Red State
In a landmark decision that has sent ripples of joy through the baseball community, Commissioner Rob Manfred announced on May 13, 2025, that Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, and other deceased players have been removed from Major League Baseball’s permanently ineligible list. This ruling opens the door for these iconic figures to be considered for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, marking a moment of reconciliation and celebration for fans and families alike. More
shoeless j. hit .344 or thereabouts
.356 per baseball-reference.com
A lifetime ban should expire when the life does.
Pete Rose’s all time hits record will never be broken.
So far as I can tell, there was no evidence that Shoeless Joe Jackson ever bet on baseball – he certainly was the star of the 1919 World Series. But gambling on baseball (a team sport played by 9 individuals) is bad. Except on Draft Kings, Fan Duel, and in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the hundreds of tribal casinos around the United States as well as countless illegal betting sites not to mention off shore betting sites. But other than those few thousand betting places that can be accessed on line, in person or by telephone, it’s probably hard to access baseball gambling.
The real reason that Manfred changed his tune probably has to do with the fact that the number of statistical leaders and superstars in the “Disgraced Baseball Hall of Fame” may eventually outnumber the real Hall of Fame. Rose is the leader in hits. As far as I’m concerned, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire saved baseball, or at least led to renewed fan interest, after a disastrous strike with their chase to break Ruth’s record homerun record. The actual home run leader, Barry Bonds, has also been banned for PED use.
If we banned players who had drug, alcohol, domestic abuse, criminal, racist, sexual addiction and violent tendencies, I suspect the Hall of Fame would have about three members.
I had the privilege of watching Pete and Johnny and the Big Red Machine play in Riverfront Stadium in 1971 or so.
Just remove all barriers and let anyone in. I think I deserve to be in the HOF just because.
It’s pretty meaningless as Pete is dead, but he was his worst enemy when given the chance to admit and apologize. The steroid boyz should be banned forever….
WS 1975 was a great one. Reds vs Red Sox. Went 7 games. That was back in the days when most pitchers used an elaborate pump and wind up before releasing the ball. I’m thinking especially of Rawly Eastwick of the Reds. I think trainers and team doctors realized it was a waste of motion and energy and got the pitchers to stop doing it. I don’t think anyone does it anymore.
I’m still rooting for Jose Mendoza to get in. After all, everyone in baseball knows about the Mendoza line (lifetime batting average below .200). He set a standard in the game that motivates everyone to try harder.
The Baseball HOF never accepted Canadian player Zed Hoserman. The HOF directors would not let him in until he changed his first name to “Zero”. This Hoserman refused to do.
A HOF spokesman said that Hoserman was playing ball in the US, not England, and asked “What the hell kind of name is Zed? We don’t such a silly name in America”.
Hoserman had some good years with the Atlanta Braves, which he insisted was south of the equator. He hit 289 home runs with a lifetime .315 average, and 120 stolen bases in his MLB career. For at least half of his home runs he rounded the bases clockwise, 3rd to 2nd, to 1st, then home, to conform with how water supposedly drains in a sink south of the equator. He also ran them by running backwards around the bases. He would even steal bases backwards, like from 3rd to 2nd. At that time, there was no rule in the MLB rulebook that said a runner could not round the bases in a clockwise manner or that a runner had to run the normal way. Or steal a base backwards.
This was the real reason he was not elected to the HOF.
Pete Rose never bet against his own team.
I am hoping the Rose family gives Manfred and MLB the finger as this just seems like a publicity stunt to increase money and pr.
I met both Pete and Pete Jr. and you couldn’t ask for better people….Sure Pete bet on baseball but tell me there haven’t been others? The man was highly competitive.
I imagine being kept out of the HOF cost Rose millions in endorsements over the years. As long as their bios at the HOF include why these players were kept out, I’m fine with recognizing them now that the lifetime ban doesn’t apply.
Always appreciate the statement ‘Rose never bet against his own team.’ Who says? Oh yeah, Pete Rose says. Really? (I believe him) hyper competitive, actually probably mentally ill with it. They’ve even obfuscated the rule… permanently ineligible? Or lifetime ban. One is not like the other. If any of the steroid or HGH boys are in the HOF, or in the record books without an asterisk, then all bets are off -oopsie for the punny- but really, are rules really for fools, laws really for losers?
If one cannot defend the indefensible then all of civilization might as well sink into the sea, who REALLY needs all the rules?
I’m betting I’ll get in the Hall within 2 years