APOLOGIZING
AT A COST

Topics: Apology; Confession; Foolishness; Greed; Human Nature; Hypocrisy; Reconciliation; Repentance; Self-centeredness; Sports

References: Psalm 32:5; 62:10; Proverbs 22:1; Joel 2:12–13; Acts 3:19; Hebrews 10:22; 1 John 1:8–10

Pete Rose has finally admitted that he bet on baseball games while employed as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, an infraction that produced a lifetime ban from the sport in 1989. Rose’s admission of guilt in his autobiography in 2004 came after almost fifteen years of denying wrongdoing.

He has not stopped confessing. In September 2006, Rose began using his website to personally apologize to each fan he had failed or offended. For only $299 (plus $4.95 for shipping and handling), Pete Rose will send you an autographed baseball that reads, “I’m sorry I bet on baseball.”

The marketing copy on the website says: “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.”

—Associated Press, “Rose Says ‘Sorry,’ but It’ll Cost You,” Houston Chronicle (September 20, 2006)