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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 Fuddjcal on December 1, 2012 at 10:30am

can't get them bid on the real thing, but the morons come out in force for these forgeries..."DOPEY" buyers...that's being kind...They are just stupid, nice, hard working, everyday morons people that think the best of people and who are looking for deals...

HERE'S A NEWS FLASH FOR DOPEY MORON BUYERS OF ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING:

"YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR"!!!!!! It's an old adage yes, but rings true today with every purchase I make large and small. When you look for a "deal" you get your teeth handed to you. BUY QUALITY and it's cheaper in the long run...GOT THAT CLASS!!!! It's FUDDJCAL 101 for moron dopey buyers.

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Permalink Reply by Brian M. Wazac on December 1, 2012 at 10:48am

The you Prof Fuddjcal! I'll be waiting for my Diploma in the mail CUZ I aced your class! LOL

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 1, 2012 at 2:44pm

Here's another set of "500 Homerun Club" forgeries.

This set of forgeries was produced in the thousands. These originated from "Florida."

The hologram number on this set of forgeries indicates the original full-of-crap COA is either from YMC Sports, MFP Reborn, Myst-O-Graph or CSC Collectibles.

This set of "500 Homerun Club" forgeries is being listed by Ebay seller "squat905."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Signed-16x20-500-Home-Run-Club-Matted-Photo...

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 1, 2012 at 3:04pm

Here's another piece-of-crap Mickey Mantle forgery with a COA from "YMC Sports." This is another Mickey Mantle forgery that was produced in the thousands.

This Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller "lexingtonmastiff."

How many hundreds of times do we read that the seller purchased them from an "estate sale." These sellers buy this garbage cheap and think they have an authentic Mantle autograph that they can flip for big money on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Autographed-Mickey-Mantle-Photo-wit...

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Permalink Reply by gina on December 2, 2012 at 5:30am

For one if I had know it was not real, I would not have put it on here, 2 I did buy it at an estate sale. 3 I only list what I see. I have a 100% rate on ebay and I tell everyone what I know about the item. So I got took at the sale....

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Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on December 2, 2012 at 5:51am

A lot of EBAY sellers of forged items have 100% feedback. Cheap buyers looking for a $50 Mantle would be the ones less likely to pay to have It looked at. 100% means you mailed it fast and they got it. Nothing more.

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Permalink Reply by gina on December 2, 2012 at 6:45am

I am not a person that sells forged items, I have only put this on ebay because a local rep told me it was real. I NEVER NEVER sale anything that I would not be REAL. I took someones word, this does not make me a lier, a cheat, or anything else. I am sorry that you think 100% means I ship it on time, I have worked hard to make sure my buyers get what I say I list.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 2, 2012 at 8:13am

Rick is absolutely correct. Over the years that I have been exposing sellers of forgeries, the majority of them had 100% feedback. They had 100% feedback because they "shipped quickly," and not because they sold "authentic autographs."

The bottom line here, Gina, is that you purchased those autographs cheap, thinking you were going to make a nice profit by flipping them on Ebay.

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Permalink Reply by gina on December 2, 2012 at 9:00am

I do e-bay for fun. No one gets rich on here. If I had know it was not REAL I would not have put it on there. I looked up the company and they were real, The dealer here local said it was the real deal so what was I to think but it to be real. I take PRIDE in my e-bay accout why would I put it at risk. I know nothing abot autographs I took the word of someone. If someone buys something from me and is not 100% happy I will take it back at my cost, how many do you know that will do that. I am NOT a cheat!!!!!!

So you say bottom line here is I got ripped off. Now that said, I do not need my accout ran down on this page.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 2, 2012 at 9:55am

The following is on the every seller's page:

"Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing."

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on December 3, 2012 at 6:18pm

this is what is so sickening about the scam Gina. good luck to you and enjoy!~!

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 2, 2012 at 8:18am

Here's another example of a Ebay seller tainting the Scoreboard COA using it in an attempt to sell a forgery.

Below is a typical Mickey Mantle (with the #7 inscription) that was produced in the thousands. These particulkar Mickey Mantle forgeries are laughable at best.

This particular Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller "superstarsportscards." This IS NOT a "Scoreboard" issued Mickey Mantle autographed baseball.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yankees-Mickey-Mantle-No-7-Autographed-Base...