In a stunning decision that reverses decades of policy, the Commissioner of Baseball issued a ruling that reinstates several players who had been on the game’s permanently ineligible list. Among those reinstated is all-time hits leader Pete Rose, who died last September.
The ruling by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred means Rose and Joe Jackson, who was also reinstated, can be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. For decades, Rose and Jackson were ineligible for the honor because the Hall of Fame passed a rule barring anyone who was on MLB’s banned list.
Earlier this year, only weeks after taking office for his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump hinted that he would like Manfred and MLB to reinstate Rose, and that he would issue a pardon for the former player. However, the fate of Jackson and a few others who were banned was never considered a possibility by most observers of the history of the game.
Manfred’s decision is a sweeping mandate that immediately lifts the permanent bans that hung over deceased players and other baseball figures. The issue of a lifetime punishment ending at death was mentioned by the commissioner in a statement on Tuesday.
“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,” Manfred said.
“Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game. Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve,” Manfred wrote in a letter sent to Rose’s attorney, Jeffrey M. Lenkov, in January. That letter is now being revealed as the impetus for MLB’s historic decision.
Rose was banned in 1989 when then MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti made that decision after it was alleged the former player was making wagers on baseball while in the position of manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Rose was fired by the Reds, and assumed wrongly that he would be reinstated after one year. But, Giamatti’s untimely death muddied the situation. For years, Rose denied ever having bet on his own team. But by 2004, he finally admitted he had wagered on many games on a nightly basis as manager of the Reds, even his own games.
Ban Ruling Sets Precedent for Limits of “Lifetime” Ban
MLB has an ironclad rule prohibiting betting by any officials or players, managers, or coaches. Rose died at the age of 83 in September of 2024, still campaigning for reinstatement so he could receive a plaque in Cooperstown. His 4,256 hits in MLB are a record.
Jackson was banned in 1921 along with seven of his teammates who were alleged to have thrown games during the 1919 World Series as members of the Chicago White Sox. A civil trial found Jackson and his teammates not guilty, but evidence was overwhelming that Shoeless Joe, one of the game’s greatest batters, had received $5,000 to throw games. His performance was even under scrutiny during the Fall Classic in 1919. Jackson died in 1951, a shamed figure who never petitioned MLB for reinstatement after 1925.
The MLB ruling by Manfred removes 16 people from the league’s “permanently ineligible” list, including Eddie Cicotte, Buck Weaver, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Lefty Williams, Swede Risberg, Fred McMullin, Ray Fisher, and Benny Kauff.
Among those players the ruling impacts, only Rose and Jackson are considered strong candidates to earn support for the Hall of Fame. Under election rules, both players would need to be nominated for a special eras committee ballot. The soonest either Jackson or Rose could be on a Hall of Fame ballot would be 2027, for possible induction in 2028. The committee exists of 16 people, and 12 votes are required for election. Committees convene on “old time” players like Jackson and Rose only every three years.
