Pete Rose was one of the greatest players in baseball
history. He holds many all-time major league records,
the most prominent being his 4256 career in a 23-year
career (1963-1986) in which he was an All-Star 17 times.
On August 24, 1989, A. Bartlett Giamatti, the commissioner
of Major League Baseball at the time, banned Pete Rose
from the game amid allegations that Rose bet on Cincinnati
Reds games, while managing that team, from 1986-1989.
One week after the banishment, commissioner Giamatti died
of a heart attack.
After 15 years of public denial, in 2004, 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 Pete Rose who also wrote on the ball: "I'm sorry
I bet on baseball."
It’s perhaps the only time that Rose “apologized”
to Dr. Giamatti for the black mark he put on the game.
Imagine if a baseball existed in which “Shoeless”
Joe Jackson (banned from Baseball by commissioner Kenesaw
“Mountain” Landis for taking money to throw
the 1919 World Series) apologized on the ball that had
also been signed by Landis!
While Pete Rose, in recent years, has written this “apology”
on baseballs, this is the only one on a “Giamatti”
ball, with Dr. Giamatti having also signed it.
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