Skip navigation
Site powered by
Latest news:
msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines: Arab League wants UN peacekeepers in Syria

Rose now marketing ‘I’m sorry’ baseballs

Hit king selling apologetic memorabilia for ‘fantastic price’

Image: Pete RoseAP file
Pete Rose accepted a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989.

CINCINNATI - For the right price, Pete Rose is willing to write on a baseball that he’s sorry.

The hits king unveiled his latest marketing venture Wednesday on his Web site. For $299, plus $4.99 shipping and handling, fans can order a baseball inscribed “I’m sorry I bet on baseball” along with Rose’s autograph.

The offering came two days after an auction house confirmed that 30 baseballs inscribed the same way would be available for bid next April.

“Now you can get the baseball collectible everyone’s talking about — Pete Rose’s personal apology for betting on baseball, newly inscribed on an actual baseball — at a fantastic price,” the Web site says.

Rose’s business agent, Warren Greene, didn’t return a phone call to discuss the hit king’s change of heart.

On Monday, Greene told The Associated Press that Rose had inscribed baseballs with the apology for some of his collector friends about a year ago. Greene said that Rose never intended for the balls to be sold publicly.

One of the collectors gave 30 of the balls to a friend, Barry Halper, according to Greene. Halper, a limited partner in the New York Yankees, died last December, and his family is selling his sports memorabilia through Robert Edward Auctions. The collection includes the 30 apology baseballs.

The New York Daily News first reported the auction on Monday.

Greene later told the AP that if some of the balls were going to be made available at auction, Rose might consider signing more of them.

Field of Dreams stores also are selling the baseballs at stores nationwide. Rose also offered to inscribe “I’m sorry” on baseballs during his autograph appearances at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Slideshow
Image: Snee, 8, son of New York Giants player Chris Snee and head coach Coughlin's grandson plays in the confetti after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis
  The Week in Sports Pictures
The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more.

more photos

Rose accepted a lifetime ban for gambling in 1989, but denied for nearly 15 years that he bet on baseball. He finally acknowledged in his latest autobiography, published in January 2004, that he made baseball wagers while he managed the Cincinnati Reds.

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement
More news
Milwaukee Brewers v St. Louis Cardinals - Game Four
NBC Sports
Who made the better move?

SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?

Image: Detroit Tigers v Los Angeles Dodgers
Getty Images
DeMarco: Dodgers can become power

DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.

Interactive
Rangers Spring Baseball
Maps to spring training sites
Your guide to sites in Arizona, Florida
Slideshow
Houston Astros
  Unbreakable records in baseball
A look at the most unbreakable records in baseball including Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters.
Slideshow
Image: Albert Pujols
  The top tools of baseball
You hear a lot about the tools of baseball, but who are the best hitters, fielders and pitchers? We break it down.

more photos