Autographs are always situational whether it's what's being signed, when it's signed, how rushed the person is, etc.
If you go to a 2 hour signing and you get a ball signed within the first few minutes, I doubt it will look exactly like the ones that are signed at the 2 hour mark. With that said, even a rushed sig will show some of the same tendencies and authenticators take this in to consideration and look for exemplars from certain situations. There are times, however, when a player just signed different...the pen slipped, grip on the pen was wrong, he was not feeling well, the list goes on and on. People don't understand how an expert will say an autograph is bad when they got it in person, but if the signer has signed "differently", how is even an expert to know. They can only go by known examples. A few months before Dick Williams passed away, I was fortunate to get him to sign my Hall of Fame book. As he got to the K in his first name, his glasses slipped and he stopped. The result is a sig that's doesn's look like any other Dick Williams that I've seen. That's ok, because I know he signed it, but someone else might not think it's good...although why would I forge a Dick Williams when I also have a nice Mantle and Dimaggio in the same book.
