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 Bryan Accardi on July 5, 2013 at 5:43pm

Awesome, thanks guys. I picked it up on ebay for only $200. Looked real so I figured I would take a shot.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on July 5, 2013 at 5:45pm

Good eye.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on July 5, 2013 at 7:10pm

Very good buy.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on July 5, 2013 at 7:30pm

sweet ball. you got a steal.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Tanis on August 9, 2013 at 6:12pm

Just getting around to opening some boxes that I haven't looked at in ca. 8 years - I have some Mantle, DiMaggio, Williams things that I have had for 20 - 25 years - they were either ordered from signing sessions or were items that I sent in for signing. Thought I'd ask for your take on them as these are supposedly from the signing sessions but weren't signed in front of me. Thanks in advance for your time - first the Mantle items

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Mantle2.jpg, 368 KB
Mantle3.jpg, 296 KB

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Permalink Reply by Steven Tanis on August 9, 2013 at 6:14pm

Some more Mantle items - as above - shows - 20-25 years ago

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Mantle4.jpg, 369 KB
Mantle5.jpg, 1.4 MB
Mantle6.jpg, 600 KB

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Permalink Reply by Null on August 9, 2013 at 7:57pm

All Mantles authentic, I don't like Ted/Joe in that trio pic which is a shame, bottom 2 Teds authentic IMO. If any for sale, I'm interested.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Tanis on August 10, 2013 at 11:46am

thanks for the reply and analysis - if I remember correctly (I'm looking for the documentation right now) both DiMaggio signatures came from the same signing session - I sent in the picture and the poster - gotta find that info to be sure. The Ted in that photo came with the Mantle from Mickey's son David

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Permalink Reply by Steven Tanis on August 9, 2013 at 6:15pm

1 more Mantle - a joint Mantle, DiMaggio, Williams - and a DiMaggio from the same time frame

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Mantle7.jpg, 1.3 MB
JDMMTW.jpg, 642 KB
DiMaggio.jpg, 250 KB

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on August 9, 2013 at 6:28pm

The Dimaggio in the photo with Williams and Mantle is not authentic. The other dimaggio looks ok but I really cant see it very well.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Tanis on August 10, 2013 at 11:45am

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on August 10, 2013 at 12:58pm

My first thought was the DiMaggio on the three pose was bad as well, but after looking at it a second time, I can't help but wonder if it is a "pizzed off, I'm tired of signing" version. The connected Joe and Dimaggio seems a very unlikely choice for a forger to make. But, it might be the kind of thing a rushed and tired DiMaggio might do.

@Steven Tanis - I'd be surprised if both Joe Ds came from the same session. Different pen.. and if the one in black is good, certainly not signed at the same time as the one in blue, which is textbook.