Posted By:
warshawlaw1. Joe Jackson took the money to throw the series; and
2. Joe Jackson knew it was wrong when he did it.
Whether it was more wrong than the other wrongs cited is not relevant, just as it is no defense to a traffic ticket for speeding to claim that everyone else was speeding too. All we are really debating is Jackson's competence level as a crook, not whether or not he did something crooked.
Quite apart from the question of whether he took a bribe to throw the world series (he did it and he admitted to doing it) is whether his sanction for having done so should extend to being ineligible for an honor that did not exist at the time he was "convicted". If we were dealing in laws, the answer would be "no"; we don't allow new punishments to be created after the fact for crimes done before the punishments were enacted. If we did, Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan would have been gassed years ago. Personally, I'd make him eligible and let the voters decide, not because I don't think he is a crook but because the penalty being imposed on him did not exist at the time of his wrongful conduct.