What would happen if Joe Jackson was elected into the HOF?

[Archive]

Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Agreed that Rose and Jackson cannot possibly be put in the same light: one helped throw a WS, the other bet on games (and lied about it). Jackson will never be reinstated, period, and I think we all know that. That being said, his era was a different one in which gamblers were allowed much closer proximity to players than today. Tons of players were involved in fixing games. Tons of players bet on games. Baseball wasn't the money-making machine it is today and the public wasn't as up in arms about keeping it clean as they are today (just check attendance figures from the two eras). All that being said, I don't think Joe's cards pop very much (except in the short term) if he's allowed entry into the Hall. His cache, mystique is already at an all-time high, not to be exceeded.