Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t believe there were so many walk-offs so close together in baseball last night.
In today’s SI:AM:
🎥 Behind those viral NFL schedule videos
So much for “permanent”
Rob Manfred made one of the most controversial decisions of his tenure as MLB commissioner on Tuesday when he announced that the league’s “permanently ineligible list” won’t be so permanent anymore.
Manfred declared that a person’s time on the list ends with their death, opening the door for 17 players, including Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, to be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame. Here’s more from Tom Verducci’s news story on the decision:
Manfred’s decision now permits Rose to gain the same chance at the Hall once afforded Joe Jackson, the outfielder barred for his part in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. While on the ineligible list, Jackson was considered on Hall ballots in 1936 and 1946 but received minimal support.
Manfred decided that Rule 21 was meant to keep people away from baseball who were considered a threat to the integrity of the game and to be a deterrent. He decided the “threat” portion no longer applied once a person is deceased. There are 17 deceased people on the list.
It’s a controversial decision for several reasons. For one, the majority of the people reinstated by Manfred were initially banned for gambling violations. That includes Rose, Jackson and seven of Jackson’s Black Sox teammates, but also other lesser-known cheats like Lee Magee, Jimmy O’Connell and Cozy Dolan. Considering Manfred has already faced several controversies related to the integrity of the game (like the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, the use of “sticky stuff” by pitchers and a handful of gambling scandals), his decision to rubber-stamp the actions of a bunch of known cheaters is puzzling at best and malpractice at worst.
Stephanie Apstein wrote an excellent column bashing Manfred for exactly those reasons:
But at least the Astros and the sticky-fingered pitchers were cheating the game in order to win games. Rose, who after decades of lying about it, admitted in his 2004 memoir to having bet on baseball, has always said he only bet on the Reds to win. That might be true. But what about in the games in which he didn’t bet on the Reds? Are we sure he always turned to his best players in the moments of highest leverage? It is this competing incentive structure that makes Rule 21—don’t bet on baseball—the holiest of baseball edicts. If fans can’t be sure everyone involved is trying to win, the whole enterprise falls apart. This is the existential threat to the sport. It’s impossible to take it too seriously.
The other reason Manfred’s decision is controversial is the timing. In February, President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post that he would be issuing a pardon of Rose for his 1990 guilty plea to tax evasion charges for which he served five months in prison. Trump added, “Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!” Manfred met with Trump in April and the commissioner said that the pair did discuss Rose’s eligibility during their meeting.
Ostensibly, Manfred’s ruling is in response to a petition filed in January by Jeffrey Lenkov, an attorney representing the Rose family. But it would be naive to think that Trump’s meddling and bullying of MLB didn’t play a role. Manfred is just the latest executive to attempt to curry favor with the president by appealing to his ever-changing whims.
Manfred has multiple reasons to want to stay on Trump’s good side. The commissioner said in April that he also discussed immigration issues with the president. Ensuring the safe, uninterrupted movement of foreign-born players in and out of the United States (for example, when traveling to and from Canada for games against the Toronto Blue Jays) is an important player safety issue during a period of increased tension at the border. The other main concern for Manfred is MLB’s longstanding antitrust exemption, which the Department of Justice could threaten to end. Former attorney general Merrick Garland encouraged the courts to scrutinize the exemption in 2022, and while current AG Pam Bondi has not opined on the issue, the possibility remains that the government could drastically alter the league’s financial outlook by ending the exemption.
Trump’s request for the Hall of Fame to “get off its fat, lazy ass” and elect Rose will have to wait, though. Rose’s only path to the Hall is through election by the Classic Baseball committee, a 16-person panel that examines the cases of those who played before 1980. That committee won’t meet again until December 2027.
The best of Sports Illustrated
Today’s Digital Cover is Gilberto Manzano’s story on how NFL schedule release day became a chance for franchises’ social media teams to flex their muscles.
Bob Harig’s latest dispatch from Quail Hollow is on Jordan Spieth’s chance to join Rory McIlroy as the latest winner of the career Grand Slam.
MLB is trying something new with the league’s first “Rivalry Weekend,” beginning Friday. Ryan Phillips ranked all 15 of the matchups.
With the WNBA regular season set to tip off on Friday, here are Clare Brennan’s initial power rankings.
Our soccer coverage has a new name and a new look: Welcome to Sports Illustrated FC.
Three MLB teams won on walk-offs in a span of just four minutes on Tuesday night.
Jayson Tatum’s injury was confirmed to be a torn Achilles tendon. The Celtics did not put a timetable on his return.
The Mavericks reportedly don’t plan to trade the No. 1 pick. (I assume that means they’ll wait until Cooper Flagg has made five straight All-Star teams and led the Mavs to the Finals to trade him.)
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Mikael Granlund’s hat trick for the Stars as Dallas took a 3–1 series lead over the Jets.
4. Tyrese Haliburton’s goodbye wave to the Cleveland crowd after Myles Turner’s dagger three.
3. An outrageous circus shot by Nikola Jokić to tie the game in the final two minutes.
2. Fernando Tatis Jr.’s jubilant home run trot after his walk-off against the Angels.
1. Javier Báez’s three-run walk-off home run down by two in the 11th inning. After being one of the worst hitters in baseball last season, Báez is now tied for the highest OPS on the Tigers.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Why Rob Manfred’s Pete Rose Decision Is So Controversial.