Authenticity is Everything
Babe Ruth secretarial (Sinclair) eBay-listed as real - ok'd by AMA (again!) - $9500 !!
This is a travesty. EBay seller papamino is offering for sale a Babe Ruth signed baseball for $9500. The problem is that this baseball wasn't signed by Babe Ruth. It's listed as a 1935 ball. However, it appears to me to be one of the 1937 Babe Ruth Baseball Contest balls that were awarded as prizes by Sinclair Oil. None of these balls were actually signed by Babe Ruth, although recipients at the time thought they were. They were ghost-signed, though non-maliciously.
The signature, to me, really looks like a Sinclair ball. Plus, it's a Ford Frick baseball, which is what the Sinclair balls were. The seller, though, is careful not to give us a look at the side that would say, "Babe Ruth Baseball Contest".
And finally, guess who authenticated it as genuine? None other than the Academy of Manuscript and Autograph. What a joke they are! Have they started working for Coaches Corner yet? If not, just give them time. That would be a marriage made in hell. If you're not familiar with AMA, just do a search. AMA was recently a part of a discussion about another terrible Babe Ruth fake that they passed off as real and could have cost someone $10,000! There are some pics of below. If you want to see fraud in action, here is a link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1935-Babe-Ruth-single-signed-game-ball-AMA-...
The signature, to me, really looks like a Sinclair ball. Plus, it's a Ford Frick baseball, which is what the Sinclair balls were. The seller, though, is careful not to give us a look at the side that would say, "Babe Ruth Baseball Contest".
And finally, guess who authenticated it as genuine? None other than the Academy of Manuscript and Autograph. What a joke they are! Have they started working for Coaches Corner yet? If not, just give them time. That would be a marriage made in hell. If you're not familiar with AMA, just do a search. AMA was recently a part of a discussion about another terrible Babe Ruth fake that they passed off as real and could have cost someone $10,000! There are some pics of below. If you want to see fraud in action, here is a link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1935-Babe-Ruth-single-signed-game-ball-AMA-...
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on
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so it looks like this forger decided to choose a Sinclair Oil secretarial signed baseball as his model......brilliant.
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Permalink Reply by James To terrier8HOF on
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Pretty shady, huh?
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Permalink Reply by Null on
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My LCS had one of these for $350 and you could tell immediately it was a secretarial (and was labeled as such)... It sold very quickly. I guess these have some collectible value.
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Yes, they do have value, and $350 is about right for one of them. They're still a Babe Ruth collectible from 1937, and they were authorized by Ruth, and the balls say "Babe Ruth Baseball Contest". So they are historical. I personally think they're kind of cool, but it's too bad every now and then someone tries to pass one off as a real Ruth. And then a shady authenticator like AMA gets involved.
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