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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 Steve Zarelli on December 5, 2012 at 5:18pm

This is one reason I didn't like it. The incredible shrinking signature.

Plus, I suspect a close up would reveal slowness... especially through the Gs.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 5, 2012 at 6:21pm

Hi Zipper. I'm always willing to learn, especially about DiMaggio. I am still not convinced on this one. to me, it is not obvious either way. I look at it as stuck somewhere in the middle. but your comment about the shrinking signature is interesting. I never noticed it.

this is a PSA certed one. does this exhibit the shrinking qualities? I'm just not seeing that trait for some reason.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on December 5, 2012 at 7:17pm

I'm with you, I don' care for it either. The narrowing, the oe so close to the J, and the last portion of the m.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 5, 2012 at 4:38am

Here's another set of Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford forgeries with a COA from "Autographed Legends."

As we all know, this crap originates out of Florida. Thousands of this piece-of-crap forgery have been produced.

Ebay seller bcrow is responsible for this listing of Mantle and Ford forgeries.

Sellers of this particular forgery have been using those same photos of Mantle and Ford siging autographs. Of course, those photos are in no way related to the forgeries shown below.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110985473897

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 5, 2012 at 4:52pm

Check out this horrific Mickey Mantle forgery on a "1956 Topps" card.

This pathetic and ugly forgery was sold by Ebay seller "sportscards*1955."

But what about the morons who bid on that garbage. It sold for $231.77. The title of the auction reads "Was Told It's His Auto?" And yet the wannabe autograph collectors still bid on that crap.

There are plenty of Mickey Mantle authentic autographs on Ebay authenticated by PSA and JSA in the same price range and yet some of the wannabe autograph collectors bid on this junk.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICKEY-MANTLE-1956-TOOPS-BASEBALL-CARD-NUMB...

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Permalink Reply by Steve on December 6, 2012 at 5:18pm

What do you guys think about this Ted Williams?

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Permalink Reply by Null on December 7, 2012 at 7:18am

I think its good

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 7, 2012 at 6:40pm

Check out this mess of a Mickey Mantle forgery.

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

The seller claims this baseball was signed by Mickey Mantle in 1993. Seriously?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-Autographed-Baseball-/2308939...

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Permalink Reply by Steve on December 7, 2012 at 7:01pm

Nice.

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Permalink Reply by Null on December 8, 2012 at 8:25am

LOL. Those M's are on steroids.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 9, 2012 at 5:37pm

Here is another set of Mickey Mantle/Joe DiMaggio forgeries with the Myst-O-Graph COA.

This set of forgeries is listed by Ebay seller "ultimatecollectibles19." The opening bid is "only" $999.00.

This crap is all over the place. As we have written hundreds of times here, this crap is being sold at local auctions, charity events, estate sales, etc. Buyers who have absolutely zero knowledge of autographs, purchase this crap cheap and then hope to flip it for a nice profit on Ebay.

As most of us here now know, the following COAs are all related: Myst-O-Graph, MFP Reborn, Nicholas Burczyk, My Favorite Players, YMC Sports, etc.

This crap continues to come out of the state of Florida in numbers and continues to infect the hobby.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOE-DIMAGGIO-AND-MICKEY-MANTLE-8-X-10-AUTOG...

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 10, 2012 at 4:06am

Here's another forgery listed by Ebay seller "ultimatecollectibles19."

Check out the COA. It's a "Scoreboard" COA with a hologram. Looks like "Florida" stuck a hologram on this "Scoreboard" COA.

Of course, as many of us know by now. at least 50% of the "Scoreboard" COAs on Ebay are reproduced "Scoreboard" COAs in an attempt to present a forgery as authentic.

One thing I know for a fact, and that is that "Scoreboard" never had Joe DiMaggio autograph that particular photograph.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOE-DIMAGGIO-AUTOGRAPHED-PHOTO-WITH-AUTHENT...