|
I say no. He admitted to being in on the fix. And while it's clear he was manipulated into the situation and so on it is still clear that he was involved in a major way. At the very least he didn't try to stop it in any way, and by going along with it encouraged others to be in on the fix (same as Bucky Weaver, by not being clearly against it in front of the other players, they made it easier for the other players to be in on the fix). The whole fix seemed to be on such shakey ground in terms of the players actually going through with it that if either Jackson or Weaver mounted much of a protest against it, it is likely that the fix would have fallen through.
Then there's the whole matter of the team throwing games in the next season. So even if Jackson didn't intentionally throw the World Series and just accepted the money, it looks like he was throwing games the next season as the gamblers essentially blackmailed them.
It really seems clear cut to me in both terms of not being in the HOF as well as being reinstated. If you are banned from baseball then no HOF induction for you. And I rally don't think there has been enough reason given to reinstate him. The whole defense of him not knowing what he was doing, or he was pressured into it, and he had good reasons to do it don't really fly in my mind. He still participated in the fix, which is more than enough for me to keep him banned.
I mean really his actions helped lead to one of the biggest scandals in baseball, nearly killed professional baseball and his banning helped save baseball. How can a person, whose banning arguably saved baseball, be reinstated?
|