Philadelphia baseball legends now getting the recognition they earned

The oldest organized professional team sport in North America, Baseball's history is a blend of romanticized stories and American folklore. The game's greatest players become legends as the years pass and their history becomes blended with Americana Style Mythology.

I say all of this because what Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred did on May 13th, 2025 has been beloved by some, hated by others. But emotional responses have to do with how people interpret the history of two men who have played baseball in the city of Philadelphia.

According to an official statement from Major League Baseball, Commissioner Rob Manfred has ruled that deceased individuals who were banned for violating Rule 21 of the MLB Rule Book are no longer permanently banned.

What Is MLB Rule 21 and What Does It Have To Do With Former Philly Sports Athletes?

In response to the Black Sox Scandal, in which eight Chicago White Sox players were offered bribes to lose the 1919 World Series, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned eight of the players from ever playing professional baseball again.

Landis established the creation of Rule 21, the official MLB position about player and manager misconduct. The rule has seven sections and by MLB Commissioner's office orders, must be posted in English and Spanish in every Baseball Clubhouse.

The most famous section of Rule 21 details Baseball's rules against any form of gambling. Even though history tells us that most of the White Sox Players never received their payments for "throwing" the World Series, the bettors who placed big wagers on Cincinnati still got their way when Chicago lost the World Series.

The most infamous member of the 1919 Chicago White Sox should have been Pitcher Eddie Cicotte, the ringleader of the conspiracy. While Cicotte got paid $10,000 (over $194,400 in today's money) for his role in the scandal, most of his conspirators never received payment and they stopped "trying" to lose.

But thanks American Mythology and Legendary Tales, the most famous man from the scandal was "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. After receiving limited playing time during his first two seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics, Jackson went on to have a prolific career as an elite hitter with Cleveland and Chicago.

While Jackson had a .375 Batting Average and was the best hitter in the 1919 World Series, there were suspicions that his mediocre play in the Outfield was a sign for his role in the Black Sox Scandal. There have been reports over the years that Jackson rejected bribes twice in 1919, and a Grand Jury acquitted the White Sox players of conspiracy charges in 1920.

Another Baseball Legend Mired In Scandal 65 Years Later

When the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series, many people credited Pete Rose as the "missing piece" and a key player in the team's success. Rose, one of the greatest hitters in Baseball History, was a member of the Phillies core when the team also reached the 1983 World Series.

Rose retired with the MLB Record for Most Career Hits (4,256) and Games Played (3562), two records he still holds to this day. The Baseball Legend would go on to become the Manager for his hometown baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds.

He would be the Reds Manager for seven seasons, compiling a record of 412-373 with zero postseason appearances. But during those years, it was discovered that Rose was gambling on the game of Baseball as an active member of an MLB Ballclub.

On August 24th, 1989 Rose agreed to admit he gambled on the game of baseball as the Cincinnati Reds Manager in 1987, giving then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti the admission to allow him to put Baseball All-Time Hits Leader on the Ineligible List.

Over the 36 years since, evidence has surfaced that Pete Rose was actively gambling on Baseball games from at least 1985 to 1987. But the irony was that Rose only placed wagers that his team would win, he never bet against his team or his players on his hometown team in Cincinnati.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred Changes Ineligibility Rules

Pete Rose and 16 other players on MLB's Ineligible List who are deceased, now been released from their indefinite bans posthumously.

Manfred, who has been MLB Commissioner since 2015, gave the following statement about his decision:

"Once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served. Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game. Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.”

In response to Manfred's decision, the Philadelphia Phillies released the following statement:

The Phillies support today’s decision by Commissioner Manfred and Major League Baseball to remove Pete Rose from the permanently ineligible list.
"As one of the greatest players in the history of the game, Pete made significant on-field contributions to the Phillies over his five seasons (1979-83) with the club, highlighted by our first World Series title in 1980."

Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the board for the Baseball Hall of Fame (an organization not obligated to or overseen by Major League Baseball), stated that Pete Rose and Joe Jackson are now eligible to have their cases reviewed by the Historical Overview Committee. That group will "develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee ... to vote on when it meets next in December 2027."

While we have two more years to debate whether Rose or Jackson should be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, we should remind people that the building is ultimately a museum. In that building, among the men enshrined there include immoral men:

-Cap Anson, baseball's first man with 3,000 hits and the sport's first Superstar player, was the man behind making Major League Baseball segregated. Anson was a Klu Klux Klan member who was rumored to be involved in numerous violent assaults of both African-Americans and Jewish people.

-Ty Cobb is considered the dirtiest player in Baseball History. Aside from sharpening his spikes to hurt other players, Cobb enjoyed shooting his pistol to scare people outside his hotel and bragged for years that he "killed a man in Detroit". He was in numerous bar brawls and was well known for his violent altercations with numerous African-Americans.

-MLB's First Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, went out of his way to keep Baseball segregated until his death in 1944. Landis, a former Federal Judge, was a vindictive and self-righteous man who ruled Baseball with an "Iron Fist" and tried to destroy the Negro Leagues along with punishing players who publicly supported civil rights reform

In today's world, we know everything about a celebrity's life, but 100 years ago media outlets like The Sporting News tried to cover up what baseball players did off the field. Hall of Famers such as Rogers Hornsby and Babe Ruth were involved in incidents that would get them charged with assault, battery, and domestic violence.

But Major League Baseball spent over 100 years trying to make "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Pete Rose into Baseball's biggest villains of all time?

Speaking of controversial athletes, while these men never gambled on sports or assaulted anyone off the field, their actions and words have come under intense scrutiny by Philadelphia Sports fans over the last 30 years: