GEOFF BENNETT: All right, some big# news in the baseball world tonight.

After previously being banned, the late# Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson are## now eligible to be inducted into# baseball's Hall of Fame.

That's## after being reinstated by Major League# Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred.

The two players were both tainted by scandal.# In a memoir, Rose admitted to betting on games,## including those he managed, while Jackson# and seven other teammates were banned for## allegedly fixing the World Series back# in 1919, dubbing the team the Black Sox.

For a closer look, we're joined# now by Howard Bryant of ESPN.

Howard, it's always great to# see you.

So for the unfamiliar,## let's start with a little bit of a history# lesson.

Remind us why Pete Rose and# Shoeless Joe were until today unable# to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

HOWARD BRYANT, ESPN: Well, the reason is because# they were put on the ineligible list by Major## League Baseball, which essentially# means that once you're on that list,## it means you are ineligible from being voted# on by the writers for the Hall of Fame or being## considered by the Veterans Committee, which# are the two ways to be inducted into the Hall.

And, in 1991, when Pete Rose has -- was banned,## this rule was put into place because he was# so popular that the idea was that baseball## believed that the voters were going to vote# for him anyway.

So Joe Jackson had been## voted on for the Hall a couple of times# back in the '30s, but -- in 1936, 1937.

But the ineligible list has been going# on since 1991.

And ever since then,## Rose has not even been allowed to be# voted on.

So today is a day where he will## have an opportunity in two years to be inducted.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the baseball commissioner in# his statement said that he had spoken to President## Trump about this.

Trump had been a staunch# supporter of Rose's and his induction into the## Hall of Fame.

Why now?

Why this decision now?

HOWARD BRYANT: I think it's a total capitulation,## to be honest.

I think it's# another example where the## president has pushed his thoughts on an# institution, and the institution caved.

And I don't think there's any other way to put it.# Why now?

What is -- Pete Rose has been out of the## game for a very long time?

Rob Manfred has been# commissioner for a dozen years now, for more than## a decade.

If you were going to do, this was the --# this could have been done many, many times before.

And, of course, there's the other piece of# it, which is just the pure meanness of it,## which was Pete Rose died in October.

And after# he's dead, now you put him in the Hall of Fame,## which has happened before.

Leo Durocher was# one of the most disliked people in baseball,## and he was never allowed to be inducted# into the Hall of Fame while he was alive.## Three years after he dies, he# gets inducted into the Hall.

So there's a vindictiveness# that went on there too,## but also I think it was a complete# capitulation to the president.

GEOFF BENNETT: Apart from the timing,# there are people who say that there is## a compelling reason for Pete Rose# to be in the Hall of Fame.

He was## baseball's all-time hits leader, 17-time# All-Star, three-time World Series champion.

Our team spoke with his biographer,# Keith O'Brien.

Here's what he had to say.

KEITH O'BRIEN, Author, "Charlie Hustle": Fans# of long believed that Pete Rose served his## time.

He paid his dues.

He apologized.# He's now dead.

Why not reinstate him?

And, secondly, he is objectively one of the# greatest baseball players of the 20th century,## certainly one of the most iconic.

You simply# cannot tell the story of baseball in the## latter half of the 20th century without# Pete Rose.

He is square in the moment.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about that?

You# can't tell the story of baseball,## modern baseball, without Pete# Rose and he should be recognized?

HOWARD BRYANT: Yes, I think it's ridiculous.

I# think it makes no sense at all.

And the reason## it makes no sense is because we have told# the story of Pete Rose.

Pete Rose has not## been erased by baseball.

Pete Rose has been# everywhere.

Pete Rose had been brought back.## He had been on the national broadcast.# Everywhere you went, there was Pete Rose.

Pete Rose is in the national conversation and# has been for 35 years.

The only thing Pete Rose## didn't get was total victory.

He didn't get a# plaque in the Hall of Fame.

Why didn't he get## a plaque in the Hall of Fame?

Because Pete Rose# bet on the game.

Pete Rose did the one thing## in baseball that every person in baseball# has known for 100 years that you cannot do.

And even in the case of Joe Jackson# and Happy Felsch and the Black Sox,## that, even with those guys, they were acquitted.# Then they were banned by the new commissioner,## Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

And then, over the# course of the last 50 years or so, there has## been at least some scholarship that suggests that# Joe Jackson was manipulated, that Joe Jackson was## illiterate, that there was some case that he# was sort of -- he was duped into what he did.

And he also played very, very well.

There wasn't# a great deal of evidence that he threw the 1919## World Series.

With Pete Rose, there's no argument# to what he did.

It's the most open-and-shut case## in baseball.

The only issue is, is that Pete# Rose got into the Hall, or he's going to get## into the Hall because people wanted it that# way.

Whatever happened to accountability?

You break the law, that's what happens.

GEOFF BENNETT: Howard Bryant of# ESPN, thanks again for joining us.

HOWARD BRYANT: Thank you.