Winter Auction 2015 closing February 7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/8/2015
Forever linked in infamy, baseball’s number one persona non grata and the former Commissioner who gave him the boot, the tale of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti is a modern parable that continues to evoke strong opinions on either side of the issue. Rose’s supporters continue to call for an end to his banishment from the game while those in agreement with the former commissioner say the punishment fits the crime. Giamatti died of a heart attack at the age of 51, just eight days after issuing Rose his lifetime ban from the game, Rose has continually lobbied for reinstatement ever since and has existed in a state of limbo on the fringes of the game he loves, showing up in Cooperstown to pose for pictures and sign autographs for his fans and admirers during the Hall of Fame induction weekend, trying his hand at commercials and a reality television series and serving as an honorary coach for an independent minor league team. Major League Baseball will be granting Rose and exemption from his suspension to participate in this year’s All-Star game festivities in Cincinnati. As for Giamatti he may be remembered more as baseball’s greatest poet laureate than he will be as the man who banned the “Hit King” from the game.
Both Rose and Giamatti’s signatures appear on this check #14192 (Rose broke Ty Cobb’s career hit mark with number 4,192 on Septmber 11, 1985 although Cobb’s total was later adjusted by historians to 4,189). The check is dated July 10, 1987 and written from the account of The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs to former St’ Louis Cardinals trainer Gene Gieselmann in the amount of $200 and signed by Giamatti in black fine line marker and co-signed by Phyllis B. Collins on the occasion of the 1987 All-Star Game which is written in the check’s memo line. Rose signed the check in black ball point ink on the upper right hand corner close to the check’s coincidental number; comes with PSA/DNA authentication #83436412.