Kvelve's Comments: Charlie Hustle and Shoeless Joe

Sometimes, it takes a while to right a wrong.

If there is more than one wrong, it would follow that two wrongs take twice as long to correct. 

So, the recent news that Pete “Charlie Hustle” Rose and Joseph “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, have been “forgiven” by professional baseball for their heinous sins against the game that was once America’s Game is welcome news, if not woefully late. 

Rose is the more well known of the two, mostly because he was ousted from baseball more recently for betting on baseball. Jackson, who earned the name “Shoeless Joe” because he once played a game barefoot because of blisters caused by improperly fitting cleats, committed his atrocity more than a century ago. 

Jackson was accused of being part of the Chicago “Blackhawks” world series scandal for taking money to allow the Cincinnati Reds to win the 1919 Series. 

Both begrudgingly admitted wrongdoing. For baseball or other sports purists, betting on a game involving the team for which you played is right up there with passing gas in the pews during the sermon. 

Public outrage, as reported by sportswriters from coast to coast, called for the pair to be, among other things, permanently barred from eligibility for baseball’s holy shrine, the Hall of Fame. 

Rose admitted fault later in life but denied betting against his team.  Jackson fessed up to be part of a multiple-player scandal involving players from the White Sox. 

There were other similarities between the two, including they were outstanding players with Hall of Fame worthy stats. 

The other similarity being they both died under the cloud of shame. 

I must admit I am torn by these incidents. The sports world has changed in the years since, where now everyone can legally bet on baseball and other sports.  Money talks as is evident by the multi-billion-dollar industry for doing a form of what got Jackson and Rose banned from the Hall. 

But if everyone who ever made a mistake was banned from the hallowed halls of fame, despite the mind-boggling stats they achieved, there would be empty buildings in Cooperstown, Canton and other towns who feature sports halls of fame. 

Good job, Major League Baseball. Better late than never? 

I hope Charlie Hustle and Shoeless Joe are looking down from baseball heaven and feeling a since of justice for their crimes against hardball. 

You really want to clean up the sports world? Do away with sports gambling. 

And create a trophy in honor of Jackson: a shiny pair of pad-lined cleats. And require all future slides into base be head-first, ala the Pepper Martin style slide used so often by Rose. 

Will they be enshrined on the first ballot for which they are eligible and become members of the Hall? 

If I had a vote, they would be.