On August 24, 1989, A. Bartlett Giamatti, the Major League Baseball Commissioner at the time, banned Rose from the game amid allegations that Rose had bet on Cincinnati Reds games, while managing the team, between 1986-1989.

One week after the banishment, Commissioner Giamatti died of a heart attack.

In 2004, after 15 years of public denial, Rose admitted to betting on, but not against, the Reds.

This baseball is quite special. It’s signed by Commissioner Giamatti (on a “Giamatti” ball, no less) and by Rose, who also wrote on the ball: "I'm sorry I bet on baseball."

It’s perhaps the only time that Rose “apologized” to Giamatti for the black mark that he put on the game.

Imagine if a baseball existed in which “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who was banned from baseball by Commissioner Kenesaw “Mountain” Landis for taking money to throw the 1919 World Series, apologized on a ball that had also been signed by Landis!

While Rose, in recent years, has written this “apology” on many baseballs, this apology is the only one that is both on a “Giamatti” ball and contains Giamatti's signature.