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Mickey Mantle Autographed Baseball

First and foremost, I will eventually be sending the ball out to JSA to verify its authenticity.

The reason I'm asking for opinions should be quite clear to anyone familiar with vintage baseball. It is Mickey Mantle autograph on a Gene A. Budig AL Baseball. Budig, the last MLB President, reigned from 1994-99, but the balls didn't pop up until 1995.

Looks good? Yes it does. However, many forgeries look good. I am convinced that this is one of the last balls The Mick signed before passing away. This would mean he signed this ball the very same year of his passing (1995), and could possibly fetch a few more dollars on the market.

Ahh, now comes the story of the ball. My grandfather has an extensive collection of rare coins and (all sorts of) memorabilia. He was a rocket scientist (literally) and a genius, so I don't believe he would've been conned / duped. Then again, every man has his flaws, and his was being extremely wealthy. In most cases, this isn't a flaw, but when it comes to purchasing collectibles it could be. Just dishing out money because you can afford to, without doing proper research, because when you "got it" you tend not to fear repricussions and/or consequences.

Please, my fellow citizens of the Interwebs, your input would be appreciated. Should I go forward with the COA/LOA? Or bring it to the park to use in a good ol' game of fetch with the dogs….

Tags: AL, Mantle, Mickey, Yankees, authenticity, autograph, baseball

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on April 14, 2014 at 12:01pm

Hmmmm... you may be onto something here. Yes, the signature on this photo does appear to be very close to the ball in question. Much closer than the previous ball you showed, which does not seem to be a match to me.

Presuming you are correct, it appears the "signature" translates much more convincingly to a ball than a photo.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on April 14, 2014 at 1:27pm

the relative height of the "tl" is consistent with the ones that Ryan is posting. not typical of authentic mantle signatures

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on April 14, 2014 at 1:35pm

I'd really like to see what JSA/PSA says on this.

I still think theres a chance its real, although Ryan does show a good comparison which makes me doubt myself haha.

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Permalink Reply by Null on April 14, 2014 at 1:56pm

It's really not that close IMHO. Yes, a huge cut above most the obvious crap we see, but look at the "c", it's an undotted "i" or an "l", look at the "y" in Mickey, find a Mantle where the "y" is higher than any other letter in "Mickey". Also find a "y" that has a loop... That's just not how the Mick signed his name.

As for the "Mantle", it looks like the forger signed the "M", then went and took a crap before he came back and finished the signature. The "n" is wrong, and as Terrier has pointed out the "tle" is all off.

I'll stop there incase they are *listening*

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Permalink Reply by Steel on April 16, 2014 at 10:58am

I've seen some where the "c" is more upright. It's like that in the one I have:

But I think Ryan is correct, the ball in the original post doesn't look right.

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Permalink Reply by Null on April 14, 2014 at 2:27pm

Authentic ball vs. ball in OP:

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Permalink Reply by Null on April 16, 2014 at 6:35am

Here is another style of forgery that will fool a lot of people, I don't see this style too often but it is definitely a cut above the normal crap we see, and is definitely a forgery:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-Signed-11x14-Photo-/321378663...