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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Not sure on the Griffey Jr as I'd need a better scan and I'm certainly not an expert where Griffey Jr is concerned. My first inclination would give me pause because it's wrapped in plastic....Unless you did that? If it has the same COA as the Mantle, you'd have a "pair of balls" to play with.

Anyone who would authenticate that Mantle, is a rubber stamper, not an legitimate authenticator, and is a shill for the forgery industry and a HUGE part of the problem. Good luck to you.

I picked up both ball using fatfingers typo machine for miss spelling I didn't get to burned on the Mantle. Ill take a better photo of Griffey. Just trying to make some extra cash in these hard time. I stick to certified auto by major companies usually for this reason. I do have a nice Jeter RC Buyback got out of a pack. Nobody want to shell out any cash for anything nowadays

angel huh have a trout 2013 topps camo for sale #99 got lots of interest

Williams/DiMaggio forgery listed by eBay seller qdubs0858

COA from MFP Reborn. Both of these forgeries are common and very easy to spot. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ted-williams-and-joe-dimaggio-autograph-pic...

Scammers like Ebay seller qdubs0858 are all over Ebay.

Here is another Ted/Joe forgery listed by eBay seller acesazcards

No COA but these were penned by the same forger who does all the YMC/Myst o Crap/Autographed Legends, LLC crap.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOE-DIMAGGIO-TED-WILLIIAMS-AUTOGRAPHED-8X10...

Here are some close-ups:

This is a 16x20 Ted Williams forgery listed by eBay seller buckscuttycollectables

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ted-williams-16x20-prortrait-autograph-with...

Check out this typical Mickey Mantle forgery with a COA from Drew "My Magnifying Glass Is Bigger Than Yours" Max (AAU).

This Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller rraandy.

You have to read the item description first.  Click on the image to get a larger view.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160990883588...

Here's another Mickey Mantle forgery on EBay.

This Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller sportscardsplanet.

Ebay seller sportscardsplanet writes "One Of A Kind Lithograh Auto."  What a freakin' bad joke again!!   Only $2,000 for this piece-of-crap Mantle forgery.

This is simply another Mickey Mantle forgery with a COA from Drew "My Magnifying Glass Is Bigger Than Yours" Max.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-One-Of-A-Kind-Lithograph-Auto...

Check out this hideous Mickey Mantle forgery.

This hideous-looking Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller jennyboom29.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-Mickey-mantle-picture-/25124609...

I saw that earlier, truly horrific.

Here's another typical Mickey Mantle forgery on Ebay.

This Mickey Mantle forgery is listed by Ebay seller catladydorothy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-autographed-baseball-/2810798...

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