Major League Baseball career hits leader Peter Rose has reportedly signed a collection of "confession balls."
According to the New York Daily News, Rose, who was banished from the sport for gambling on games, signed the inscription "I'm sorry I bet on baseball", on the balls which are expected to become collectors' items.
The former Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies star was banished from the sport in 1989 by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti for betting on baseball games while with the Reds. Rose, who applied for reinstatement in 1997, spent nearly 15 years denying he bet on baseball until a confession in a 2004 autobiography.
The controversy, sparking concerns over game fixing and the integrity of the sport, has kept Rose from what would otherwise have been a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Now he has inked his confession to collectors item balls and a New Jersey auction house told the News it plans to sell 30 of the baseballs.
Rob Lifson, president of Robert Edward Auctions, told the newspaper the "confession balls" will sell for 1,000 dollars each, far more than the usual 25 to 50 dollars for a ball autographed by Rose.
Rose's agent, Warren Greene, told Sports Collectors Digest that Rose indeed did sign the balls, the Daily News reported.
"Pete told me he signed a couple of dozen as a favor to the guys in Cooperstown," Greene told the Digest, according to the News.
According to the New York Daily News, Rose, who was banished from the sport for gambling on games, signed the inscription "I'm sorry I bet on baseball", on the balls which are expected to become collectors' items.
The former Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies star was banished from the sport in 1989 by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti for betting on baseball games while with the Reds. Rose, who applied for reinstatement in 1997, spent nearly 15 years denying he bet on baseball until a confession in a 2004 autobiography.
The controversy, sparking concerns over game fixing and the integrity of the sport, has kept Rose from what would otherwise have been a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Now he has inked his confession to collectors item balls and a New Jersey auction house told the News it plans to sell 30 of the baseballs.
Rob Lifson, president of Robert Edward Auctions, told the newspaper the "confession balls" will sell for 1,000 dollars each, far more than the usual 25 to 50 dollars for a ball autographed by Rose.
Rose's agent, Warren Greene, told Sports Collectors Digest that Rose indeed did sign the balls, the Daily News reported.
"Pete told me he signed a couple of dozen as a favor to the guys in Cooperstown," Greene told the Digest, according to the News.
