Pete Rose, 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson among players reinstated by MLB

Don Van Natta Jr.May 13, 2025, 03:50 PM ET1/3

In a historic, sweeping decision, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday removed Pete Rose, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and other deceased players from Major League Baseball's permanently ineligible list.

The all-time hit king and Jackson both longtime baseball pariahs stained by gambling, seen by MLB as the game's mortal sin are now eligible for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

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 Jeffrey M. Lenkov, who petitioned for Rose's removal from the list Jan. 8. "Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve. (I hate this hypocrites, they money hand over fist the they talk about the integrity of the game. Liars and cheats.)

"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."

Manfred's decision ends the ban that Rose accepted from then-Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in August 1989, following an MLB investigation that determined the 17-time All-Star had bet on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds.

Jackson and seven other Chicago White Sox were banned from playing professional baseball in 1921 by MLB's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, for fixing the 1919 World Series.

Based on current rules for players who last played more than 15 years ago, it appears the earliest Rose and Jackson could be enshrined is summer 2028 if they are elected.

Manfred's ruling removes a total of 16 deceased players and one deceased owner from MLB's banned list, a group that includes Jackson's teammates, ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte and third baseman George "Buck" Weaver. The so-called "Black Sox Scandal" is one of the darkest chapters in baseball history, the subject of books and the 1988 film, "Eight Men Out."

In 1991, shortly before Rose's first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, the Hall's board decided any player on MLB's permanently ineligible list would also be ineligible for election. It became known as "the Pete Rose rule."

Rose believed his banishment would be lifted after a year or two, but it became a lifetime sentence. For "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who died in 1951, the ban became an eternal sentence, until Tuesday.

Jackson was considered for decades by voters, but Pete Rose's name has never appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot. He died in September at age 83.

Nearly a decade ago, Lenkov began a campaign to get Rose reinstated. On Dec. 17, Pete Rose's eldest daughter, Fawn, and Lenkov appealed to Manfred and MLB chief communications officer Pat Courtney during an hourlong meeting at MLB's midtown Manhattan headquarters.

"This has been a long journey," Lenkov said. "On behalf of the family, they are very proud and pleased and know that their father would have been overjoyed at this decision today."

Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the board of the Hall of Fame, said Manfred's decision will allow Rose, Jackson and others to be considered by the Historical Overview Committee, which will "develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee … to vote on when it meets next in December 2027."

Lenkov said he and Rose's family intend to petition the Hall of Fame for induction as soon as possible.

"My next step is to respectfully confer with the Hall and discuss … Pete's induction into the Hall of Fame," Lenkov said. The attorney said he and Rose's family will attend Pete Rose Night on Wednesday at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park.

"Reds Nation will not only be able to celebrate Pete's legacy, but now optimistically be able to look forward to the possibility that Pete will join other baseball immortals," Lenkov said. "Pete Rose would have for sure been overjoyed at the outpouring of support from all."

Rose and Jackson's candidacies presumably will be decided by the Hall's 16-member Classic Baseball Era Committee, which considers players whose careers ended more than 15 years ago. The committee isn't scheduled to meet again until December 2027. Rose and Jackson would need 12 of 16 votes to win induction.

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson was among eight Chicago White Sox players banned by MLB for throwing the 1919 World Series. Jackson had a .375 in the series, 12 hits, no errors and hit the lone home run for the White Sox.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45115659/pete-rose-shoeless-joe-jackson-players-reinstated-mlb

>>23029747

2/3

Jackson had a career batting average of .356, the fourth highest in MLB history. After his death, Jackson's fans, including state legislators in South Carolina, launched numerous public and petition-writing campaigns arguing that Jackson deserved a plaque in the Hall of Fame. Despite accepting $5,000 in gamblers' cash to throw the 1919 World Series, Jackson batted .375, didn't make an error and hit the series' only home run.

Across the decades and among millions of baseball fans, especially in Cincinnati where Rose was born and played most of his career, the clamor over the pugnacious, stubborn legend's banishment from baseball and the Hall became louder, angrier and increasingly impatient.

Few players in baseball history had more remarkable careers than Pete Rose. He was an exuberant competitor who played the game with sharp-elbowed abandon and relentless hustle. Rose, whose lifetime batting average was .303, is Major League Baseball's career leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215) and outs (10,328). He won the World Series three times – twice with the Reds and once with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Rose often said and stat experts agree that he won more regular-season games (1,972) than any major league baseball player or professional athlete in history. He also won three batting titles, two Gold Glove Awards, the Most Valuable Player Award and the Rookie of the Year Award.

In 2015, shortly after Manfred succeeded Bud Selig as commissioner, Rose applied for reinstatement with MLB. Manfred met with Rose, who first told the commissioner he had stopped gambling but then admitted he still wagered legally on sports, including baseball, in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas.

Manfred rejected Rose's bid for reinstatement after concluding he had failed to "reconfigure his life," a requirement for reinstatement set by Giamatti. Allowing Rose back into baseball was an "unacceptable risk of a future violation … and thus to the integrity of our sport," Manfred declared on Dec. 14, 2015.

Rose often complained that the ban prevented him from working with young hitters in minor league ballparks. On Feb. 5, 2020, Rose's representatives filed another reinstatement petition, arguing that the commissioner's decision to level no punishment against the World Series champion Houston Astros players for electronic sign stealing was unfair to Rose. "There cannot be one set of rules for Mr. Rose," the 20-page petition argued, "and another for everyone else."

But Manfred, who did not meet again with Rose, chose not to rule on that second appeal prior to Rose's death on Sept. 30, 2024.

Fans have long clamored for Pete Rose to be allowed in baseball's Hall of Fame.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump announced he planned to posthumously pardon Rose. "Over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn't have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING," Trump wrote on social media Feb. 28.

Off MLB's Banned List

• Joe Jackson (1919 Black Sox scandal)

• Buck Weaver (Black Sox)

• Eddie Cicotte (Black Sox)

• Lefty Williams (Black Sox)

• Happy Felsch (Black Sox)

• Fred McMullin (Black Sox)

• Swede Risberg (Black Sox)

• Chick Gandil (Black Sox)

• Joe Gedeon (Had "guilty knowledge" of gambling activity in 1919)

• Gene Paulette (Banned in 1920 for associating with gamblers in 1919)

• Benny Kauff (Banned in 1921 despite his acquittal on auto theft charge. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis deemed him "no longer a fit companion for other ballplayers."

• Lee Magee (Banned in 1921 over his disputed back salary elicited evidence of his gambling involvement)

• Shufflin' Phil Douglas (New York Giants player banned after threatening his manager)

• Jimmy O'Connell, Giants player banned in 1924 after offering a bribe to another player)

• Cozy Dolan (Giants coach involved in the O'Connell incident)

• William Cox (Phillies' owner, banned and forced to sell the team in 1943 for betting on baseball)

• Pete Rose (Bet on baseball)

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45115659/pete-rose-shoeless-joe-jackson-players-reinstated-mlb

>>23029762

3/3

In his book, "My Prison Without Bars," Rose admitted that he had gambled on baseball as the Reds manager but insisted he only bet on his team to win.

In January 2004, he admitted in his book, "My Prison Without Bars," that he had gambled on baseball as the Reds manager. But he insisted he bet only on his team to win. In 2015, ESPN reported that a notebook seized from a Rose associate showed Rose had also wagered on baseball while still a player, something he would not acknowledge.

Rose's illegal gambling and prison time aren't the only stains on a legacy that might be weighed by Hall of Fame voters, a group instructed to consider integrity, sportsmanship and character.

In 2017, a woman's sworn statement accused Rose of statutory rape; she said they began having sex when she was 14 or 15 and Rose was in his 30s. Rose said he thought she was 16, the age of consent in Ohio at the time. Two days later, the Philadelphia Phillies announced the cancellation of Rose's Wall of Fame induction.

In January 2020, ESPN reported that for all practical purposes, Manfred viewed baseball's banned list as punishing players during their lifetime but ending upon their death. However, Hall of Fame representatives have said that a player who dies while still on the banned list remains ineligible for consideration. With his 2020 reinstatement application sitting on Manfred's desk,Rose was granted permission by MLB to be honored at a celebration of the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies World Series championship on Aug. 7, 2022.

In the dugout before fans gave Rose a lengthy standing ovation, a newspaper reporter asked him about the 2017 allegation and whether his involvement in that day's celebration sent a negative message to women.

"No, I'm not here to talk about that," Rose replied to her. "Sorry about that. It was 55 years ago, babe."

The public backlash to Rose's remarks was swift and severe. MLB sources said his comments derailed his campaign to get off the ineligible list.

In the past several years, some fans have become more insistent that Rose should be forgiven by MLB and inducted into the Hall of Fame. One reason is America's love affair with sports betting. As MLB has embraced legalized gambling through sponsorships and partnerships like all U.S. professional sports some fans and commentators complained that Rose deserves a second chance, echoing an argument Rose often made.

"I thought we lived in a country where you're given a second chance, but not as far as gambling's concerned," Rose said in a 2020 interview with ESPN. He estimated the ban cost him at least $80 million in earnings as an MLB manager.

Rose, who signed baseballs and jerseys for years in memorabilia stores inside Las Vegas casinos and in Cooperstown on Hall of Fame induction weekends, gambled legally on sports nearly every day for the rest of his life.

Asked how much money his gambling had cost him, Rose said he didn't know, though he acknowledged he lost far more than he won. "No one wins at gambling," Rose said.

"I'm the one that's lost 30 years," he told ESPN in the 2020 documentary "Backstory: Banned for Life*." "Just to take baseball out of my heart penalized me more than you could imagine. You understand what I'm saying? … I don't think there's ever been a player, I could be wrong, I don't think there's ever been a player that loved the game like I did. You could tell I loved the game, the way I played the game.

"So then you take that away from somebody. I'm able to hide it on the outside, but it's ate me up inside, for all those years.Hell, you'd think I was Al Capone.

I'm Pete Rose – played more games than anybody, batted more than anybody … OK? Got more hits than anybody. I am the biggest winner in the history of sports."

Last September, in his last interview 10 days before his death, Rose told sportscaster John Condit: "I've come to the conclusion I hope I'm wrong that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die. Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. … And it's for your family if you're here. It's for your fans if you're here. Not if you're 10 feet under.You understand what I'm saying?"

"What good is it going to do me or my fans if they put me in the Hall of Fame a couple years after I pass away?" Rose told Condit. "What's the point? What's the point? Because they'll make money over it?"

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45115659/pete-rose-shoeless-joe-jackson-players-reinstated-mlb

>>23029448, >>23029452 Donald Trump gets a tour of At-Turaif in Diriyah from the Saudi Crown PrincePN

VDIEO ATTACHED

@MAGAVoice

HOLY SH*T 🚨 Donald Trump gets a Golf Cart tour of At-Turaif in Diriyah from the Saudi Crown Prince

Saudi Arabia is treating Trump like a KING

America is BACK

https://x.com/MAGAVoice/status/1922359325869117938

These pictures from this a.m. are really inspiring, you can feel the true friendship.

>>23030092

It's really uplifting to see a foreign leader and country love and respect our President. Honor comes to mind. And MbS and the Arabians are sincere.

DOJ 'weaponization' group will shame individuals it can't charge with crimes, new head says

As Jeanine Pirro prepares to become U.S. attorney in D.C., Trump loyalist Ed Martin is taking over the Justice Department's effort to investigate Trump's investigators.

May 13, 2025, 4:54 PM EDT By Ryan J. Reilly

WASHINGTON — The conservative activist named by President Donald Trump as the head of the Justice Department's "Weaponization Working Group" said Tuesday he planned to "name" and "shame" individuals the department determines it is unable to charge with crimes, in what would amount to a major departure from longstanding Justice Department protocols.

Ed Martin described himself at a press conference as the "captain" of the group that is investigating prosecutors who launched past investigations into Trump and his allies.

“There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them.

But if they can’t be charged, we will name them," Martin said. "And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. And that’s a fact. That’s the way things work. And so that’s, that’s how I believe the job operates.”

During Trump's first tenure, the justification given for Trump's firing of former FBI Director James Comey was that Comey had given a press conference in which he released "derogatory information" about then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.

"Derogatory information sometimes is disclosed in the course of criminal investigations and prosecutions, but we never release it gratuitously," then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote in a memo, adding that he believed Comey had given a "textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do."

Martin's remarks came on his last full day as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia on Tuesday. Trump announced last week that he was naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney following Martin's 120-day tenure, instead making Martin the pardon attorney, associate deputy attorney general, and director of the"Weaponization Working Group" that Attorney General Pam Bondi established at the Justice Department in response to one of Trump's executive orders.

That group is due to examine work including that of former Special Counsel Jack Smith; any federal cooperation with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted Trump's hush money case, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a civil case against the Trump Organization; the Justice Department's handling of cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack; and criminal prosecutions of anti-abortion activists, among other issues.

“When it comes to the problem of weaponization, the first part of it must be transparency," Martin said. "We have to show our fellow Americans what went on, because when you hide it and then you prosecute, you look like your target. That’s what the Biden administration, they didn’t tell you what they were doing they just targeted people.”

Justice Department protocols state that officials generally shouldn't confirm the existence of or otherwise comment on ongoing investigations. Martin said it was important to get “the truth” out when asked whether his past comments — and the plans he laid out on Tuesday — would run afoul of those protocols

"I will say that the prosecutor’s role, and at this moment in our history, is to make clear what the truth is and to get that out,” Martin said. “It can’t be that the system is stifling the truth from coming out because of some procedure."

Martin said he would have a “more public-facing” role as director of the Weaponization Working Group.

“When I was asked to switch over here, I was told, you know, this job, you need to be out more and talk about what’s going on. So I think we’ll be a little bit more outward facing in terms of talking about what’s happening,” Martin said.

Martin had no prosecutorial experience when Trump named him to the U.S. attorney position on Inauguration Day, the same day the president mass-pardoned Jan. 6 defendants. Soon, some prosecutors who worked on Capitol attack cases were fired, Martin opened a probe into the office's handling of an obstruction charge used against some of the rioters, and Martin demoted others who played a key role in the prosecutions.

(Tillis, you Fucked Around and now you are going to Find Out, it won’t help you that you blocked Martin, bet you didn’t think Jeanine Pirro would be taking his place. You really didn’t think through this did you? Tillis only made it worse for the criminals in DC with him, I guess Tom didn’t think Trump had a back up plan and knew what you would do.)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna206553