Pete Rose and 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson for the HOF — better late than never?

Removing Pete Rose, 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver and others from Major League Baseball's permanently ineligible list seems more mean-spirited than something to celebrate. Rose can get in the Hall of Fame as long as he's longer here to enjoy it? That doesn't make any sense.

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred made the historic decision Tuesday, effectively opening the door for Rose and Jackson to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Rose normally would have been a lock for first-ballot enshrinement — he's still baseball's all-time hit leader with 4,256, had a career .303 batting average, won three batting titles, three World Series and was the 1973 National League Most Valuable Player.

But Manfred's statement made Rose sound like the Wicked Witch of the West. From ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr., who broke the story Tuesday:

"Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game," Manfred wrote in a letter to attorney Jeffrey M. Lenkov, who petitioned for Rose's removal from the list Jan. 8. "Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.

"Therefore, I have concluded that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual, and Mr. Rose will be removed from the permanently ineligible list."

That Rose, who died at 83 last Sept. 30, represented a "threat to the integrity of the game" while he was alive and in his 70s and 80s seems a little overwrought. The Reds and all of baseball will celebrate his enshrinement into the Hall of Fame. He just won't be there to participate. Is that Manfred's point?

Rose and Jackson — and White Sox third baseman Buck Weaver for that matter — have been particularly controversial — and arguably tragic — figures among those banished from baseball, because their penalty left no room for nuance. Rose bet on baseball. He bet on the Reds. But he never bet against the Reds. He never compromised a game to win a bet. He broke the rule. But the Black Sox scandal this was not.

The same goes for Jackson and Weaver. They were among the group of players plotting to throw the 1919 World Series. But some were more culpable than others. Jackson hit .375 in the series. Weaver hit .324 and played flawlessly in the field. They were wrong to not report the plot. They paid a price. But like Rose, the punishment did not fit the crime.

Third baseman Buck Weaver (along fellow conspirator Chick Gandil and catcher Ray Schalk) was one of the 'heroes' of the White Sox 5-4 victory over the Reds in Game 6 that cut their series deficit to 4-2 (the Series was a best-of-9 back then — the Sox lost, 5-3)

Hopefully the White Sox will seize the opportunity of Jackson's and Weaver's reinstatement and celebrate their White Sox careers — both of them substantial contributions to the organization's success.

As for Pete Rose, he will be eligible to be elected to the Hall of Fame by the "Classic Baseball" committee in December of 2027 for induction in August of 2028. And he figures to make it. Like Jackson and Weaver, Rose's transgression will be a stain on baseball forever. Whether he's dead or alive doesn't make a difference. For some reason, it did to Rob Manfred.