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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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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 26, 2012 at 7:03pm

Does this mean Diana got her money back? Hope so!

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 28, 2012 at 2:36am

well if it was the same one as this one (previously posted) that was removed by EBAY only Diana can advise. Maybe KrazyLouieToo has more than one. At least this bidder won't have to worry this time around.

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Permalink Reply by diana dunn on October 23, 2012 at 11:29am

i went back to the store to see about joe dimaggio baseball and the guy there does signature and said it is real. and if i have doubts go to another place and have it done. they tell me you can not do signature from a picture. diana

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 23, 2012 at 11:34am

diana, of course they do especially when they hedge on having to provide a reimbursement for a non-authentic one. what store are you talking with?

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Permalink Reply by diana dunn on October 23, 2012 at 10:53pm

a pawn shop . he said if i send the ball away to some p something they can check the signature but i cant afford it, i am very uipset. diana oh well

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 24, 2012 at 1:41am

you had indicated; crazy louie in salisbury md. I wonder if Chumley has a brother.

don't blame you for being upset and pawn shops don't like being tagged with selling forgeries nor the heat that someone can bring down on them for doing so. Maybe you should remind them of their claim below and point them to this blog;

The one trait that truly distinguishes a business in the Internet Age is Customer Service. We have been in business for over 30 years and we have learned that there is no substitute for personalized and professional customer service. We continue to pride ourselves on total honesty in how we represent our products and services and are committed to making sure that our customers are happy. We urge you to become our fan and friend on Facebook. Please feel free to contact us via email and let us know if you are looking for a specific item. We have an incredibly diverse inventory to choose from and we may have exactly what you want. We look forward to serving you and can't wait to make you another happy customer of Crazy Louie's Pawn Shops

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on October 23, 2012 at 3:31pm

sorry but your store is full of crap. if he thinks that ball is real he should be cleaning toilets for a living.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on October 23, 2012 at 4:16pm

Ditto. That Joe D. is a horrific forgery. Just ridiculous.

Diana, I have to ask "Why you purchased that Joe DiMaggio?"

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Permalink Reply by diana dunn on October 23, 2012 at 10:51pm

cause he is my idol

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on October 24, 2012 at 4:32am

SERIOUSLY YOU CAN GET A CERTIFIED AUTHENTIC CARD FROM PINNACLE FOR $150-$200 ALL DAY....OF THE GREAT JOE D

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on October 24, 2012 at 4:27am

this guy either signed it himself...or knows ZERO about autographs....this piece is no question fake...demand your money back and or print out these comments...THAT PIECE BY ALL MEANS IS FAKE !!!