Hall of Fame Redemption? Or Just a Convenient Rewrite?

Major League Baseball quietly made a move this week that got far less attention than it deserved: Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson were posthumously removed from the league’s permanently ineligible list. That list has had two headliners for the past century. Now? They’re off it—dead, but technically eligible. And just like that, Cooperstown gets to clean up a messy part of its history without having to face the people it hurt.

Pete Rose had more hits than anyone in baseball history. Shoeless Joe Jackson hit .375 in the World Series he was supposedly throwing. Both were banned for life. Now they’re eligible—after life. This is what MLB calls “making peace with the past.” But peace without people feels more like PR than principle.

If this isn’t about the Hall of Fame, as Commissioner Rob Manfred claims, then what is it about? And if it is—then what comes next?

What about Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens? Bonds hit 762 homers. Clemens won seven Cy Youngs. Neither was suspended for PEDs. Never tested positive under MLB’s rules. But they’ve been unofficially blacklisted because the Hall, at some point, turned into a chapel of moral purity.

So what’s the next disqualifier? What if the next guy to hit 700 home runs cut in line at Chick-fil-A? Or got canceled for a tweet from college? What if he threw Granny off the train? (Still looking at you, Danny DeVito.) There’s a movie moment for Dan.

It’s a slippery slope when the Hall becomes less about greatness and more about image control.

We’re in dangerous territory when we start applying inconsistent standards for greatness. That slope isn’t just slippery—it’s covered in pine tar.

And here’s where it gets personal: We mix sports, politics, and celebrity all the time now. Athletes and actors spout off and cross the lines themselves, but heaven forbid when we want to hold them accountable. Politicians are treated like influencers.

I don’t like those bully pulpits and holier-than-thou attitudes–especially from people who’s past we know nothing about (i.e. writers, voters). Should they be under the microscope too? I remember a line in a book I read somewhere…something about “let him who is without sin…”

Character matters–absolutely. I’ll be the first in line to scream that integrity matters. But when we expect moral perfection from athletes, we set up a system no one can pass. And when we change the standards after the fact, or only enforce them on certain people, we’re not being righteous. We’re just being selective.

Yes, we need standards. But we also need consistency. If gambling once warranted lifetime bans, but now MLB partners with sportsbooks, how do you keep Pete Rose out with a straight face? If PEDs were once baseball’s dirty secret, but now retired players are punished for something the league ignored, how do we explain that to the next generation?

Bagwell and Biggio got in—and rightly so. But we all know plenty of players from that era whose names raised the same eyebrows (even Bags). Are we going to pretend no one else knew what was going on?

This latest move by Manfred cleans up the far-back past. But it raises another question: what about the future? What precedent are we setting now? It’s noble to apologize for someone else’s mistakes. But if you don’t fix the system going forward, that mistake becomes yours.

In my opinion, Manfred missed a perfect opportunity to not only fix the past, but fix the system. It could even have been his legacy.

The Hall of Fame isn’t supposed to be perfect. It’s supposed to be honest. Tell the full story. Give the fans the facts, the stats, and the truth. We aren’t idiots. We can separate the good from bad.

When I go to the Hall of Fame, I want to see the best who ever played the game, warts and all.

It’s easy to create a Hall of Fame built on comfort, one that overlooks the complexities of real life. But if we can’t do that—if we can’t acknowledge the imperfections alongside the greatness—then maybe we’re not building a Hall of Fame at all. We’re just writing the version of history that makes us most comfortable.

And that’s a history worth questioning.

⚾️ Questions to Ponder:

  1. Should the Hall of Fame honor talent regardless of personal flaws—or is character part of the legacy? Where is the line?
  2. Have we let our cultural expectations of public figures overshadow actual accomplishments?
  3. If the standards keep changing, who gets to decide what’s “worthy”?
  4. Does a Hall of Fame that only reflects sanitized history really honor the game?
  5. Who’s most responsible for shaping the future of baseball’s legacy—the league, the writers, or the fans?

The Hall of Fame has always been a place of distinction for those who have shaped the game of baseball. However, for some, their off-the-field issues have kept them from receiving the honor they deserve. Here’s a look at a few players whose careers and legacies remain clouded by controversy, but whose on-field performances are undeniably Hall of Fame worthy.

Hall-of-Fame Worthy Players vs. Inducted Players — Stat Comparison

PlayerHRHitsAwards/AccoladesHOF StatusReason for Exclusion
Barry Bonds7622,9357× MVP, 14× AS, 8× Gold Glove❌ Not InductedAlleged PED use
Roger Clemens354N/A7× Cy Young, MVP, 11× AS❌ Not InductedAlleged PED use
Alex Rodriguez6963,1153× MVP, 14× AS, 2× Gold Glove❌ Not InductedPED use, 1-year suspension
Pete Rose1604,256MVP, 17× AS, 3× WS Champ❌ Not InductedLifetime ban (gambling)
Curt Schilling216N/A3,116 Ks, 3× WS Champ❌ Not InductedControversial political comments
Sammy Sosa6092,4087× AS, MVP❌ Not InductedPED suspicion
Mark McGwire5831,626Rookie of the Year, 12× 30+ HR seasons❌ Not InductedAdmitted steroid use
Manny Ramirez5552,5749× Silver Slugger, 12× AS❌ Not InductedTwo failed drug tests
Hank Aaron7553,7711× MVP, 25× AS, 3× Gold Glove✅ Inducted 1982—
Greg Maddux355N/A4× Cy Young, 18× Gold Glove✅ Inducted 2014—
Cal Ripken Jr.4313,1842× MVP, 19× AS, 2× Gold Glove✅ Inducted 2007—
Derek Jeter2603,4655× Gold Glove, 14× AS, 5× WS Champ✅ Inducted 2020—
Tom Glavine305N/A2× Cy Young, 10× AS✅ Inducted 2014—
Jim Thome6122,3285× AS✅ Inducted 2018—
Frank Thomas5212,4682× MVP, 5× AS✅ Inducted 2014—
David Ortiz5412,472WS MVP, 10× AS✅ Inducted 2022Alleged PED (but less media backlash)
Jeff Bagwell4492,314MVP, 4× AS, Gold Glove✅ Inducted 2017PED whispers, never proven
Craig Biggio2913,0607× AS, 4× Gold Glove, 5× Silver Slugger✅ Inducted 2015—

Quick Notes on Bagwell & Biggio

  • Bagwell: One of the best 1B of his era. Some PED speculation but never proven, and inducted on his 7th ballot.
  • Biggio: Model of consistency and grit. Over 3,000 hits. No major controversy.

Their inductions show that:

  • Voters can overlook unproven PED rumors.
  • Character and reputation (clean or not) clearly factor into the equation.
  • The line between forgiven and forgotten isn’t always logical.
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26 responses to “Hall of Fame Redemption? Or Just a Convenient Rewrite?”

  1. I don’t care that much about the Hall. The thing about baseball writers, if Derek Jeter has to dive to get to a ball and makes some all star LOOKING play but Omar Vizquel makes an easy play out of the same ball – to them, Jeter is the one we should talk about, because, man that play looked really good.

    Ty Cobb is in there. Joe Jackson is not. Maybe different generations end up affecting these biases and make the process look inconsistent. I listened to Eduardo Perez talking about it this morning – and this was a guy that grew up in that Reds clubhouse and lived next door to Pete Rose and grew up Pete Rose Jr’s best friend. And he is still adamant that rule 21 is as unbreakable rule as any of the ten commandments.

    Personally, I am not all in on keeping the PED guys out. Afterall, we have already put some of them in including our own Bagwell, and possibly Biggio at least some. But Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were two of the most dominant players of their generation, a generation that had hundreds of users. If it were the PEDs and not the player than everyone would have been matching them. I am not some sally thinking PEDs don’t help, there is no way Bonds would have caught Aaron without them, they absolutely affected the game, but no one else did. He was the best player of that generation. But like I said in my opening, I don’t really care either. I am an Astros fan, not a baseball fan. The sport is kind of boring, I haven’t watched a game that wasn’t an Astros game in years. The analytics of the game appeal to me and analyzing how those analytics affect matchups and what they tell us about player behavior in a batters box or at SS or on the mound is what I thoroughly enjoy. I love to dissect what the analytics tell me about Yainer Diaz and his propensity for swinging at bad pitches but then his propensity for being able to punish bad pitches a little more often than others – and then watch the game and see it in action. I can’t even tell you who was inducted into the HoF last year or the year before that or the year before that.

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  2. All I know is that MLB should make these decisions in house. There are plenty of smart owners. Manfred got his marching orders from an outside source. In keeping with Chipalatta policy, I’d rather talk about last nights quality baseball game.

    Our flawed team played an excellent KC squad again last night and had one of our stoppers on the mound against one of their stoppers. Maybe Framber is or is not the ace of the rotation at this point, but he’s back to dealing like an ace. I thought he was a pitch away from freaking out last night. Instead, he got huge double play balls in the 5th and 6th behind our transformed infield defense. If we have three guys that can go out and throw seven or even eight innings of 1 run ball, we will hang around. And at some point, we’ll likely get healthier, helping both the rotation and the pen.

    In the meantime, hitting stats are creeping up, at least when playing in AC Park, led by Pena and Jake and new guy Paredes and Yanier, who will always show up at some point. We could have Yordan and Jose hitting the ball again soon too. Jose will get on a streak. Walker is teasing us. He’ll hit. What’s great is that while this offense has struggled, unexpected guys have stepped in to help carry the load. Look at that 2-1 score last night.

    I hope the bats can give grizzled rookie first timer Colton Gordon some early runs to work with tonight. It would be fun to steal this series win from a very good team, adding some mojo to take up to Arlington.

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  3. At the end of the day I think we should have HOFers in the HOF and not fringe candidates. The criteria are all over the map outside of magic numbers of career achievement. I’m not going to write 1000 words on this today, but Clemens was incredible from his age 23 to age 31 seasons…but that’s where things started to fall off. The PEDs probably saved his career, but even if we consider only that first run of years he should be in discussion as one of the greats. Barry Bonds is perhaps the biggest jerk in baseball since either Pete Rose or Ty Cobb. He was also incredible in all aspects of the game. I couldn’t stand him. The only thing that would have made me dislike him more was if he played for the Yankees. What should be apparent to everyone is that he was a HOFer before he started using PEDs. Like Clemens, if you divide his career into before and after you and up with players who posted 4 HOF-worthy careers. There are a lot of guys you can’t say that about. Mark McGwire? Manny Ramirez? There’s evidence from other players that they were never clean. Alex Rodriguez? I don’t know what to think about him. Curt Schilling has some prime accomplishments but lacked the overall volume. If we are letting him in we should consider guys like Tim Lincecum who were meteoric in their ascent and fall as well. What about guys like Lance Berkman? He ends up with 366 HR, but what if he’s turned on the juice in his early 30’s and made it to age 42 like Barry Bonds instead of retiring at 37?

    I think the gatekeeping around cheaters is acceptable except when it prevents us from telling the story of MLB baseball. The 1989 Oakland A’s should be castigated as villains who ushered in the extreme usage of PEDs. Brady Anderson should be a footnote example of how a mediocre player could transform themself in an offseason into the most feared slugger in the league, but he shouldn’t be glorified for it. So what about Rose? I think it’s the stories that matter. Posthumous induction serves the purpose of punishing him for the gambling. Go ahead and put his story up in Cooperstown so it lives on…just make sure the plaque clearly calls out his sins against the game as well.

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    • Devin, I don’t disgree on Schilling. He probably doesn’t have the numbers, in my opinion, but many people say they can’t vote for him because of his “positions” on other issues. If you don’t vote for him because of his numbers — or lack thereof — great! But writers and votes should be man — or woman — enough to say that and don’t come at us with all the politically correct garbage when we’re discussing the Hall of Fame.

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  4. I grew up in the sixties. Baseball was part of my family. Uncles, cousins, grandpas and dads all played. By the time I was playing pee wee baseball I knew the cardinal sin of baseball was betting on the game. I knew that every club house had a sign attesting to the fact. If I knew it Rose damn sure knew it. He didn’t care. As much as it pains me to say it he should never get it. Nor should Joe if the burden of proof has been met.

    I have no sympathy for Bonds or Clemens. As a former college player I am pretty sure I would have done most anything to become a major leaguer. And I can see the incentives for players on the margins who want to make the bigs or hang around and get a million dollar contract, particularly if you think your competition is in. Those two guys cheated for all the wrong reasons. They were already elite but wanted to be thought of as best ever. They cheated history, the very thing that the hall reveres and strives to preserve. Where do you draw the line? (Ever looked closely at Randy Johnsons career arc?) I don’t know, but I don’t think it is as cut and dried as the gambling thing.

    By the way, you mention Schilling, where’s the love for Berkman? Maybe not a Hall of Famer, but he certainly deserved more consideration than he got. And for being a christian and stating his beliefs. Should we have an atheist/agnostic clause? Or just strike the first amendment all together?

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  5. Hall of Fame Thoughts

    • When the Rose/Shoeless Joe (and others) reinstatement came down – I turned to Chip and asked him to write about it and as you can see he did a great job on it.
    • I had written to him that I thought that Rose should have been suspended, but not forever, since he bet on his team – not against it. I hark back to the NFL and two of their stars – Alex Karras and Paul Hornung who were suspended for a year for gambling, but as I understand betting on their team.
    • But one thing I hadn’t really thought about is that if a manager or player bets on their team or bets on other sports and loses too many bets – the gamblers can come for him and pressure him to throw games. That might be tough to do as an individual player (maybe a pitcher) or as a manager – sure you can put out an easier lineup or make some odd bullpen choices.
    • And I don’t know where things go slippery slope wise on judging people. Some people think Rose should not be in the H of F because he was accused of having sex with an underaged girl. He was not convicted of this – what to do what to do? Do we go back and throw all the racists out – maybe put their statues in a pile with the Confederate statues taken down over the years. And on what word or grounds do we do that? You just can’t go there I don’t think.
    • I don’t know what to do about the ‘roid era folks. If almost everyone is doing it, but you don’t KNOW – how do you decide?

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  6. I agree that Pete Rose should be in the HOF as well as Shoeless Joe Jackson. My jury is still out on Bonds, Mcguire, Sosa, Ramierez, and ARod. Schilling should definitely be considered since how stupid can some be for excluding one because of what he said?

    Personally, I think the legalization of sports betting will destroy the sports “industry”. Baseball, football, basketball, soccer, and any sport where there is a referee or an official who can alter the course of a game is just asking for trouble. Remember the phrase that “the love of money is the root of all evil”. I believe that a majority of those just might have a price to make subtle changes in the outcome of the game. I would hope that higher morals would prevail but to be human is to error and in this case there is a cost and a price to be paid.

    On the other hand, great game by Framber last night. I like that Espada didn’t send Hader our there for the 9th so he’s available today. And Paredes is becoming the best piece of the Tucker trade so far. Great defense and timely hitting with his walks almost equaling his K’s with an .805 OPS. Look forward to tonight’s game to see what Colton Gordon can do.

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  7. I was one of Pete Rose’s fans and was sure he would be a first ballot HOFer when he retired.

    Over the subsequent years, I realized what kind of person he was and really cooled off on him. Now he is gone and I don’t care whether he gets into the Hall or not. When you vote him in after he passes, you aren’t honoring him, but his memory instead and it is his memory that is not very pleasant. But, whatever.

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    • Great analysis and writing by Chip. This has helped me confront my bias against Bonds, as I could not stand his overall character.. I admired Rose in his playing days along with Clemons. In court, a good lawyer would probably pick apart my opinion, but Rose knew the rules concerning gambling. Bonds, Clemons and the rest who took part with these drugs tainted the records of the game. I will never agree with admitting them into the hall of fame for baseball.

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      • Larry, I can respect that analysis. If that were the barometer that everyone uses, I’d be content with that. However, as you can see, there is no crystal clear guideline and that’s the challenge for me.

        Someone needs to be the adult in the room, set the standard — one way or the other — and let it be.

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    • I am not surprised at all. It’s not even the stats, he just looks hittable when he pitches.

      We can appreciate his 2024 though. Without it we may not have come back to win the division. Fair winds Scottie.

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  10. Astros are showing some life. I’m hoping it continues on the road. Nice to have Hunter on the mound tonight. Can the bats squeeze a couple of runs out of deGrom?

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  11. DeGrom is a bad matchup for our hitters. He has averaged just over 5 innings a start but this team might give him 7. We should see Rodgers tonight at 2B, while its a soft bat he is a guy that can at least get 3 or 4 more pitches than Dubon might out of DeGrom. Walker is the kind of veteran hitter that needs to have a good showing tonight if the Astros are going to generate some runs on DeGrom.

    The Astros still haven’t given an at bat to anyone outside of the 13 they opened with for position players. They have already had 21 pitchers pitch for them. Last year was 32 but 7 of those made just 1 appearance. Last year they had 12 guys make starts, but really, Blair Henley doesn’t count, and neither does known bullpen games in Dubin and Scott, so 9 starters. More importantly, 4 guys made at least 28. That’s the secret. Guys going out to the bump every 5th day knowing they are doing their job and giving their team a chance to win. Right now, that number looks to be lowered to 3, though I’m not writing Gusto off yet as a guy that can turn in consistent starts, fact is he isn’t right now.

    What I think could go down as the biggest start of the year – Ronel’s 8 inning gem the other night – if he goes out and misses some pitches, walks a few guys, is out after 5 or even 4, this team may not have been in the position it was the last two games to make sure Abreu and Hader were both available for huge innings in critical spots. Hats off the Bryan King – he could be this year and next years Tay Scott, in other words, the clock strikes midnight, but what he is doing right now is whats important right now – and he rarely misses the spot he is trying to hit. I wouldn’t be giving him 3 year/36M contracts right now, but keep it up young man. That stache though, not the best one.

    How short is the leash on McCullers tomorrow night? What do the Astros do if the velocity doesn’t come up? Put him back on the IL and send him back to a doctor before giving him more “rehab” starts? Can’t just outright him to AAA so it has to be medical. Would they dare do the sunken cost move? It’s probably too early to take that route, but if he is throwing 90 and missing the zone with it tomorrow night, they have to consider yanking him from the rotation.

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    • Man you ruined my day. I did not want to think about the McCullers- Eovaldi match up on Friday night. Baseball is funny game though. We never know what might happen. The most likely outcome could be a cooked pen. One way or the other, Lance will be a topic of conversation if anyone is around on Saturday morning. But for now, I just want the opener.

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    • My post failed earlier, but including today Walker is now 0-10 against deGrom with 4 K’s, lifetime. It’s a bad matchup for him. I think this would have been a good night to send Dubon or Diaz over the first to get Caratini into the lineup…but I guess putting him at DH works too.

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  12. Thoughts

    • It’s funny what a walkoff can do for a team’s psyche. Paredes walk-off Tuesday was the first of the season for the Astros and I believe that directly led to last night’s win.
    • One of the things that gives me hope is that last night’s win was one of the few this year that I thought that the Astros were the “lucky” team. The red-hot Royals (16-4 out of their last 20 coming into the series) probably should have won last night, but the Astros believed they could come back and they did. Hopefully this becomes contagious.
    • Biggest play last night may have been defensive. If Meyers does not make that great, acrobatic catch in centerfield to end the third, the Astros are down 4-0 and the Royals have a guy in scoring position and a young pitcher heading towards implosion.
    • On the other side – it seemed crazy that two times in a row, Dubon got a double on what looked like catchable fly balls down the line. The Royals must have had him played way over to left center.
    • Pena is in fuego right now. He was four for four and his biggest hit was the softest hit (70 mph) in the 8th to put them ahead. But in general he is hitting line drive after line drive right now.
    • I have to agree with Steven that the Ronel Blanco start was extremely important. So was Framber’s 8 inning start Tuesday night. It was also important for the Astros to grab the lead and avoid extra innings. They do not need long games if they can avoid it.
    • The Astros finally have two guys, Pena and Paredes (the Killer P’s?) with OPS over .800. The Astros knew that Paredes would love those close by Crawford Boxes – though those last two HRs should have been gone out almost anywhere. For those keeping count at home – Isaac has 6 homers at home in 24 games and 0 homers on the road in 17 games.

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  13. Tony Kemp retired today. Perhaps his best contribution to Houston was the trade for Martin Maldonado, who had a few decent years in Houston, especially behind the plate.

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  14. The club is what they are showing, they are a .500 team this year.

    Tonight, it was a well known fact that DeGrom was having issues going deep into games and what happens?? The Astros say, we can help him regain his form! So, instead of making DeGrom throw a lot of pitches early, the Astros swing early and often.

    I feel it might be a long season in Astros’ town.

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  15. I saw an excellent baseball game last night. Yes, the Astros had only five hits and two walks, but I give the Rangers some credit. They took away four extra base hits to right and right center with great catches. The good news is the Astros made consistent contact against deGrom. And a few of our guys, Jake and Zach included, did not try to pull the ball against a pitcher that was given a very wide strike zone on the outside of the plate. When deGrom has such a favorable zone to work with, it’s tough. And unless a veteran like Jose starts using the whole field he’s not helping much. Even Walker went to right field twice last night. I saw some positive signs.

    Unfortunately, we have to think about tonights pitching match up now. We will need a Colton game from Lance and our bats will need to get to Eovaldi. I know, it does not sound likely, but it’s a baseball game.

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  16. Thoughts

    • Yes, the Astros should have tried to work the count more against deGrom, but they also may have thought they needed to swing at something earlier in the count before they get down 0-2 and have to swing at his pitches.
    • Sometimes you just don’t have luck – they hit quite a few well struck balls against him and just did not get very many to fall.
    • The 8th thru 4th in the lineup as you flip it over (Meyers, Dubon, Pena, Altuve, Paredes, Walker) were 1 for 22. You are just not going to win those too often.
    • Hunter Brown was excellent, but not excellent enough I guess.
    • I sure would have liked to have seen Yordan in this game. Caratini hitting from the left side had two of the hits.
    • We need some better luck tonight. At least the bullpen is rested.

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  17. One more thing. deGrom is a 2 time Cy Young winner. He’s a got a 2.51 lifetime ERA and a lifetime WHIP under 1. Nobody does that. If just one of those hard hit balls get to the wall, we might have had a different outcome. Jake was looking at a stand up triple. We’ve got a struggling, poorly designed team battling against a bunch of tough pitching, righty pitching. They won’t get to see lefties. Alvarez remains out. Altuve has gone MIA. That makes it tougher for a guy like Walker to get untracked. He’s had very little help around him. This could be an ugly weekend, but I’m not bailing on this club yet. We’ve made that mistake too many times before.

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