1. Currently, there are 69 living hall of famers. At least 8 would be tough to get in person. The 8 being, (1) Bobby Doerr (lives in Oregon some 3 hours from an airport and will be 96 this year. I hear he is a great TTM signer.) (2) Doug Harvey (Umpire so you might not care, did one circuit of autograph shows and I have not seen him since. Umpires are usually great TTM as well. (3) Willie Mays - I hear he still signs in Cooperstown each year for some $350 a pop. I have not seem at a show in a few years. Has trouble seeing so make sure he has the right pen in his hand. (4) Sandy Koufax. Did a Tuff-Stuff show back in the 90's and has been Tuff ever since. He does sign on certain days during spring training. (5) Willie McCovey. Health issues, does not travel much. (6) Yaz. Does one signing a year in MA with Dick Gordon Sports. (7) Tom Seaver. He used to be a regular on the circuit, but have not seen him since his bout with lyme disease. (8) George Brett. Does so few shows, super tough, but not impossible.
2. Yes, especially the bigger names. I would trust Dick Gordon to provide a genuine Yaz autograph. I don't think many Doerr balls are forged, but who knows. My rule, was always see the item signed in person.
3. It depends. I have a signed Bob Horner ball where the signature is just about to fade away but my Mickey Mantle signed ball looks as if it was just signed yesterday. One, I think it depends on the leather that was used to make the ball (I only used official mlb balls). Two, the ink used to sign the ball and how that ink interacts with the leather. Three, pressure used when signing. As big as he is, Gaylord Perry tends to sign very lightly, therefore the ink does not get down into the grain of the leather. Four, handling after the ball is signed, did the signer palm the ball, did you touch the signature after the signing? Five, storage. Yes, a signed ball (or anything else) sitting in direct sunlight will fade, but I have had balls fade sitting in a ball cube in a box in a dark closet.
I have a 153 ball case from Home Plate Heroes (
http://www.homeplateheroes.com/Baseb...Thumbnail.html). The glass they use filters 99% of UV. Museum glass would naturally help, but there is no guarantee. I am convinced that the combination of leather, ink, pressure, hand oils, sweat has far more to do with fading than UV coated glass.
I have close to 200 signed baseballs and if I had my druthers and knew then what I know now, I would opt for another medium to get signatures on. I should have started with the Perez-Steele cards, but at the time the cards did not appeal to me. Thankfully, I usually had hall of famers sign a ball and a picture. Also, since this hobby is a sickness I was fortunate enough to see most of the hall of famers more than once!
Good luck bruddah!