He didn't deserve to have his life ruined for trying to field a baseball in 2003, but you didn't get to decide that either. This is a mostly private way for the Cubs to make a restitution, and it didn't prevent the team from any baseball operations. It's a marketing move, and though it's a weird thing to do, it's been a weird thing for 15 years, so it's a form of closure for everyone involved. Make up your mind. Is it a mostly private gesture or a marketing move? It can't be both. Actually, it can and is; it's a public gesture by the organization to basically say, "we're sorry for everything you went through" and it's private for Bartman in that he doesn't have to be paraded out for some kind of ceremony. It's win-win for both sides that way.