Pete Rose is finally out of MLB’s doghouse, and he has some company.
Rose, placed on the league’s permanently ineligible list in August 1989 over gambling on baseball, was reinstated by commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday — and was joined by “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, according to ESPN.
“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, per the outlet. “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.”
Jackson and several of his Chicago White Sox teammates were banned in 1921 over their fixing of the 1919 World Series. Jackson died in 1951 at the age of 64.
The move makes Rose and Jackson eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame enshrinement as early as 2028.
Rose died in September at the age of 83 having never seen him name on a Hall of Fame ballot.
