NOTE:The Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred cleared Joe Jackson's name from MLB's Ineligible List on May 13, 2025, thereby making him eligible for consideration for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We are leaving this original document from 1995 on our site for historical purposes.

Please see the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Eras Committee Rules For Election. You will notice Rule 3.e, which states "Any player on Baseball's ineligible list shall not be an eligible candidate". Major League Baseball doesn't keep a list, nor do they continue to punish deceased ball players. Based on this, Rule 3.e should not apply to Joe Jackson and therefore he should be considered for induction.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame web site goes on to say the following:

Shoeless Joe Jackson was placed on Major League Baseball's ineligible list in 1920 by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. In order for Jackson to be eligible for the Hall of Fame, the following criteria must be met: (Again, Jackson is on no list kept by Major League Baseball and is not being punished by them, so he should be eligible for consideration for induction.

• Since he is deceased, Jackson's estate must apply to the office of the Commissioner for reinstatement to Major League Baseball.
• Should Jackson's estate apply for reinstatement and regain his eligibility, he would then be a viable candidate for consideration by the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans. (Qualifying Eligibility: Pre-1945 Major League players who competed in any portion of at least ten (10) championship seasons and who have been retired as players for at least twenty-three (23) years.)" Based on Major League Baseball rules, Jackson is deceased and is not on any ineligible list. Major League Baseball does not designate any deceased player as ineligible. It might be noted that there are several Hall of Famers that were at one time or another deemed ineligible.

Furthermore,

1.) Kenesaw Mountain Landis did not come into power until 1921. He did not effectively place Jackson and the others on the Ineligible List until August of 1921. To the best of our knowledge, Joe has never been formally put on any list, because an Ineligible List in the physical sense, does not exist. Joe was effectively put on "the list" when Landis issued his two paragraph ruling that ban the men from ever playing professional baseball.

2.) The Hall statement says Joe's estate must apply for reinstatement. That's simply not true, any person acting on behalf of Joe Jackson can apply to the Hall of Fame to have Jackson's name placed on a ballot (of course, before that can happen, we have to get them to admit that Jackson is eligible for induction based on the fact that he is not on any MLB ineligible list and is not longer being punished by them. It does not require the action of someone representing his estate in order to be acted upon.

3.) Since Joe is not on an ineligible list, he doesn't need to be reinstated into the good graces of Major League Baseball in order for him to be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame. This is simply a ploy by the Hall of Fame to pass the buck back to Major League Baseball so they won't have to deal with folks like us asking them to place Jackson's name on the ballot. As stated above, but worth mentioning again, there are several Hall of Famers that were at one time or another deemed ineligible.

4.) The rules for election above, have changed since we originally posted them in 1995. Please see Rule C on the Eras Committee Rules For Election page for the updated rules for election.

Jackson's baseball shoes, one of his bats, and a pocket watch from 1919 are among the artifacts currently on exhibit in the Museum.

Last updated: Thursday November 5, 2026 at 3:45:00 PM