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The GAI Mantle, DiMaggio & Ted Williams Hoard—Are They All Forgeries?

A hoard of thousands Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams signed photos have flooded the market over the last few years. All authenticated by Global Authentication Inc., with COAs signed by former GAI executive Mike Baker.

The hoard has driven down prices on these legendary Baseball Hall of Famers by 50-percent or more, and it's not rare to find one for well under $50.

The problem?

Every baseball expert we asked is emphatic that they're forgeries. And they've had that same opinion since the hoard came out of Florida in 2008.

If the experts are right—and I don't doubt that they are—not only are thousands of collectors stuck with these worthless photos. Thousands more have unfairly suffered a catastrophic drop in the value of their genuine Mantles, DiMaggios and Williams due to the flood of fakes.

And as we all know, GAI went bankrupt in 2009 after certing thousands of forgeries of Mantle, Williams, DiMaggio, Koufax, etc.

Why Do So Many Think They're Forgeries? Let's find out!

If you're a regular collector like me, it's hard to tell good Mantles from decent forgeries. DiMaggios and Williams are easier, but I'd never buy without an expert opinion. So I thought it would be a great education for those experienced in these autographs—experts and experienced collectors—to show us why they're so widely considered forgeries.

I've included a few of the GAI authenticated photos to start with. Feel free to upload more. Ask questions, share your knowledge...and help make collecting these Hall of Famers safer for everyone!

Look at all this garbage!!!

Forged and mass-produced Mickey Mantle. Ugly and laughable.

Forged Mantle, Williams and DiMaggio photo with a worthless COA from GAI. Horrid-looking forgeries.

Forged and mass-produced Mantle and Williams forgeries. Worthless COA from GAI and Mike Baker.

Forged and mass-produced forged Mickey Mantle photo. Pathetic.

This is one of dozens forged Mickey Mantle business cards that were "authenticated" by GAI and Mike Baker. Pure garbage.

GAI (Mike Baker) "authenticated" hundreds of Mickey Mantle forgeries on the below image.

Laughable Mantle forgery.

Here is a mass-produced set of Mantle and Williams forgeries.

GAI "authenticated" thousands of forgeries before they went bankrupt in 2009.

Tags: authenticate, authentication, baseball., dimaggio, forgeries, gai, genuine, global, hall, joe, More…

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on March 17, 2011 at 5:44am

In my opinion, the best thing that will help, is to get an official statement why other authenticators think this "hoard" of signatures are fake. Is it a loop here or a loop there, a wrong slant, or size? There needs to be some sort of base-line info put out there before people start presenting their own opinions and examples.

Maybe start with 100% known and well documented authentic examples from a few different settings, years, & signings.

Give people something to compare to that is 100% Official.

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Permalink Reply by DB on March 17, 2011 at 6:02am

Brandon - I have to believe that someone in the "authentication" world has done this. Didn't Richard Simons do something on this awhile back? I just don't know if there has ever been a comprehensive one done...

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on March 19, 2011 at 9:12am

on the ones that we are discussing, they are REALLY BAD Forgeries. One can tell the second they look at them. If Fudd the lowly collector can tell, you can too? There are literally 10 things wrong with those signatures that I know of and I'm not an expert. They are so damned ugly it's not even funny and they are all on the same tire poses. The real Mickey auto usually just stands out as something added to the picture that makes it almost a work of art. The signature is flowing and always taking up the sweet spot of the picture. These fakes aren't even good enough to be dime store copies. But you too can be a proud owner of a $100.00 piece of S***. Thanks to Global and their security team.

Respected authenticators and contributers here like Simon aren't talking, so they must not know anything?

At Global GAI LLC ABC Authentics, where our fakes have the blessing of GAI Global and their old management team, patroling E-bays items for your safety. You should have Zipper Lips put this tag line on his new Website so Fudd can have a bigger belly laugh . Har Har Hardee Har har. FUDD

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 19, 2011 at 9:37am

The bottom line is this; there is no question as to the authenticity of those GAI certed autographs with Baker's signature on the cert. They are 100% forgeries. They are a mess and a bunch of garbage that have helped to dilute the autograph hobby and devalued the collections of those who own authentic autographs.

Two, I'd like to know EVERYONE that was involved in the whole mess.

And this final sentence is for Mr. Mike Baker. If you, Mr. Baker, had no knowledge of your name being on those GAI certs then why haven't you spoken up in your own defense? As far as I am concerned, your name is on those certs and you are responsible for "authenticating" those autographs. There is absolutely no other way to look at this, Mr. Baker. If you didn't cert those autographs then please tell us why your name is on those GAI certs.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 19, 2011 at 9:42am

I guess we need to find out who authenticated them. Did Steve Sipe authenticate them? If Mike Baker didn't, and Rick Giddings says he didn't, is there anyone else?

Or maybe they never were authenticated. Maybe they were just issued COAs.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 19, 2011 at 9:46am

Bingo!!!

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on March 19, 2011 at 10:00am

If I had to guess, the person or persons responsible are the ones who were in charge at the End game At Global. If you remember, they were the only ones that didn't charge when the autograph came back as "Likely not Genuine". Going through financial difficulties, someone there threw up their hands and said WTF, let's pass them all. We'll be out of business in 2 months anyway and we need the money ala Chris Morales, STAT, AAU....that's what I think happened, but a lowly collector knows not and can only guess. FUDD

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 19, 2011 at 9:38am

"The service formerly known as GAI."

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 17, 2011 at 5:50am

First of all, unless something drastic happens, Ebay will not be removing the now defunct GAI as a prequalified authenticator. But what they (Ebay) could do is remove any and all GAI certs with the Mike Baker signature on them. I have yet to see a GAI certed autograph with Baker's name on it that is authentic. If someone has discovered one please let me know.

Two, GAI is defunct and gone. There is no reason not to remove all GAI certs with Baker's name on them.

Three, all of the autographs posted at the beginning of this particular forum were sent to Steve by me. They are all pathetic forgeries. All of them. There is a big story behind all of this garbage and there are a few people involved in this garbage and none of them will ever talk about it in public. But one thing is for certain and that is that Mike Baker's name is on ALL of those GAI certs. I would love to hear what Baker has to say about all of this.

Since Baker did cert all of that garbage when GAI was "alive," I'd love to see the exemplars he used to cert the above autographs of Mantle, DiMaggio and Ted Williams as genuine. I want to see the exemplars that were in the GAI database to certify the above autographs as authentic. I don't have any exemplars that match any of the above autographs.

One of the biggest problems on Ebay is that many sellers are taking advantage of the fact that the now defunct GAI is a Ebay prequalified authenticator. They know exactly what they are selling. One seller of hundreds of GAI forgeries writes the following in his GAI certed auctions:

"Global is an eBay recognized authenticator and the opinion of any other authentication company different from Global will not be recognized."

I think that says it all about his GAI certed autographs.

Also, since most buyers of autographs don't have a clue, they are relying on the fact that GAI is a prequalified authenticator. They believe they are getting the real deal but all they are buying is garbage.

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Permalink Reply by DB on March 17, 2011 at 5:54am

Touche oh Video guru but alas I have one (maybe more). After the 500 GAI baseball discussion I had Steve take a 2nd look at a Brooks Robinson.. That is one he is personally familiar with as you know. Since I also have "in-person" ones there was quite a similarity. He felt it was authentic and should I send it in he would accomodate replacing the GAI COA since there is such a stigma attached to it.

Thus we might not be able to simply paint the broadbrush. However, I do suspect that this could very well be the exception and not the norm and concur with the thoughts about ebay.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on March 17, 2011 at 6:17am

Are you saying there is a story behind the material, or behind how/ why they were authenticated?

I think we have touched on the point of who was responsible for "authenticating" these items. It was NOT Baker. Baker never had much to do with the autograph side of things. Maybe if he did, he could have cought on to what was being done under his name.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on March 17, 2011 at 6:21am

Of course there is a "story" behind this. Brandon, if you like you wrote "Maybe if he did, he could have caught on to what was being done under his name" then why has Baker NEVER spoke out about it and defended himself? Think about that.