Rose and Jackson get posthumous reprieve, but gambling on baseball is still MLB’s biggest sin

It was more than 100 years ago that Shoeless Joe Jackson was among eight Black Sox banned from baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series. It’s been more than 35 years since Pete Rose suffered the same fate after betting on the sport as a player and manager of the Cincinnati Reds in the mid-1980s.

So when baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred reinstated both players on Tuesday — making them eligible for the sport’s Hall of Fame — it might feel like a sport that’s softening its stance in the modern era of ubiquitous sports gambling. After all, a huge chunk of Americans can make legal wagers at gleaming sportsbooks or even while sitting on their couch using their cell phone.

That would be a misread of the situation.

If anything, the game’s integrity is even more important — and more tightly policed — than ever. Gambling on baseball is still as taboo as it was in 1919.

Rose and Jackson may get some posthumous honors after their careers were tarnished by their respective gambling scandals, but the damage to their reputations is done. Manfred changed the league’s policy on permanent ineligibility, saying any bans would expire at death — a shift that impacts 17 former players, coaches and owners.

Under the Hall of Fame’s current rules, the earliest Rose or Jackson could be inducted into the Hall of Fame would be 2028.

“Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” Manfred said in his statement on Tuesday. “Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.”

Manfred’s office is still coming down hard on current players caught gambling on baseball. San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was banned permanently in 2024 for betting on the sport while four others were suspended for one year, even though the four others — who all placed their bets as minor leaguers — had wagered less than $1,000.

Marcano was the first active player in a century banned for life because of gambling.

If anything, the ease of sports gambling has raised the level of vigilance, with MLB partnering with betting companies to spot suspicious wagers.

Umpire Pat Hoberg was fired for sharing sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball. Ippei Mizuhara — the former interpreter for Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani — was sentenced to nearly five years in prison after he stole almost $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account, partly to cover illegal gambling debts.

“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” Manfred said when suspending Marcano. “The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century.”

Some are concerned this resolution for Rose and Jackson imperils the integrity of the sport. Rose’s ban was signed by then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, and his son, Marcus, said Tuesday that he was “incredibly disappointed” by Manfred’s ruling. He called it “a very dark day for baseball, the country and the fans.

“Without integrity, the game of baseball will cease to exist,” he said. “Without integrity, how will fans ever trust the purity of the game itself ever again? A purity built on the principle of fair play.”

For others, the juxtaposition of Manfred’s posthumous leniency for Rose and Jackson and the harshness of Marcano’s punishment seemed to strike the correct balance.

“I’ve always maintained I think he should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago,” New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Rose. “Again, not discounting what went on and how serious that I think that is, and maybe how that should have affected being with the club and all those things.

“But when it came to the Hall of Fame, it felt pretty simple to me that he always should have been in there.”

It’s a stance that has found increasing popularity over the years. Rose had one of the most productive careers in MLB history, and his nickname “Charlie Hustle” embodied so much of what made him a popular and successful player. He was a 17-time All-Star and holds records for hits (4,256), games (3,562), at-bats (14,053), plate appearances (15,890) and singles (3,215).

He was the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year, 1973 MVP and 1975 World Series MVP, and a three-time NL batting champion.

“Congratulations to Pete’s family, his teammates, as well as his supporters who have waited many years for this opportunity for consideration,” Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt said. Schmidt wrote a column for the AP in 2013 advocating for Rose’s reinstatement.

Jackson was a .356 career hitter and one of the game’s early superstars. He died in 1951, but remains one of baseball’s most recognizable names in part for his depiction by Ray Liotta in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams.

Now both players could be honored in Cooperstown by the end of the decade.

The olive branch is welcome news for many baseball fans, but gambling on the sport remains one of its cardinal sins, even if placing a bet is easier than ever.

“To work your whole life to get to the major leagues in whatever role and then lose that over sports betting or gambling, that’s a huge penalty,” Manfred said last year. “I really, truly believe that we are in a better position to know what’s going on today than we were in the old days where it was all illegal.”

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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this story.

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