Eye On Illinois: When muddied waters help the powerful keep distance from responsibility

Has the corner turned for “Shoeless” Joe Jackson?

Certain longtime readers may remember “Infield Chatter,” the weekly baseball column I penned for The Times sports section from 2016-2020. Others will note how frequently “Eye On Illinois” pieces reference my umpiring or youth coaching experience.

So please bear with me for a reflection on Tuesday’s news of Major League Baseball removing 17 players from the permanently ineligible list, a list that includes eight members of the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox. That inevitably ignited a conversation about which of the reinstated players might earn posthumous induction into the Hall of Fame.

Processing the debate I couldn’t shake an inevitable comparison to the interplay of local, state and federal governments, with various voting bodies, jurisdictions, executive orders and just enough distance between all those circles for dozens of influential people to renounce responsibility.

As I wrote in my first and last HOF column in 2016, the Hall is not an official arm of MLB. High-profile inductions are the responsibility of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, which also operates in close conjunction with, but ultimately independent of, MLB. The Veterans Committee has subcommittees to consider inductees from different eras.

All of which is to say the Hall is a little bit like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” – everything’s made up and the points don’t matter. The Hall is whatever who manages to wield the most influence at the time wants it to be, until the tide shifts and a different party decides it’s actually something else.

Some commentators parse distinctions between the Hall as an entire museum – one that does tell the story of the betting scandal that elected Shoeless Joe to mythic status, along with other unsavory chapters of the sport’s past – and the actual enshrinement and bronze plaques.

Owner-hired MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred essentially issued an executive order taking a new policy position that “a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game.” A counterargument might note MLB routinely elevates the deceased for its own aggrandizement, so perhaps posthumous attention on avarice could likewise be detrimental. But the chief executive wasn’t concerned with differing opinions.

Most baseball fans don’t care how someone earns HOF induction. Many taxpayers aren’t attuned to the intricacies of which government gets their money: sales, property and income tax, usage, service and registration fees, highway tolls and so forth, which is why people complain to the village about the interstate on-ramp or expect Congress to regulate their school library.

Politicians honest about what they can and can’t change and accountable for exercising power are rare. The same is true in the sports world, albeit with far less significant consequences.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.