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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Here's another example of this horrible Williams forgery. This piece is listed by eBay seller engelelectronics

COA from Christopher Morales. Same hand that penned the one above. Hideous signature.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ted-Williams-Autographed-Photo-With-COA-/29...

This is a forgery listed by eBay seller renbautista

COA from Drew Max.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Joe-DiMaggio-Autographed-Rawlings-Offical-A...

Wooooooo, now hold on now Ryan!!!!! This is from Drew Max!! He was on Pawn Stars!! And they would never use somebody to authenticate their items who was incompetent at autographs and his job. If he was on Pawn Stars, then he has to be legit!   LOL

The really sad thing is that their are many people out their who get lulled into that false sense of security. Drew Max is par on course with Chris Morales. Maybe Pawn Stars can start using him as well, that way they could use the 2 most well known FDEs to convince everyone the items are legit. The 2 most well known for certing bad items that is.

Lol so true Carl. Sometimes I wonder why I even post stuff here, the handful of us that read this aren't the ones getting fooled.

Not so sure this Dimaggio is a fake??????? I think you MAY have found the needle in the haystack..... That being an Authentic Drew "don't call me TJ" Maxx authenticated item!!!!!!!!!DING DING DING. If it's not authentic, it's a cut above the usual "mess ter pieces" that come with Drew's certificate of unauthenticity.

The "J"  with a huge vertical straight line is a red flag, it's also "pointy". The spacing looks off. The "aggio" looks decent, I'll give it that. I'm still working on Dimaggio but I would still lean towards "not authentic".  

If by some chance it is authentic, we know Drew Max had no idea. LOL.

It's a bad angle. But if you blow it up you can see that the gg is correct. Usually a dead giveaway.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Here is a royal turd listed by eBay seller rsportsfan1969

Only $999 BIN for these horrific forgeries. COA from MFP Reborn. Once again very "nice" display to try and mask the crap sigs.

Is MFP Reborn not on eBays banned COA list yet?! I did not see it on a list I just pulled up, but it may have been outdated.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICKEY-MANTLE-JOE-DIMAGGIO-DUKE-SNIDER-WILL...

Typical set of horrific forgeries that originate out of "Florida" that is listed Ebay seller rsportsfan1969.

"Operation Bullpen" piece listed by eBay seller pickerman13.

COA from Madison Sports.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICKEY-MANTLE-BILLY-MARTIN-8-x-6-COLOR-PHOT...

eBay seller poffin has 3 horrific items for sale, all with COAs from CSC Collectibles.

Dual Ted/Mantle Crap (same Williams style I posted yesterday, easy to spot)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/mickey-mantle-and-ted-williams-autographed-...

Typical Crap Mick we all are aware of:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-mantle-autographed-Picture-/32108883...

And also a Whitey Ford forgery. This Whitey is easy to spot because the "W" looks like a pair of testicles. You would have to be nuts to purchase this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Whitey-ford-autographed-Picture-/3210888343...

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