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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on October 30, 2013 at 8:23am

open "d" is the 99% fake give away for Teddy Ballgame. Also the open "a" on Ryan's sample is the DEAD GIVEAWAY. The Aaron is embarrassing. The Mantle is Putrid....Once again Dead Giveaway. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFZ1Sy6VWNM&feature=share

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Permalink Reply by Erich Jerozal on October 30, 2013 at 8:32am

we eat ribs with this dude...funny

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on October 30, 2013 at 4:03pm

I have to give Jim D. a ton of credit.

He's owned this ball for 15 years and came on here to get an honest opinion.  In other words, he wanted to know what he's owned for the past 15 years.  It has to hurt to know that you've owned that for 15 years and to accept the fact that it's worthless.

I hope you make sure it doesn't get passed on to anyone else.

Good luck, Jim.

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Permalink Reply by Null on October 30, 2013 at 4:14pm

Agreed, Jim I can personally guarantee if you ever need my help finding an authentic piece I will help you out.

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Permalink Reply by Jim D on October 30, 2013 at 6:42pm

Thank guys.  Appreciate the help.  Here is the deal.  Before I posted this I knew the Mantle was bad.  It had come back from PSA as No Pass.  The pic in the letter showed only the Mantle.  Due to the confusing letter and even more confusing convo with PSA rep I came here to see about the others as I thought they were good esp the Williams.  After coming on here about ten weeks ago I had a bad feeling about the Mantle after reading a bunch of info you guys post. So I sent it in.  Wish I would have just posted it here and saved a hundred bucks.  So here is the rest of the story.

I did purchase the ball about 15 years ago.  I bought it from a local store that is very reputable.  The reason I purchased it was because the owner was confident that it was good.  It had come from a customer he trusted.  I also purchased a single signed Dimaggio ball that came back good from PSA.  Both balls came from the same customer.  Luckily, most of the other stuff I have is in person.  It does sting and has me questioning anything I do have by other means, which is frustrating just sitting here looking at it.   Now, this store is still in business.  I know they are struggling as the hobby has changed so much.  They do very little online biz.  So here's the big question.  Do I return the ball to them?  I paid $500 for it back then.  Also, no, I would never pass this on to someone else.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on October 30, 2013 at 6:46pm

Tough question, Jim.  I'll tell you why.

I hope you get your money refunded, but then comes the risk that the store will sell it to someone else.

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Permalink Reply by Randy on October 30, 2013 at 7:21pm

Jim,

I would show them the rejection letter from PSA/DNA and see what they say. Maybe if they have any authenticated items that you like they would be willing to trade you items they have in their inventory against the $500 purchase price. That would not hit them in the pocket book quite as bad as just refunding $500 from a 15 year old transaction.

Obviously, 15 years ago there were no 3rd party authenticators and items like this were sold in good faith by the card shops. They had no way to know the items were bad. I purchased about $4000 of bad autographs in that same time frame that I found out years later were bad and I just had to eat them as they came from multiple sources at shows, shops, and flea markets. It was a tough lesson learned but it forced me to become diligent going forward.

I'm sure if you have been a regular customer of that shop for 15 years they will probably want to work with you. Maybe even agree to split the loss with them since it is asking a lot to get a refund 15 years after the sale and at this point in time anything you can recoup would be a win. 

Good luck in your pursuit however you choose to go about it.

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Permalink Reply by Jim D on October 30, 2013 at 7:28pm

Thanks Randy.  I was thinking along the same lines.  What kind of autos did you have to throw away if you don't mind me asking?  I'll have to get some pics up here of the items I do have.  You guys seem to know your stuff.   

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Permalink Reply by Randy on October 30, 2013 at 7:55pm

I too have a bad 500 home run baseball. Of course, it had an official looking LOA and even a hologram but as I studied legitimate autographs in later years I knew it was bad.

Most of the bad ones I purchased were Mantles and Dimaggios but I also got a bad Lou Gehrig with a forensic document. All of these items are in my attic. I'll try to pull them out of the cobwebs and post some pictures. I was a complete beginner who trusted the LOAs that were provided.

Unfortunately, for me, autographs haven't been my only big loss. About 12 years ago I purchased a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle off Ebay for $4000 from a 13,000+ feedback seller out of Canada who had been on Ebay since the inception. I never got the card and Ebay did nothing to help me. It was before the days of Paypal and there was no real recourse.

The seller did communicate with me for over a year and promised to refund my money but never did. He had been a legitimate dealer in Canada for years but got in financial trouble and started scamming near the end of his run. He did business under the name Crazy Canuck and I was lucky he only got me for $4000. He got a couple of guys in Florida for about $100,000 each. He did eventually go to jail in Canada for a period of time which gave me some satisfaction but no money.

That cannot happen on Ebay under their current system with Paypal which most people don't realize Ebay owns but it does protect the buyer in virtually all instances including forgeries.

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on October 30, 2013 at 8:17pm

that's sickening Randy. I purchased a 1952 Mantle for $150.00 in 1975 from the Sports Hobbiest? I think it was called. Saved up all summer and my dad told me I was an idiot when he wrote out the check..... (most people probably believe he was right in any case, even way back then) They sent me a 1955 Koufax, a 1956 Campanella and a 1956 Warren Spahn with a $50.00 credit Memo! Pales in comparison to your pounding though.

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Permalink Reply by Randy on October 30, 2013 at 8:26pm

Yeah, $150 in 1975 was a ton of money for a baseball card.

I just googled the guy and he actually never went to jail, just got house arrest and was supposed to repay the victims. I lost track of him but I think I may have just found him and will start working on getting that $4K back. To be honest, it had been so long I had just about forgotten about it. I doubt if I ever recoup anything but I will be giving him a hard time if this is indeed the right guy.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Peter Lougheed on October 30, 2013 at 10:09pm

Hi, Randy. The guy's name is Jason Bobbitt. He used to live and run Crazy Canuck here in the city I live in. He now lives in BC and is selling sports stuff again. He is a total scam artist....he ripped a whole lot of people off and really didn't get punished sufficiently for what he has done. There are many people here on the east coast on the lookout for him.

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