Let me begin by stating that as a longtime fan of baseball, there is a small part of me which is pleased that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has lifted the lifetime ban against Pete Rose as well as "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the seven other members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox (a.k.a. Black Sox) who allegedly threw that year's World Series.
When Rose passed away last September, I wrote the following:
Unfortunately, because Rose bet on baseball while managing the Reds during the late 1980's, he was banned from MLB and rendered ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Yet, following my visit to Cooperstown in 2012, I noted that Pete Rose is there if you look close enough:
I also didn’t realize that Pete Rose is in the Hall of Fame. Oh, you won’t find him in the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery on the main floor. But you will find Charlie Hustle on the 3rd Floor where he is acknowledged as Major League Baseball’s all-time hit leader. Rose has also played more big league games than any other player who stepped onto the field. This fact is acknowledged with a cap he wore during his half-season with the Montreal Expos in 1984. Yet I am under no illusions that Rose will ever have a plaque on the main floor.I don't think this state of affairs will ever change. If baseball is not prepared forgive "Shoeless" Joe Jackson of his transgressions more than a century after the fact, Charlie Hustle stands no chance.
Well, now Charlie Hustle and "Shoeless" Joe have their chance. To me, the injustice isn't that they aren't in the Hall of Fame, but that the Baseball Writers of America and the Veterans Committee weren't allowed to vote for them. The sin of gambling was more verboten than the sin of using performance enhancing drugs.
What displeases me, however, is the manner in which it was done.
There is no question that this would not have happened without the intervention of President Trump. This troubles me for two reasons. First, I don't think the federal government should tell MLB how to run its affairs - right or wrong. Second, given that Trump was at the center of this about face, we have to conclude that Manfred made this decision under duress.
Manfred made the decision on the basis of the fact that Rose was dead and thus "cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game." While Rose has been dead for less than 8 months, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson has been dead for nearly 75 years. I highly doubt Manfred suddenly had an epiphany.
Manfred met with Trump at the White House about a month ago, but did not reveal the meeting until a couple of weeks ago. Aside from discussing Rose, the two also discussed "Manfred’s concerns over how Trump’s immigration policies could impact players from Cuba, Venezuela and other foreign countries." Here is what jumped out at me:
Manfred did not go into details on his discussion with Trump over foreign-born players other than to say he expressed worry.
“Given the number of foreign-born players we have, we’re always concerned about ingress and egress,” Manfred said. “We have had dialogue with the administration about this topic. And, you know, they’re very interested in sports. They understand the unique need to be able to go back and forth, and I’m going to leave it at that.”
I think I know exactly what Manfred was worried about. I'm sure that Trump basically told him, 'Either you reinstate Pete Rose, or all foreign-born players will be asked to leave the country.' Or perhaps he limited the edict to players from Latin American countries which comprise about 25% of all active MLB players.
Let's remember that Rose has been banned from baseball for more than 35 years while the 1919 Chicago Black Sox have been banned for more than a century. There is no way MLB would have undone the ban unless Trump intended to impose harm upon the game.
For all intents and purposes, MLB has been nationalized and brought under state control, or more precisely, the control of the White House. Whatever MLB's flaws, this state of affairs is fundamentally unAmerican. Of course, the same could be said for most of the Trump Administration's actions over the past four months and for the foreseeable future.
If Trump threatened Manfred in the manner suggested, I wish Manfred would have told him to go fly a kite and to shove it. But that isn't Rob Manfred nor for that matter Roger Goodell, Adam Silver or Gary Bettman nor for that matter the owners of any professional sports team in this country.
For all the things that have disappointed me about MLB over the past five years or so, its surrender to the Trump Administration might be the worst thing of all - even if it does result in Pete Rose and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson being inducted into Cooperstown.
The long and the short of it is that a bad man did a good thing in bad faith. President Trump undid a wrong by committing a greater wrong.
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