Derek Jeter little league ball
 

What do you think of this? I'm not sure if I buy the case that the pen ran out of ink when Jeter was signing it, if that was even Jeter at all. The blue ink looks like it was doing just fine.

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...heads-auction/

I hope it's real, that is so cool! When my dad coached mine and my brothers little league teams we did signed baseballs for the coaches. That would be hard for me to part with those memories.


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I don't know how old I was when I did it, but when I was a child my dad ran over a baseball I had left in the yard with the lawn mower and it tore the stitching. I took the rest apart and then pretended that I had hit the cover off a ball. I even signed it in case I ever became a huge baseball star (spoiler alert: I didn't). I have seen it pop up a couple of times when looking through old boxes.

I wonder if JSA has a comparable in their database. Then we would know for sure.:) I actually like this version way better than the messy scribble he is signing today.

Just a thought here, no cynicism involved.

But is it common for all 8 year-olds to have the same block handwriting style?

I mean, I can't be the ONLY one thinking this..............right?

:D

I buy the ink story. If you look at the name above Derek's you can see that kid had to retrace a few of the letters in their name.

thats pretty cool , i think alot of people miss out on a important part of authenticating something, the provenance, people compare signatures look at examples and it is very important , buta few years ago i think it was rich albersheim was talking with me and he was knocking tpa that what was the main factor missing ,i never forgot that, lets say i have a team sheet or album cut it up , there goes around 30-40% or more of the authentication, sure can be ghost signed or added later but you can tell if the ink matches the others on page and whole albums imo are rare to be ghost signed , you see 10 signatures on a 34 cubs program i just dont believe one is ghost signed . this ball with a letter from a player on jeters team then from his town imo trumps a tpa , oh they will add the stamp later , but this is a true gem

My most treasured item is a 1973 ball signed by all my teammates after I pitched a pretty good game. Too bad there weren't any future ML'ers on my team.

No comment on the authenticity, but I would not find it unusual for 8 year olds at that time to have similar block handwriting style, as there is a reasonable probability that many of them would have attended the same handwriting class with the same teacher.

Mike

My son is 8 years old and this is exactly what I would expect from his baseball team if they signed a baseball. This is a really neat item

Good point, Mike. The ball I referenced above was signed by 14-yr olds, and most of the 'signatures' are printed names, some looking similar.

There really is only one person who can authenticate and verify this ball and that would be Derek Jeter. It would be really cool if they got Jeter to examine the ball and confirm it (or not).

UPDATE: I just saw this article: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.1951962

I guess they did ask him but he doesn't remember signing the ball because it was too long ago.

I'm sure Rob will verify the one part of the story that should be relatively easy to check, namely, that this guy coached the team. He probably has the typical team photos that they give coaches.

As for the item itself, it is a novelty but I don't find it particularly desirable.

There is a photo of the little league team in the article that Jason posted a link to from the daily news.

I disagree. If it's authentic, I think as the earliest Derek Jeter autograph on a baseball, it's of great historical significance, especially in the world of Jeter fans. And the Daily News article says that it will probably be a bargain compared to what Steiner charges for Jeter items (although Steiner may not be a good barometer on which to judge prices).

I'm not a Jeter fan, but if I could afford to, I would seriously consider bidding on this item.

I too have thought about maybe bidding. I know individius love getting the earliest autos or playing days autographs, I'm one of them. This is just pretty neat and would be a fun talking piece to own.


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