It was hypothesized that athletes high in forgiveness of others would perform better at baseball, show less performance deficits between preseason and midseason, score lower in total mood disturbance, and show a greater similarity of their self-performance ratings to the performance ratings ascribed to them by their head coaches than would players low in forgiveness of others.

In general, the hypotheses were not supported by the data. In addition, the data did not indicate that a player's forgiveness of others was associated with the player perceiving the head coach as treating him fairly. Forgiveness of others was neither associated with the level of hurt nor the amount of time since the hurtful incident.

This study explored the relationship of forgiving with athletic performance and mood state. Players and head coaches from two Virginia college baseball teams participated in the study: 30 players from an academically acclaimed Division I school and 21 players from a Division III technical college. Almost all of the players self-identified their race as white. Players completed a personality instrument, a forgiveness inventory, and rated their athletic performance in comparison to others on their team and to their own expectations at preseason and midseason. The two head coaches also rated each player's performance at both of these times.

The data for Division I and Division III athletes differed greatly. Without exception, including all preseason and midseason performance variables, there was a greater negative association between forgiveness of others and athletic performance variables for Division III players than for Division I players. It is suggested that the Division I and Division III players who participated in this study may have had different developmental experiences relating to their perceptions of the benefits of forgiveness.