“Regardless of what anybody says, I was innocent of any wrongdoing,” Jackson told the Sporting News in 1942, according to the website. “I gave baseball all I had. The Supreme Being is the only one to whom I’ve got to answer. If I had been out there booting balls and looking foolish at bat against the Reds, there might have been some grounds for suspicion. I think my record in the 1919 World Series will stand up against that of any other man in that series or any other World Series in all history.”
The full list of players who were removed Tuesday from the permanently ineligible list also includes Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, Lefty Williams, Joe Gedeon, Gene Paulette, Benny Kauff, Lee Magee, Phil Douglas, Cozy Dolan, Jimmy O’Connell and William Cox.
Felsch, Gandil, Cicotte, Williams, McMullin, Weaver and Risberg were the other members of the White Sox involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Rose might finally get enshrined in Cooperstown
Rose, who passed away last year at the age of 83, holds the Major League Baseball record for the number of games played (3,562) and hits (4,256). ESPN was first to report the news and CNN has reached out to Rose’s family attorney for comment.
After transitioning into a career as a manager, MLB revealed in the spring of 1989 that it was investigating Rose for gambling. Among the accusations was that he gambled on baseball games played by teams he either played for or managed. He later admitted to gambling on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds and said in a 2007 radio interview that he bet on every Reds game while he as manager.
In the final years of his life, Rose had attempted multiple times to get reinstated by the league and to be made eligible for induction into the Hall. He tried to get reinstated by the league in 2015 and 2020 but was denied.
Rose’s reinstatement and eventual enshrinement were a cause championed by President Donald Trump, among others. Trump said earlier this year he plans to issue a posthumous pardon to Rose. The Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos player served time in federal prison for tax evasion charges in the early 1990s.
“Major League Baseball didn’t have the courage or decency to put the late, great, Pete Rose, also known as ‘Charlie Hustle,’ into the Baseball Hall of fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the thrill of being selected, even though he was a FAR BETTER PLAYER than most of those who made it, and can only be named posthumously. WHAT A SHAME!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in February.
He added, “He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history. 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!”
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on Rose.
In a statement, National Baseball Hall of Fame chairman of the board Jane Forbes Clark said that players removed from the permanently ineligible list are now able to be considered for enshrinement in Cooperstown, New York.
“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. 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,” the statement read.
The Phillies welcomed the decision, noting Rose’s impact on the team during the five seasons he played for Philadelphia. Former Phillies great Mike Schmidt called it a “great day for baseball.”
Schmidt said, “Congratulations to Pete’s family, his teammates, as well as his supporters who have waited many years for this opportunity for consideration.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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