Why Shoeless Joe Jackson Was Banned From Baseball
As news broke that Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose are now eligible for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame as a result of being removed from the permanently ineligible list, some people are wondering why Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned from baseball in the first place.
According to Shoeless Joe Jackson.org, "In response to suspicions that the White Sox were under the influence of sports bookies, Joe Jackson and seven other White Sox players were accused of conspiring to throw the 1919 World Series."
As an aside, Ray Liotta immortalized Shoeless Joe Jackson when he brought him back to life on the big screen in the Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams. In that movie, Jackson walked out of a cornfield.
The charges didn't stick.
"At the trial in 1921, however, it took only two hours for a Chicago jury to render a verdict of not guilty on all counts," the website explained. "Despite acquittal in a court of law, and without conducting an investigation, baseball’s newly appointed baseball commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned Jackson and seven other White Sox from playing professional baseball, sending a no-tolerance message regarding gambling in baseball."
That no-tolerance would later be extended to Rose.
According to Britannica, Shoeless Joe Jackson "was an American professional baseball player, by many accounts one of the greatest, who was ultimately banned from the game because of his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal."
What was the Black Sox Scandal? Eight members of the Chicago White Sox, including Shoeless Joe, were accused of accepting bribes to lose the 1919 World Series between the White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds," Britannica wrote.
Four players, including Jackson, "admitted to the grand jury that they had thrown the 1919 series in return for a bribe," the site reported.
The evidence against Jackson was conflicting.
Jackson, "who was promised $20,000 for throwing the series (more than three times his $6,000 annual salary), in the end received only $5,000. The degree of his complicity in the scandal, however, has always been puzzling. Although he never returned the bribe, he went on to hit an outstanding .375 for the series while playing errorless ball in the field," Britannica reported.
In a news release on May 13, 2025, MLB announced that Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. had "issued a policy decision regarding the status of individuals who have passed away while on the permanently ineligible list."
According to ESPN, the players' removal from that list now opens the possibility that they could be inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
"This issue has never been formally addressed by Major League Baseball, but an application filed by the family of Pete Rose has made it incumbent upon the Office of the Commissioner to reach a policy decision on this unprecedented issue in the modern era as Mr. Rose is the first person banned after the tenure of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to die while still on the ineligible list," the statement says.
"Commissioner Manfred has concluded that MLB’s policy shall be that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual."
The statement specifically mentions Shoeless Joe Jackson.
"To establish clarity for the administration of the Major League Rules, the decision in this matter shall apply to individuals in the past or future who are posthumously on the permanently ineligible list," it says. "There are 17 deceased individuals disciplined since the founding of the Commissioner’s Office impacted by today’s announcement, including Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams; Joe Gedeon; Gene Paulette; Benny Kauff; Lee Magee; Phil Douglas; Cozy Dolan; Jimmy O’Connell; William Cox; and Pete Rose."
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