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 CEE GEE on February 24, 2012 at 1:25pm

Here is another one I stole quite some time ago also uncertified at another killer price from an image from the Micks 1952 season...there are good pieces out there in the mist of all the fakes...a trained eye is better then a cert. to me any day of the week...

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on February 24, 2012 at 4:51pm

That is a tough pose to get cheap. This pose usually goes for a premium over the standard spring training bat on shoulder poses.

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on February 27, 2012 at 6:06am

It's amazing how much junk is "certified" that's fake out there and how many genuine pieces are out there that are not certified...I don't own 1 certified Mantle and there ALL authentic !!!...Every last one of them

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on February 27, 2012 at 6:14am

Same here. All my Mantles were purchased without TPA certs. You can routinely get "non TPA" authentic Mantle 8x10s on ebay for $150 or less.

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on February 27, 2012 at 6:37am

That's about right bro...

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on February 27, 2012 at 6:15am

BTW, trade this Mick for a Bernie Williams signed bat? :-)

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on February 27, 2012 at 6:33am

Hmmmmmmmm....I will have to think about that... :0)

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Permalink Reply by stottle00 on February 27, 2012 at 11:55am

I just joined the forum today because a well-known autograph dealer told me to come here because my Mickey Mantle autographed ball got turned down by PSA/DNA.

I asked if I should send it to JSA, and he said it would be better to have you guys give it a look before I go out and waste another $100 or whatever. I also included the letter from PSA, and the "COA". I bought the ball at the 1995 National Sports Collector's Convention in St. Louis, where Mantle was signing.

Please advise and let me know what you guys think on the autograph's authenticity. Thanks!

Attachments: No photo uploads here

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Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on February 27, 2012 at 11:59am

Hello Stottle...welcome

Unfortunately there is no need to get it looked it by JSA...PSA was correct...I am sorry to say but this ball is not authentic....Sorry

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on February 27, 2012 at 12:06pm

Definitely not authentic.

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Permalink Reply by DB on February 27, 2012 at 2:11pm

Stottle - these two do know mantle amongst several others around here.

you indicated; I bought the ball at the 1995 National Sports Collector's Convention in St. Louis, where Mantle was signing. was it purchased from a vendor at that show or direct (in-person) from the signing?

The coa from investments company beverly hills calif is dated 1995 and indicates for life. But "life" in this case also means "if we are still around" which they typically leave out.

Are they still around or does anyone have any intel on them?