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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 DB on November 19, 2012 at 3:10am

and this one, as projected sold to the winning bidder amongst others;

s***s

( 39

)

US $102.50

Nov-18-12 17:28:02 PST

and they now believe this "priceless" item is acquired at a flea market price! Or as the last word of the listing expreses the item except I would add "simply" as an adjective. Am estatic they offer a 100% refund and I wonder if the buyer will figure it out before they disappear. I also wonder what this buyer must be thinking as to who's sticker this is on his "treasure".

Hand Signed Mickey Mantle New York Yankees Photo AMAZING!!!

ya know Chris et all an old friend of mine has a favorite saying "ya can't fix stupid". Regardless how we try it's like going uphill backwards on a cold day in molasses. Good thing we are stubborn.

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on November 19, 2012 at 8:41am

you were right Db just as projected..You should work for CNN

Here we go again on the E-bay forgery merry go round. $100.00 for a piece of S*** sounds about right. "Hand signed treasure"...I'd bury it if I was the owner, it's such a treasure!!!!

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 18, 2012 at 1:15pm

Check out this horrific Mickey Mantle forgery.

It is listed by Ebay seller mets86.

This is simply ugly.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-New-York-Yankees-8x10-photo-A...

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 18, 2012 at 4:54pm

Check out this ugly Mickey Mantle forgery on a cap.

This is listed by Ebay seller kidseedreams.

Check out the COA. The COA is from Coach's Corner. As we all know, the Coach's Corner COA is on Ebay's Banned List.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-New-York-Yankees-Cap-Hat-with...

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 18, 2012 at 5:59pm

Look at this piece of garbage Mickey Mantle forgery.

This one is listed by Ebay seller geh856.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICKEY-MANTLE-HAND-SIGNED-AUTOGRAPHED-BOBBY...

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Permalink Reply by Null on November 19, 2012 at 9:38am

That's one of the ugliest ones I've seen in awhile, I even knew that was a fake right away! LOL

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 19, 2012 at 8:31pm

Here is a Greg Marino penned Mickey Mantle forgery from the days of "Operation Bullpen."

This Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller jason*autographs.

The seller claims this will pass PSA and JSA authentication. Not in a million years. PSA and JSA would reject this in a split second.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICKEY-MANTLE-AUTOGRAPHED-8-X-10-PHOTO-AUTH...

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 21, 2012 at 3:41am

Here's another ugly and pathetic Mickey Mantle forgery.

This Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller smile281.

Gotta love it when these sellers use the "ticket stub" routine to convince potential bidders that the autograph must be authentic.

This garbage Mickey Mantle forgery actually has bids.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-Hand-Signed-Autographed-Baseb...

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 23, 2012 at 8:46pm

Check out this Mickey Mantle forgery.

This Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller reverbnw-two.

Whoever penned this forgery must have taken at least thirty-minutes to finish it. Then again, maybe a five-year old penned this forgery.

This is another seller using the old "ticket from the game" routine. Yeah right.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-Mickey-Mantle-Game-Ball-with-Or...

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Permalink Reply by Null on November 23, 2012 at 10:04pm

Nice find Chris. Hideous! MicRey Mantle. LoL.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 24, 2012 at 8:41am

Check another horrific Mickey Mantle forgery with a COA from Madison Sports.

This Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller ecjl2010.

This particular Mickey Mantle forgery was produced in the thousands during the 1990's and "Operation Bullpen."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-SIgned-Baseball-With-COA-And-...

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 24, 2012 at 11:19am

Check out the below Mickey Mantle forgery and "500 Homerun Club" set of forgeries.

These Mickey Mantle forgeries are listed by Ebay seller americancompression.

These are the typical forgeries that have been produced in the thousands over the years. The majority of these forgeries are certed by Chris Morales, Drew Max, Ted Taylor (TTA and Stat Authentic), etc.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-signed-major-league-baseball-...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/500-Home-Run-Club-Signed-Baseball-with-COA-...