Time for ‘Shoeless Joe’ and ‘Charlie Hustle’ to Enter the Hall of Fame?

Pete Rose (L) tips his cap after being announced with Henry Aaron (C) and Ted Williams (R) before Game 2 of the 1999 World Series between the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves at Turner Field in Atlanta, Ga., on Oct. 24, 1999. Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

The commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred, announced on May 13 that Shoeless Joe Jackson, Pete Rose (a.k.a. Charlie Hustle), 14 other deceased players, and one deceased owner have been removed from the list of those deemed ineligible for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. It is a bittersweet development.

Many baseball fans have dealt with lingering sadness or disappointment that Jackson, who had the third-highest batting average in major league history, and Rose, who is baseball’s all-time hits leader, were banned from being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Every year, baseball fans make pilgrimages to Cooperstown to pay their respects to the all-time greats of the sport. For some fans (including this writer) the pilgrimage is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is very special.

The Hall of Fame Museum is like a shrine in which one can soak in the glory of the great achievements of the players whose memories are honored there. While there, the fan can rapturously envision the greatness of Cobb, Wagner, Walter and Randy Johnson, Mathewson, Ruth, Gehrig, Hornsby, DiMaggio, Williams, Musial, Berra, Mays, Mantle, Spahn, Koufax, Aaron, Kaline, Yastrzemski, the Robinsons (Jackie, Frank, and Brooks), Carew, Seaver, Ryan, Bench, Henderson, Rivera, Ichiro, et al., And yet, some fans may feel like something is missing—that the absence of Jackson and Rose from this pantheon of baseball immortals makes the Hall of Fame seem not quite complete.

There are differences of opinion as to whether the lifetime ban on Jackson and Rose was too harsh. Some fans have opposed the ban. They believe that the purpose of the Hall is to honor what players did on the field, not to judge whether they stayed on the straight and narrow off the field. Indeed, there are other inductees in the Hall of Fame who were far from angels in their off-the-field behavior.

Other fans, though, have accepted the decisions by the commissioner’s office to ban from the Hall any player who gambled on baseball. In their view, gambling, though not the worst misconduct in society at large, nonetheless poses the most dangerous threat to the sport itself. American sports fans love honest competition. They want to see a game in which both sides are doing their best to win, with the contest being decided by who rises to the occasion. Thus, any player who introduces the suspicion that a game was thrown constitutes an existential threat to the integrity, the reputation, and the popularity of the game. Seen in that light, it seems that the commissioner of baseball had no other choice but to maintain a policy of banning baseball insiders—whether players, coaches, owners or other executives—caught gambling on major league baseball games.

Will the Hall of Fame somehow be tainted if Shoeless Joe and Charlie Hustle are now voted in and inducted? I don’t think so. What they did, and the terrible price they paid for it, are sad. But kids who love baseball deserve to be able to marvel at the awesome achievements of the sport’s greatest players when they visit the Hall. “He had how many hits (homers, stolen bases, strikeouts, wins, etc.)? Wow!”

While enjoying one’s own personal reverie in the baseball Hall of Fame, only what happened between the baselines needs to be remembered. At some point, a youngster may learn that Jackson and Rose were banned from the Hall during their lifetimes. That would be the time for an instructive adult-child heart-to-heart about the dangers of gambling and the fact that deeds have consequences, hence the importance of resisting the temptation to participate in potentially problematical behaviors.

The restoration of eligibility to be elected into the Hall of Fame is long overdue in Shoeless Joe Jackson’s case. The man died way back in 1951. About the only positive aspect I can think of for having kept him out of the Hall for so long was the poignant 1989 movie “Field of Dreams,” but even that was 36 years ago—way too long. For Pete Rose, the lifting of the ban is properly timed. Pete passed away less than a year ago. He had to live with his disgrace for many years, but now he is beyond the reproach of this world, and there would be no point in keeping him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame any longer.

What’s done is done. Now is the time to remember those two flawed superstars for their brilliance on the baseball diamond. They truly gave baseball fans many memories to treasure.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.