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Does This 1947 NY Yankees Team Ball Look Legit To You?

Howdy all...

I have another item that was found over at my late uncle's estate. This one is a 1974 NY Yankees Team Ball. A pretty old, deteriorated note stated that the ball was obtained by a man's relative who was one of the groundskeepers for the Yankees back in the day & had the ball signed by them after winning the Championship.

Would like to get the opinions of others on here for their thoughts, impute & offers should you wish to make one.

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Permalink Reply by A'lan Boyardee on October 8, 2012 at 6:42am

Thanks again for your impute!

Autographs is not something I know anything about as a collectible. I am an avid seller on Ebay, but mostly with vintage toys, trains & obscurities. I never got involved with sports memorabilia or autographs till recently when, within a week, both; a relative passed away, as well as one of my neighbors. Thus, this ball & dozens of other autographed items were inherited. In addition to my neighbor coming to me to sell some items, as she is getting ready to go into assisted living & could use the cash.

This not being my fortay, I joined this board as I heard through other forums online, this board has the most knowledgeable, nice & helpful members. So far, I'd have to agree wholeheartedly!

Once again, I truly appreciate your help & guidance (as well as Mr. Zipper & Terrier) on this ball. Being something that was inherited, coupled with having a wife & 3 daughters, selling this item & all of the rest will help knock down some costs for college & future weddings. (I hope)

Regarding the ball, knowing what I know about my uncle's other items in his estate, I would have to say that this ball is more towards "Non-Clubhouse" as a lot of items he purchased came from Christie's, Sotheby's & Morphy's. Pius, some of the local NJ area ones too. Looking at his Credit Card receipts, he paid some serious $$$ for a number of these items. (Wait till you see what else I will be posting up on here for folks to have a look/see at. Some of it is pretty cool!)

Again, thanks for your help!

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on October 8, 2012 at 11:09am

Any time Alan...myself...and my pals Zipper and Terrier collect baseball exclusively...I collect Yankees and Baseball HOF signed players myself...vintage to modern day...so if you have any other baseball signed items feel free to post them up I am sure we can give you a solid opinion...as well as my pal Christopher Williams...I would love to send you an offer on the ball...but right now unfortunately I am selling items momentarily for car repairs and just don't have the extra spending cash to burn...but I am sure you will make a nice amount on it for sure...great piece...cant wait to see the others...

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on October 8, 2012 at 7:13am

Ted Williams always maintained that the batboy could sign his name better than he could. He said people in his later years were always coming up to have him "authenticate" something he would tell them he had no idea. The practice of having someone else sign items that were sent in mail etc was common among stars and sports figures. Lou Costello often had his secretary sign requests for photographs etc.

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Permalink Reply by A'lan Boyardee on October 8, 2012 at 10:40am

Wow...that's crazy! I guess that goes to show why there are handwriting forensic experts out there to decipher what is & what isn't.

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on October 8, 2012 at 11:10am

This is true...he was one of the last of the old school to talk about club house autos...even Ruth had many things signed for him for many many years...its something that has been going on since the dawn of baseball...

As a matter of fact I asked an old Brooklyn Dodger about Charlie and his signing skills...it was a well known fact he did it...when asked about it he didn't even want to talk about it as if I let out this huge secret...even Duke Snider used to say that Charlie signed his name better then he did...

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on October 8, 2012 at 5:39am

Here is a very informative article on the PSA web site on clubhouse signatures...

http://www.psacard.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=4231&u...

As my pals Zipper and Terrier stated this was never the intent back then was not meant to be something that was maliciously done...as known forgers have done in the late 90's in Operation Bullpen...the difference is that the forgers that pumped out hundreds of thousands of fakes are profiting and committing fraud while the ghost signers where just doing there duty...people where not collecting so much as they are in modern days...most if not all team balls back then where promotional give away items to staff family and corporate big wigs provided by the team....as shown in the PSA article players just either could not keep with demand or what ever was there reason had other players/staff sign for them...this is really something that is very taboo in baseball culture...even during the Brooklyn Dodgers time during the late 40's to the mid to late 50's they had there bat boy Charlie Digiavana sign many balls to fill in the blanks and in some cases the entire ball...here is another great video on the subject...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvaVmZm_I58&list=UUUVfCsjCXyyUDA...

unfortunately it has been going on for almost 100 years now...and there are entire team pieces out there that are all legit...and in some cases just a hand full of club autos like 2 -3...sometimes its half and half...and some Dodgers balls the entire thing is signed by Charlie...

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on October 8, 2012 at 6:21am

Names in question are...

PICTURE 1...LONNY FREY...BILL BEVENS...BOBO NEWSOM ****Raschi..Reynolds...DiMaggio***(authentic)

PICTURE 2...JOHN LINDELL...CHARLIE ''BUTCH'' WENSLOFF...DICK STARR

PICTURE 3...JOHN LINDELL (REACH LOGO)

PICTURE 4...BILLY JOHNSON (UNDER TEAM INSCRIPTION)

PICTURE 5...GEORGE ?...JACK PHILLIPS...KARL DREWS...AL CLARK ****Brown...Crosetti...Rizzuto...Henrich***(authentic)

PICTURE 6...GEORGE McQUINN...BILL BEVENS...SPEC SHEA...??????? & JOE PAGE which I also feel the Page is authentic with Ralph Houk AND Yogi Berra...

I hope this helps...

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Permalink Reply by A'lan Boyardee on October 8, 2012 at 6:44am

It does help, thank you!

Question, why is my ball more "brownish" in color? Is it due to age & oxidation?

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on October 8, 2012 at 7:05am

Baseball leather usually almost always gets brown and toned...its almost impossible to stop...

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on October 8, 2012 at 6:27am

This just also goes to show how good Charle THE BROW Digiavana was...he was the one that did ever signature on the cover of the 1958 Brooklyn Dodgers year book (ABOVE)...here is also 2 balls he signed...one of witch I own...

My ball signed all by Charlie...(Robinson...Campinella...Erskine)...the entire ball is signed in his hand...and believe it or not his signed balls are worth money and collectible...a real ball would cost in the thousands...his balls are a few hundred...