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Mysterious Ken Griffey Jr Ball

Picked up this ball a few weeks ago...I have a bunch of Jr autograph, he's one of my favorite sigs...this is no doubt, 100% authentic. It came with both MLB & UDA holograms, and both check out. There are two strange things.

1. Date on MLB & UDA databases don't match. They are only within a few days of each other, so that's probably just a clerical issue....

2. Here's the weird one. The signature on the UDA hologram database website looks identical to the one on the ball (just darker, the ball has faded)...However, the 500 HR stamping on the baseball in the UDA picture is not there!!

So, i'm not sure why it is like this.....

My scientific rationale is that the answer is one of the following:

1. 500 HR Stamping on ball was added after ball was signed (unlikely as I'm pretty sure that would be part of the initial manufacturing process, but still possible)

2. UDA photoshopped out the 500 HR stamp on the ball for their hologram database (possible, but why would they do that?)

3. A very skilled forger, made an identical signature on a different baseball, and peeled off both MLB & UDA holograms from original ball and put on new ball (extremely unlikely)

4. Error in UDA database, and ball pictured is not my ball. (possible, but would be highly unlikely that the signature is identical, including where his signature ran into the stitching).

5. ?

Thoughts anyone?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Peter Lougheed on January 26, 2015 at 7:30am

It appears that there is also a stamp on the top of the 500 HR ball that is missing on the other ball. It looks like the were edited out in Photoshop.

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Permalink Reply by David S on January 26, 2015 at 4:40pm

yup there is also a stamping on the top of the ball...it describes his #27 homerun. I'm guessing it was a set of 500 signed baseballs, each with a different stamp commemorating all 1-500 homeruns...though it doesn't say it was a limited edition set...so not sure.

just sent an email to UDA regarding this...will update when i hear back!

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Permalink Reply by David S on January 27, 2015 at 5:48pm

UDA was very speedy in their response...but not the answer I was looking for...I have replied and will update when I hear back:

Hi Dave,

We can confirm the authenticity of hologram #BAJ22396 as an Autographed Ken Griffey Jr Baseball.

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Hi,

I recently acquired a Ken Griffey Jr signed baseball, hologram number BAJ22396. The item shows up in your database with a picture. The signature itself looks identical to the one I have, however, the baseball looks different. My baseball has 2 stampings on it, one saying 500th Homerun in red, and another with many words describing Griffey's #27 homerun....attached is a photo. Why does the photo in the database not show these stampings? Were they removed with photoshop or something? The signatures appear to be identical.

Thanks!
Dave

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Permalink Reply by David S on February 3, 2015 at 6:24pm

OK, not the response I was expecting (see below). It's odd because every other UDA item I own has the exact picture in the database...I don't believe they use stock photos. Does any one else have any input?

Besides, I know the ball pictured is the one I own, if you go up or down in the database (ie BAJ22397, BAJ22398) they are all Griffey balls and none look identical to the signature in mine.

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Hi Dave,

The picture on our online database is a stock photo. It does not necessarily mean it will look identical to your item.