On May 13, 2025, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred released a landmark ruling, regarding deceased players on the permanently ineligible list. The ruling officially opens the door for those to be induced into the Baseball Hall of Fame, as those names have been removed.

In a press release, Rob Manfred announced a formal ruling on the matter, as no MLB commissioner did so beforehand. Manfred announced that upon one’s passing, any player on the permanent ineligible list will be removed from the list.

Perhaps the most well-known on the list was Pete Rose, banned from Major League Baseball in 1989 by then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti. As part of a settlement with the league, Rose voluntarily removed himself from eligibility after gambling on baseball while in an official capacity with the Reds.

However, other players, including the infamous “Black Sox” from 1919 were on the list, as well. Among the names included Buck Weaver, famed pitcher Eddie Cicotte, and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.

Jackson’s family previously petitioned baseball to reinstate him in the past. Giamatti refused to in 1989, and Manfred himself denied a separate petition in 2015. Manfred stated “I agree with [Giamatti’s] determination and conclude that it would not be appropriate for me to reopen this matter.”

The full list of reinstated individuals are as follows:

• Eddie Cicotte
• Happy Felsch
• Chick Gandil
• Joe Jackson
• Fred McMullin
• Swede Risberg
• Buck Weaver
• Lefty Williams
• Joe Gedeon
• Gene Paulette
• Benny Kauff
• Lee Magee
• Phil Douglas
• Cozy Dolan
• Jimmy O’Connell
• William Cox
• Pete Rose

All are players aside from William Cox, the former owner of the Philadelphia Phillies. Cox was banned by Commissioner Landis for betting on games while owner of the Phillies.

Other notables include ex-Giants players Cozy Dolan and Jimmy O’Connell, both banned after O’Connell offered a Phillies player to throw games amid a pennant push by New York in 1924.

It is, however, important to note Rose and the rest of the names removed from the list will not be immediately eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. The body that runs the Hall of Fame will consider the names through the Historical Overview Committee, before potentially being put to vote in December 2027.

However, this decision does open the door for Rose and the others to get in. When Rose was banned from MLB, the Baseball Hall of Fame did not have a ruling on permanently ineligible players, something Giamatti cited in 1989.

But in 1991, the body decided permanently ineligible MLB personnel would be ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame.