Baseball Player Autographs Often Forged

 The continued popularity of American baseball player autographs with collectors puts pressure on their market prices and encourages forgers to fake them to fool the unwary buyer.

 Famous New York Yankee stars such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle have long been fair game for the signature faker, and therefore should only be purchased from reliable sources such as long-established professional autograph dealers who guarantee their merchandise with a money-back warranty if it should later prove bogus.

 In general, any forged signature is worthless, unless the object it is on has its own value, such as an authentic game-worn uniform or an actual baseball used in a World Series, and then it is only worth what a blemished unsigned item would be.

 Babe Ruth rarely refused to sign his autograph when asked for it, especially by children admirers. He did it for free, as was the custom in those days.

 However, the prices of Ruth autographs are “demand-driven” today, meaning that his genuine signatures continue to bring good prices, even though they aren’t as rare as other players’ autographs.

 For example, the “N.Y. Yankees Collectibles” price guide book by Beckett Publications lists a signed photo of Ruth alone at $2,500, his signed baseball at $5,500, and that’s for routine examples, not anything special such as a ball that he hit to win an important game.

 Lou Gehrig died young and was a more private person than Ruth, adding to Gehrig’s mystique as an autograph collectible. It has been estimated that as many as ten times as many baseballs were signed by Ruth as by Gehrig, but a genuine signed ball by Gehrig alone is now worth about $8,000 for the usual specimen.

 Joe DiMaggio was choosy about what he would sign. For example, he refused to sign photographs of him with Marilyn Monroe after he broke up with her, so assume that any such items are forgeries until proven otherwise.

 DiMaggio signed his autograph at baseball card collector shows starting in the 1980s and towards the end of his life charged $150 to sign a baseball for a fan. One of those genuine signed DiMaggio baseballs is now worth a couple of hundred dollars, his signed photo alone is about $100 or a little more, but his signed bat is valued at close to a couple of thousand dollars for typical examples.

 After Mickey Mantle died, collector interest in his autographs increased and the number of his signatures on the market seemed to go up as well. “In truth, the percentage of fakes probably is less than some autograph dealers would have you believe, although the bogus ones out there are pretty good,” said Beckett, who prices a genuine Mantle signature on an 8 x 10 photo at $125, his signed baseball at $225, but his signed bat at $2,000.

 How do we tell the difference between real and forged autographs? Experience. Dealers who handle many such items get to know what the genuine article looks like, and are the best guarantee that a particular autograph is indeed everything it seems to be.

Like forensic handwriting experts, the professional dealer who specializes in sports autographs knows the handwriting styles of famous players when he sees them. The way the signer slants his letters, how he puts pressure on the pen’s tip, even the color and kinds of writing inks or pencil leads are characteristics that are often quite consistent with a signer.

 An ethical dealer will offer a money-back guarantee at any time in the future if their autograph merchandise later turns out to be fraudulent, if sold as genuine. That dealer’s word is only as good as their reputation. Find out how long they have been in business, and what other professionals in the field think of them.

 An exception may be auctions. Many auctions will give a refund only under certain circumstances, especially if the auction lots are consigned by other customers who must be paid in a timely manner after the sale. Some auctions don’t allow returns if the buyer had a chance to inspect the lots before the sale.

 The better auction rules allow returns if lots won are proven forgeries if their buyer tells the auction firm that they want to have these lots authenticated by an expert soon after the auction date.