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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 Michael Frost on December 30, 2012 at 1:59pm

Yes, There is a big big problem coming out of China, I have been working on this problem for the past 6 months. Only problem is this is going to be embarrassing to many autograph experts and autograph authenticators. These are so well done and are the best quality paper that they could fool almost anyone especially when you are submitted one or two at a time. But once you receive 20-40 of each image a lot has been discovered.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on December 30, 2012 at 2:07pm

Yes, I recall seeing this style now on a previous thread. They are certainly a cut above the typical mass-produced fakes. The Rivera is a bit wobbly, but otherwise pretty darn close. Not a good sign.

If they continue to improve, it makes me wonder if modern material will eventually have to be witnessed first hand (e.g., Steiner) to have any credibility.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 30, 2012 at 2:13pm

That's a different Derek Jeter than the ones Global Authentics certified en masse, right?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on December 30, 2012 at 2:15pm

I'd like to see a closeup, but from what I can see, I believe it is from a different hand. The Rivera is certainly not the same.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 30, 2012 at 2:36pm

yes it is different. It doesn't have the "owl eyes".

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Bautista on December 30, 2012 at 2:42pm

Do you know where they are selling these at and who was authenticating them ?

I saw them on ebay at one time . But not anymore. The Jeter is way off .

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Bautista on December 30, 2012 at 2:43pm

Anybody got an opinion on this style Jeter ? I put it up the other day with no response. Thanks guys

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on December 30, 2012 at 2:58pm

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 30, 2012 at 3:46pm

These look like algorithmic variations of the same base autograph. They appear to be machine signed.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on December 30, 2012 at 4:25pm

Of course I could be wrong, but I find it very hard to believe a machine could do the variation in pressure and lifts seen in the Jeter signed ball. I mean, I'm sure a machine could do it, but it would be extremely sophisticated robotics.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on December 30, 2012 at 3:28pm

Maybe this can be moved and made into it's own discussion.

Like I said this is much bigger then you can ever image, I have a lot of knowledge, experience and facts about these autographs. It is something that I have been working on for many months and it is far from complete. I have been invited by Steve Cyrkin to get more involved on AML and to share my knowledge and exemplars, I have been very hesitant to get involved and post on AML because I do realize that I am not excepted by some of the members. I do understand the anger but I have come to AML in good faith and I would like to put the past actions with AML behind. I also do not care to start any problems with other authentication companies nor authenticators. I am not posting any of these items so the authentictors can be attacked. I did not care to come off as if I know more then anybody or as if I had an agenda. I have been working on many projects including the Michael Jackson discussion going on right here on AML. I also noticed that I have been getting attacked when ever I do participate.

I do have a lot to share and I know in time I will be excepted and my opinion will be excepted here.

For now, and this is just a very small tip of of the iceberg that I have been working on from the Orient.

Please examine and review these auctions including the completed and the feedback.

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