Major League Baseball has removed Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson and other deceased figures from its permanently ineligible list, a move that could eventually make some of the sport’s most infamous names eligible for Hall of Fame consideration.

ESPN reported that commissioner Rob Manfred made the decision in a historic ruling that ends baseball’s lifetime ban once the disciplined individual has died. In practical terms, that means Rose, Jackson and a group of other dead players and one dead owner are no longer barred under MLB’s own rules from future consideration by Hall processes.

The change is significant because it rewrites a decades-old assumption about how the sport treats its most serious punishments. Rose accepted a ban in 1989 after an MLB investigation concluded he had bet on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds. Jackson and seven other Chicago White Sox players were banned in 1921 for their role in fixing the 1919 World Series. Under the new ruling, neither man is automatically frozen out of all Hall of Fame debate simply because MLB once deemed him permanently ineligible.

Manfred’s letter, as summarized by ESPN, said a person no longer living cannot threaten the integrity of the game, and argued that a lifetime penalty already has maximum deterrent force. That reasoning matters because it shifts the policy from moral permanence to practical purpose. MLB is not declaring the conduct acceptable; it is saying the punitive value of the ban ends at death.

The ruling affects 16 deceased players and one deceased owner in total. It also interacts with a separate Hall of Fame policy adopted in 1991, after Rose’s first year of eligibility, which made anyone on MLB’s permanently ineligible list automatically ineligible for Hall election. That rule became known as “the Pete Rose rule,” and it meant MLB’s discipline extended far beyond league offices and into Cooperstown.

The likely path forward is not immediate induction but eligibility for review. ESPN said the earliest Rose or Jackson could be enshrined, under current timing rules, would be 2028 if elected. Before that, the Hall’s Historical Overview Committee would develop the ballot for the Classic Baseball Era Committee, which next meets in December 2027. To be elected, a candidate would need 12 of 16 votes.

The decision has been welcomed by Rose’s family and advocates. ESPN quoted attorney Jeffrey Lenkov, who has led the campaign to restore Rose’s standing, saying the family viewed the ruling as a long-awaited relief. The report also said Rose’s family planned to attend Pete Rose Night at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, a reminder that the issue remains emotionally charged in a city that still sees Rose as a defining figure.

The baseball legacy of Rose and Jackson was never in doubt from a statistical standpoint. Rose remains the major league career hits leader and a three-time World Series champion. Jackson finished with a .356 batting average, one of the best in history. Yet both names were shadowed for generations by gambling, scandal and the sport’s obsession with protecting integrity.

Manfred’s move does not erase that history. What it does is change the relationship between death, punishment and historical judgment. For baseball, that is a major institutional shift. For fans who have debated the fate of Rose and Jackson for decades, it may be the first real opportunity in years to imagine their names being treated not as permanently erased, but as eligible for one last hearing.