Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson and others have been removed from MLB's "permanently ineligible" list, and can now be voted into the Hall Of Fame:

Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game. 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.

The next time Pete's committee comes up, I expect the Veteran's committee will vote him in.

I need to work less, IMWAN more, I guess

Now, the cynic in me thinks this is because of how pervasive and normalized sports gambling is becoming, and they're doing this to downplay the destructive nature of gambling on sports, but maybe that's just me.

Pete Rose was a dick and one of my least favorite players of all time. But it's sure hard to make the argument that he should be banned from baseball for gambling...but never betting against his own team...while the current group of owners are now in bed with sportsbooks that take bets on MLB.

This is an important distinction, the BBWA will not have a say in this.
They think his name will come up in the December of 2026 Vetterans meeting.

Not hard at all. His betting on his own team could influence his player usage in games before the games he bet on.

It's baseball's most sacrosanct rule (or was). It's posted in every clubhouse. He knew the history of the game. He knew the rule. He knew the consequences.

He ignored that because he thought he could get away with it, that he was too big to be banned. He was wrong. He fully earned his permanent - not lifetime - ban.

He doesn't deserve to be in the Hall. And Manfred blew this one as badly as he did the case against the Astros, if not worse.

I completely disagree. There is no evidence, and MLB has never claimed, that Rose bet against his own team. The argument was always, "he was too close to the game." "He could have conspired with the opponent to affect the outcome of a game."

I think that the Hall of Fame should focus on a person's baseball performance and assiduously avoid trying to act as a moral policeman. It's a slippery slope when other considerations are allowed to muddy the waters. Pete Rose was indeed a dick, but I suspect that one could say the same about a good share of players (or, indeed, people in general). There are almost certainly racists, sexists, fascists, drunkards, druggies, adulterers, child abusers, blasphemers, users of foul language, and even jaywalkers in the Hall. I'm not sure why gamblers deserve special opprobrium. Not to mention the fact that public morality changes over time, and something that was okay before can grow to be unacceptable, and vice versa.

Better to avoid the whole thing and evaluate baseball players on how they played baseball. If someone cheats at the game itself, sure, then his stats are not what they seemed. But immorality rarely gives someone a leg up in baseball, so it can safely be ignored. Maybe every plaque in the Hall should include a short synopsis of a player's life off of the field, so people who are less interested in the game itself can rank players based on a different metric.

Except, as a local sportswriter repeatedly points out, the Hall does have a character clause in its qualifications. If they don't want character considered, they can remove that clause at any time they want.

Alvarado is a jackhole who is suspended 80 games and the playoffs for “accidentally” taking steroids.

OK, moron.

Manfred to Propose ABS System for 2026 MLB Season

The automated ball-strike system (ABS) could be officially headed to Major League games next season. Commissioner of MLB, Rob Manfred on Wednesday, said he plans to introduce a proposal to MLB’s competition committee that includes bringing the ABS system to MLB in 2026.

The ABS system was used at 13 spring training sites in 2025, which included 19 teams, and was employed in approximately 60 percent of spring training games this past spring. Teams started with two challenges each and lost a challenge every time they were not overturned. If the call they challenged was overturned, they retained their challenge.

The pitching teams saw a 54.4 percent overturn rate, while the club hitting was overturned on just 50 percent of calls, and catchers were the most successful at 56 percent of calls overturned. Pitchers’ challengers were overturned on just 41 percent of calls.

With a full spring training use of the ABS in the books and reviewed by players and officials within the MLB, commissioner Manfred will now propose to implement the system into games officially in 2026.

Should the system be approved for use, Manfred said human umpires will still make the majority of ball-strike calls themselves as they did in spring training and that the ABS system would be used just as it was in spring, with teams starting each game with two challenges they could use to challenge calls.

“I do think we’re going to pursue the possibility of changing that process, and we’ll see what comes at the end of that,” said Manfred. He noted that teams appear to be overall positive about ABS and that implementing it could diffuse players, coaches, etc. sending him emails to complain about balls, strikes, and umpires’ calls.

Kevin Slowey, the MLBPA managing director, noted that as they always have in the past, “players will review any proposed rule changes and provide their feedback and on-field experiences through the competition committee.”

Manfred noted that his biggest concern is implementing the system in a way the players will accept. The biggest note on the ABS system is that it is not a human making the calls, thus tightening or widening the strike zone on certain pitch counts, which will likely be different from that of a human umpire’s strike zone.

In years past and throughout history, it has not been uncommon for the league and the players’ association to disagree on rules or policy changes, and we have also seen lockouts and delayed seasons as a result of disagreements between the committees. With that, Manfred is making sure this is a completely transparent process that everyone agrees upon the implementation of before proceeding forward.

“I want them [the players] to feel like we respected the committee process and that there was a full airing of concerns about the system, and an attempt to address those concerns before we go forward,” said Manfred.

Along with the implementation of the ABS system, MLB is also testing a check-swing review system in the minor leagues this season. It likely won’t make its way to spring training games next year, as Manfred wants the focus to be on the ABS system and getting used to that. However, the ABS system was first used in the minor leagues, so it is likely that should that continue to go well in the minor leagues, it could be coming to spring training in the years to come, as the ABS system did.

toronto is one game out of first place!

rays - 1 1/2

red sox - 4 1/2

oh my my what if, just what if the yankees get bounced out of the playoffs??????

day-oh!