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Mantle, Williams and DiMaggio: Authenticating Baseball Forger Favorites

 It is unquestionable that Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio have been American sports icons since the mid-20th century. It comes as no surprise that these three have been favorites of autograph collectors since the advent of autograph and card shows in the 1980’s. Unfortunately it is equally unsurprising, as attested to in the FBI’s famous 1990s Operation Bullpen, that they are also the three most forged sports autographs. Although most experts believe the forgery problem in sports memorabilia has lessoned tremendously since Operation Bullpen (estimated at that time to be “between $500,000,000 and $900,000,000” by the FBI), sadly large numbers of forged material still exist.

While it would require far more than a single article to educate the autograph collector to detect Mantle, Williams and DiMaggio forgeries, there are some general as well as specific warning keys to these three autographs that may aid in detecting possible forgeries.


Genuine Mantle, Williams & DiMaggio signed photo provided by EAC Gallery.
Click to enlarge:



 

As a general rule, one of the first things I examine in an autograph is its feel – how it was written. When an individual signs his name there should be an easy, smooth flow to the signature. We’ve all signed our names countless times, and we don’t need to think about it. An item we offered in one of our past auctions was a sheet of paper signed several times by Joe Jackson. Jackson, who was almost completely illiterate, actually had to practice, in essence work at, writing his name prior to signing documents. Likewise, when a forger writes a signature, he or she is working at it and therefore upon close examination it’s often possible to detect such warning keys as a slowness of motion, stops and starts at inappropriate spots, and possibly even a shakiness in the writing. An invaluable aid to help detect these keys, taught to me by John Reznikoff of University Archives many years ago, is to turn the autograph upside down. When you view an autograph in an unnatural position these warning keys are often easier to detect.

In addition to such general warning keys there are specific warning keys, unique to an individual’s autograph, to keep an eye out for.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s Mickey Mantle stated on numerous occasions that he was blessed to be able to earn more money signing his name at one single weekend show than his father had earned in an entire year working as a coal miner. Because of this Mantle always felt his fans were deserving of a clear, elegant signature. In authentic Mickey Mantle autographs Mickey would always end the “y” in “Mickey” on an upswing, and because he would be quickly flowing through his signature, he therefore started the “M” in “Mantle” on a higher level or plane than he had started the “M” in “Mickey”. Most forgers, because they were “working” on writing Mantle’s signature, would pause after completing “Mickey” and begin anew in writing “Mantle”, therefore placing “Mantle” on more of a straight line with “Mickey”. If one places a ruler or sheet of paper straight across the item Mantle signed (not straight across the signature) all that appears below the ruler or paper of an authentic Mantle is the bottom portion of the “M” in “Mickey”. In the case of most forgeries the ruler or paper completely covers the entire signature. Another difficulty forgers have with Mantle’s signature was his unique way of looping the bottom portion of his “M”. Such curved lines were executed in one easy movement by Mantle, but are most often elongated by forgers who again are “working” the signature. Such slow, elongated forgeries are especially easy to recognize on baseballs as their curved surfaces only add to the forger’s difficulty.

In the case of Ted Williams autographs, with the exception of the capital “W” in Williams, Ted would consistently make the size of all the letters in his last time nearly the same exact size. Most telling is the “illia”, with the “l”s just ever so slightly taller than the “i”s, and the “a” as tall as the “l”s. Try as they may, most forgers simply can’t undo years of training and habit causing their “l”s to be significantly taller than their “i”s, and their “a” significantly shorter than their “l”s. Williams also connected the “W” in “Williams” to the “ed” in “Ted” with a swirl that gave forgers difficulty in replicating in the same, easy, flowing movement as appears in authentic examples. Also of interest, in addition to the many Williams intentional forgeries in existence, Williams revealed late in his life that during his playing days his signature on team signed balls was often a “clubhouse” example, not penned by him.

Regarding Joe DiMaggio’s autograph, problems for forgers begin with the first letter in Joe. Like the “M”s in Mantle’s autograph, the “J” in “Joe”, which appears as two loops, a larger loop on top and a smaller one below, were created by curved lines which are the hardest to duplicate without leaving telltale signs of slowness or inappropriate stops and starts. In addition, DiMaggio would pen his “J”s so that the lower loop would be written on top of (literally written over) the upper loop in two places. For some inexplicable reason, a significant percentage of DiMaggio forgeries flow in the opposite direction, with the upper loop covering the lower one. An inexpensive magnifier or jeweler’s loop will aid in viewing this detail. Finally, the general feel of an authentic DiMaggio autograph is often somewhat sloppy, in the sense that the spacing between letters is uneven, obviously much more so in his second name. Again due to the fact that forgers are working rather than simply signing, the spacing they place between each letter is far more uniform.

Finally, the age-old adage “experience is the best teacher” is indeed appropriate here. The building of as extensive a library of exemplars as possible, of both authentic and fake examples, would be of help to visualize these and additional warning keys, and tremendously assist in the detection of forgeries.

Tags: authenticate, baseball, dimaggio, fame, forgeries, forgers, genuine, hall, hof, joe, More…mantle, mickey, of, ted, williams

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 7, 2012 at 5:01pm

Harry, I totally agree with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Well written.

Permalink Reply by DB on March 7, 2012 at 5:32pm

Only when calling into question the accuracy of a published book and website's illustration.

If people can't put up then they should shut-up!  It's that simple.   I have no doubt that Tom Tresh2 has SIX examples of a Greg Marino forgery (I have absolutely nada in terms of confirmation) as I have confidence that Williams has a passion for this area.  Passion is good, crusades are another story...

So If you call crap into question and knowing full well Greg Marino won't be making an appearance then the clarifacations must be made, for we the collectors deserve it so we have the facts!  And if they can't well there u go.

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 7, 2012 at 5:52pm

I really didn't want to get into this with you, DB, but now I must.   You have no idea what I do behind the scenes; things that I cannot talk about.  I do those things to help the hobby.  But you seem to think that you should have the privilege to know the information that I possess.

First of all, I possess a ton of past and present information (not knowledge) that I cannot release.  You have no idea the information that I do possess; information that I will not be pressured into revealing to anyone in public until it is appropriate and the right time.   Sometimes I get flack from another website I contribute to because I refuse to reveal that same information, but I won't be pressured into revealing anything sensitive just because you have a need to know.

There is a lot of stuff going on that I cannot write about due to a lot of reasons. 

Second, I read your comment the other day about my ACE/CSC Collectibles thread.  I found it irresponsible of you to post that information about CSC Collectibles before it was actually embedded on Ebay's website.   My thread was posted after Ebay updated the "Banned COA" list.

And as for your CSC Collectibles thread, you borrowed (I'm putting it politely) that data from Mr. Zipper's website.  Did you ask Mr. Zipper beforehand for permission to do that?  I bet you didn't.  So there was nothing original about your CSC Collectibles thread.

Let me know when you finish your first YouTube video.  Let me know when you put your face in front of the camera and confront the bad guys. 

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 7, 2012 at 5:54pm

Steve, I want you to know that I did not write my above comment to start in-fighting among us.  But some things needed to be written.

Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on March 7, 2012 at 6:04pm

I am still confused about why it is so important to decipher what TYPE of forgery we are dealing with.  The fact is, and we all agree, it IS a forgery. End of story. and by the way, thank you Chris for all you have done, and continue to do to help clean up this hobby, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 7, 2012 at 6:18pm

Terrier, I appreciate your comment and "Thank you."  I don't do what I do to win any popularity contests.  As a matter of fact, I think as many good guys dislike me as bad guys, but that's okay, it's part of the territory.

We all have a common goal here and sometimes we have to agree to disagree, and that's the way it should be. 

Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on March 8, 2012 at 5:08am

Hats off to Chris Willams once again...I would not be as educated as I am with out him...I can not stress that enough...He has pointed out thousands of fakes in his life and because of him it made me more aware of how bad the industry really is...there is no question Chris cost the sellers of fakes thousands...

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 8, 2012 at 5:11am

Cee Gee, thank you very much.  We are all making a difference here. No one one person can do it all; it takes the collective efforts of all of us to make a difference.

DB and I have our differences here, but he is an asset to this website. 

Permalink Reply by James Wymer on June 18, 2012 at 7:18am

I agree it is passion for the hobby that creates some of these arguments just like politics and religion. I am an experienced auctioneer who has recently decided to specialize in what I love to sell baseball cards and occasionally an auto. I learn a lot from these discussions. I thank everyone involved. I also tell others in the industry about these discussions as well as bidders. I have learned a ton in only a few months that would have taken years to learn without help. Thanks again.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 7, 2012 at 6:39pm

I've come to realize that the type of forgery does make a difference. Identifying when a style appeared, especially in larger quantities, can help you identify it as a forgery.

Let's take Michael Jackson: If someone has tracked them, you should be able to tell when certain suspect styles have come into the market, or when the quantities of that style increased significantly. 

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 7, 2012 at 6:01pm

Harry, that was better than your previous comment.  Love it.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 7, 2012 at 6:54pm

Ahhhh...Harry,

Because we talk a lot about authenticity here; discussions can get a little heated sometimes. Even though we'd all buy drinks for each other if we got together.

So don't hesitate to chime in. Even if some folks don't agree, you're respected for giving your opinion...whatever it is.

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