Astute collectors know that crooked sellers use phony proof pictures to sell their fakes all the time. They steal images from other signings, pluck a photo from an internet search, and so on.

These so-called proof pictures rarely prove anything, but in this case, it proves the item is a fake, or at least, it is not the same photo that is being offered!

Here is a photo supposedly signed by Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin and Mickey Mantle.

And here is the “proof photo.” As you can plainly see, Whitey Ford is the first one to add his signature to the photos. No one else has signed the photos yet.

Now let’s do the math.

Billy Martin died in 1989. At that time, Whitey Ford was 61 years old.

Yet, the “proof photo” clearly shows an aged Whitey Ford who is at least in his 70s! Click here to see photos of Ford at a 1989 fantasy camp, the year Martin died. Ford is younger, significantly heavier and more robust than the thinner and more frail looking Ford shown in the signing photograph.

When Ford was the age portrayed in the photo, Martin was deceased. How could Martin have possibly signed these?!? He couldn't!

“Proof” photo FAIL!