November Catalog Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/18/2012
On the morning of August 24, 1989, Major League Baseball Commissioner A Bartlett Giamatti made an announcement that shook the sports world. The Major League Hit King, Pete Rose, is banned from Baseball for life.
"One of the game's greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts," Giamatti announced to reporters who had gathered for a press conference.
The allegations of gambling on baseball began earlier that year. Pete Rose has always been known as a fan of the ponies, and that he would often gamble on the outcome of horse races, but it was unthinkable that he would have bet on baseball, especially on his own team. Pete Rose was a man who loved the game and played his entire career as if he was eternally 18 years old. There is a reason he was called "Charlie Hustle". However a mountain of evidence was gathered by the Special Council to the Commissioner John Dowd to prove conclusively that Rose had indeed bet on baseball. The evidence included betting slips made out in Rose's own hand, along with depositions, documents, reports, transcripts and other materials provided by those with intimate knowledge of his betting history.
The night before Giamatti's press conference, Rose had signed a document (the one offered in this lot) stating that he would neither admit or deny he had gambled on baseball, that he would be banned from the game for life, but that he would be given the opportunity to apply for reinstatement once a year for as long as he lived. Rose has applied for reinstatement several times however he has been rejected by both commissioners Fay Vincent and Bud Selig.
Bart Giamatti died only eight days after banning Rose.
After years of denial, Rose admitted that everything the Dowd Report contained was the truth.
We at Goldin Auctions believe that the Banning of Pete Rose was the most significant event in the sport of Baseball in the past 50 years, and that this is arguably the most important baseball document to be offered for public sale. When one grasps the fact that this is the document where Pete Rose, the all time hit king, the man who loved the game and played harder then anyone before or since, voluntarily accepted a lifetime ban from the game, you will understand why we recognize this significance. The document is five pages including the signature page number 5. While the document states that “nothing in this agreement shall be deemed either an admission or a denial by Peter Edward Rose of the allegation that he bet on any Major League Baseball game,” it also says that Rose “acknowledges that the Commissioner has a factual basis to impose the penalty provided herein.”
The offered document was Pete Rose's personal copy and comes with a letter stating such from Pete Rose. It is signed by Commissioner Bart Giamatti, future Commissioner Fay Vincent, Pete Rose and Rose's attorney. Document is dated August 23,1989. All signatures are in mint condition. The Rose Banishment document as well the Rose LOA have been authenticated by PSA/DNA and each come with their own full letter of Authenticity from PSA/DNA. Along with the Babe Ruth Sale document which sold for $996,000 in 1995, we believe this is one of the two most important documents of baseball history ever to hit the market.
This lot has a Reserve Price that has not been met.