MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred’s Incompetence Shines Through in His Latest Decision Surrounding the Baseball Hall of Fame

Gavin McNeal 

June 5, 2025 

Gambling. Something that was seen as sacrilegious in sports, especially in baseball is now at the forefront of a controversy. On May 13th Commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB) Robert Manfred reinstated both Pete Rose and Joseph (“Shoeless Joe”) Jackson to be eligible for being inducted into the baseball hall of fame. Pete Rose through his twenty-four year career became the all time leader in hits and games played. While Jackson only played in twelve seasons due to the controversy he found himself in.  

Rose was banned in 1989 for betting on baseball games while he was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds. While Jackson was involved with the infamous Black Sox Scandal in 1919, this was where he and his fellow teammates took money from gamblers and promised to lose the World Series (MLB’s championship) on purpose. 

This reinstating came as a suppose to many because the MLB has distanced itself from those two players because of what they did. In addition Jackson passed away in 1951, so to make him able to be in the hall of fame now seems a little weird. According to Manfred “a person no longer with us cannot pose a threat to the integrity of the game.” Then why now when Jackson passed in 1951 and when Rose passed away last September? 

I have a hard time agreeing with this decision when it is just based on the fact that they are dead. They both broke one of the biggest rules in baseball and yet they still have the chance to be honored with baseball's greats. While other greats like the all time home runs leader Barry Bonds,  Sammy Sosa who is in the all time top ten of home runs and Roger Clemens a seven time Cy Young Award winner (given to the best pitcher in baseball after each season) are all being shut out by the baseball writers because they are accused of using steroids (performance enhancing drugs). I believe that if someone were to actually use steroids that would not be as bad as gambling because someone enhancing their performance still has to try throughout the game. When Jackson and Rose were making decisions based on the amount of money they may win or lose. 

This is not just a questionable decision because it harms what baseball stands for, out of all the things that the commissioner of baseball could be doing he does this instead. He could be planning out more international games, making a salary cap so there are no super teams or seeing if the new automated pouring system will be in place soon.

When someone makes a big stance against something and then goes back on that for seemingly no reason at all, their motives need to be questioned. More accountability needs to be held when it comes to decisions like this one. Are you for gambling in sports or are you not? If it is the latter, why are these two men eligible to be inducted into baseball’s most sacred ground?

Now it is not a foregone conclusion that both Rose and Jackson will be in the hall of fame. But in the baseball community I have seen that there are more people that were calling for Rose to be in the hall of fame than players like Bonds, Sosa and Clemens. In the end though Manfred should’ve just left Rose and Jackson alone so this was not even a controversy. What seemingly was fine in the baseball world is now turned upside down due to one man’s problematic decision.