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THE AUTOGRAPH AUTHENTICATOR REPORT

I would like to share with everyone a major problem I have been seeing around Florida for the past few years. For a while you would only see these signature on photos or on multi signed 500 Home Run or 3000 hits baseballs. A year or so ago P.A.A.S. starting receiving these Autographed White Panel Baseballs, "Official League Baseball" , signed in blue ink on the sweet spot. They would be submitted one or two at time, and mostly from collectors that obtained them at local Florida shows or Flea markets. In the last 4-5 months we were receiving these almost exact signed baseballs for autograph authentication from around the country. Last month a local Florida dealer brought in 70 of these pure white single signed baseball for autograph authentication. I held the submission for a few days, so we could document and photograph the signatures for our files. When the dealer returned for his baseballs, I asked him where he had obtained these signed baseballs? He explained with a straight face that he has had them for over 7 years. He said that he waited on lines at autograph shows and sent some of the baseballs to autograph shows around the country to get signed. I then explained to him that they are not authentic and that I have been aware of these forged signatures for years. I also showed him enough proof that he had nothing further to say and admitted that he purchased the baseballs at a Miami Flea market for $10 per baseball. The scary part is he told me that a sports memorabilia dealer friend of his from North Carolina purchased over 300 baseballs and a dozen Muhammad Ali signed gloves. This is becoming a wide spread problem and I have been seeing these same baseballs on many websites and auctions. Please take note of these examples and study the signature patterns. You may notice a few different variations of the same signature, this is done by increasing or decreasing the size and width of the autograph. Besides not being authentic I am sure some of the readers will see some interesting similarities with these signatures. I would like hear some opinions and receive some input. There are additional names and signatures and we will continue to post them.

Thank you for your time,

Michael Frost of P.A.A.S. can be reached at specialagent711@aol.com

Tags: Authentication, Autograph, Frost, Michael, P.A.A.S., PSA/DNA

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on September 4, 2012 at 7:22pm

one has to laugh at the China ball. Why would anyone waste their time getting someone to sign on a "China ball". Plus, they bleed like a stuck pig. Anyone to buy a China Ball is a legal moron in the first place. Agreed that the forgeries are sickening. The mantle Ford, kuofax are horrible and the Aaron is much too neat and small to be a "recent version". I have 3-4 different Aaron balls somewhere. I'll see if can post a couple pics that shows the progression from Coleman, White, Giamatti & Selig varities if time allows.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on September 4, 2012 at 10:35pm

Thank you for the comments and for accepting me on this site. I am here to try to help anyway possible, I once said if we can all work together we can put and end to most of the fraud and corruption in the hobby. It seems while we were all fighting each other, we let the real bad guys get away. I am sorry to all for the past negativity and I will do all I can to help make the hobby safe for the autograph collectors.

To answer a few of the comments, yes the Mantle, Ford, Williams, Mays,and Koufax examples have been circulating for a least two years. I have seen them before but never in the volume that I have witnessed in the past 6 months. The bulk of the baseballs that have been submitted to P.A.A.S. were on the baseballs that were made in China. I have seen Official Major League baseballs signed with these signatures but I would say with the cost of Major League baseballs it would be impossible for them to sell for $10- $20 each.

I have been told that there are many other baseball stars names being done, but I have not yet physically received them to authentication yet.

When I said the downfall of the sports autograph market, I refer to the price of authentic hand signed baseballs. These crooks are targeting the novice collectors and holiday gift buyers looking for a great price at local flea markets and baseball card shows. The other big issue is I have seen many authenticated by third party authentication companies.We must all agree that the Hobby nor the authentication industry needs any additional negative news at this time.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on September 5, 2012 at 3:22am

I was actually just wondering if any of these were close enough to pass authentication. Also, It doesn't seem like these people would stop with these balls. How about photos or trading cards?

This sort of forgery reminds me of the NASCAR forgeries that were coming out of China. By the thousands. All on the same type of photo regardless of the driver. It took a long time to clear the market out. They were also "certified" in many cases.

Is it possible that these are originating out of the country like the NASCAR photos were?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on September 5, 2012 at 5:58am

Brandon,

I am certain that these signatures are being sold and most likely produced in South Florida. I believe although may do not, that the signatures were all copies of authentic autographs. Many are early style signatures but the original versions were authentic signatures.

As for passing authentication, once again I will not pick on any known authenticator but these signatures have been AUTHENTICATED in the past by almost every third party authentication company. It would be hard to fault the authenticators on these examinations and authentications because as I said the originals were taken from authentic signatures. It would have been almost impossible to have found fault if submitted one at a time. That is why it is so important to share these and any other examples, not only with collectors and dealers but with the other authentication companies.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on September 5, 2012 at 12:48pm

Are these from Tony Pasada?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on September 5, 2012 at 2:45pm

Tony Podsada now that is a name from the past, I have known Tony for over 25 years. He was the owner of My Favorite Players, Inc and was involved with Scoreboard 20 years ago. His name seems to come up often but I would not have any proof or information to confirm that he is involved. I have not seen Tony in many years but he has called me a few times about autograph authentication but has never submitted any items..

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on September 5, 2012 at 3:41pm

This type of bulk Release is similar to what was reported from him before. I have no idea, that just seemed to click.

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 9, 2012 at 5:02am

brandon - how to go in surfacing the name explicity. Seems to be a connection doesn't it? In thinking about Fudd's response and comment on Goldin coming aboard on NET54

I stumbled across this post which speaks for itself from someone who allegedly identifies himself as Tony Podsada;

Tony Podsada Says: June 22nd 2008 at 2:12 pm
My name is Tony Podsada, I never sold a forgery to anyone! This article is completely false!
I have been in the memorabilia buisness for over 30 years. People love to talk about things they don’t know anything about. If it wasn’t for me Scoreboard would have destroyed every individual autogragh dealer, who was independent of their dealer network. This article states that I admitted to supplying thousands of forgeries to variouse companies. This is a complete lie. Thanks, Tony Podsada

Now, as I wonder outloud how someone's names and numbers as on YMC COAs keeps surfacing. So far of those posted they don't seem to be very many, if any, authentic ones. But if he is not the one actually creating the forgery maybe he can post online somewhere, or here, where they came from.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on September 7, 2012 at 9:45pm

Now why would you say Tony Podsada, Brandon?

Company Name:

MYST-O-GRAPH

Status:

Active

Filing Date:

04/12/2012

Entity Type:

FICTITIOUS NAME

File Number:

G12000035101

Filing State:

Florida (FL)

Company Age:

5 Months

Principal Address:

7531 Nw 47th Ave
Coconut Creek, FL 33073

Registered Agent:

None Listed

OWNER

Podsada Matthew
7531 Nw 47th Ave
Coconut Creek, FL 33073

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on September 7, 2012 at 10:27pm

Very interesting many of the baseballs that have been submitted to me for examination had the MYST-O-GRAPH C.O.A. except the address is different. I have 2900 West Sample Road (Festival Flea Market Booth 4237) Pompano Beach, Florida 33073 (954) 213-4905.

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 8, 2012 at 1:46am

[Image removed for posting violation.]

I wonder which one is #4237. Flea Market; doesn't get any better than this rofl! If you click on the semmesauctionhouse2012 picture below it magnifies the pic and will align exactly to the address u cite.

incidently the phone number is a landline for A Podsada in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Last I knew Tony is short for Anthony.