Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said in a written ruling that sanctions against individuals banned from the sport should be lifted after their deaths.
The edict means that all-time hits leader Rose, who was handed a life ban in 1989 for gambling, and Jackson, who was banished from the sport for helping to rig the 1919 World Series, could now be elevated into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Manfred’s decision came in a letter to attorney Jeffrey Lenkov, who had lobbied for Rose – who died last September aged 83 – to be removed from baseball’s list of permanently ineligible players.
“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,” he added.
Baseball Hall of Fame board chairman Jane Forbes Clark confirmed in a statement that Rose, Jackson and 15 other deceased players who were on the permanently ineligible list could now be considered for admission into baseball’s pantheon.
“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,” Forbes Clark said.
“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,” she added.
Forbes Clark said Hall of Fame officials would now consider which players would be put up for consideration for a meeting in December 2027. (AFP)
