Do these autographs appear to be real?

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Posted By: Dave M

I have a chance to get this baseball and am not an expert on autographs. Could someone give me their opinion as to whether they look authentic? Thanks

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Posted By: MVSNYC

i'm not an autograph expert either, but i own real/authenticated examples of many of these signatures...they look good to me, but you might want to wait for a few other responses before you make your decision...

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Posted By: William

I'm no expert either, but I don't like it. The McCovey and the Robinson don't look right.

What's Pete Rose doing on a 500 HR ball anyway?

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Posted By: Brock

Dave,
I'm not trying to hijack your thread, i just dont want to start another one about if a autograph is good or not. But i was wondering if you guys think this Clemente looks good. I want to bid on it because its signed to Louis which is close to my last name(Lewis). Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com/ROBERTO-CLEMENTE-Signed-Art-Print-Late-60s-Early-70s_W0QQitemZ110316812023QQihZ001QQcategoryZ73391Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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Posted By: MVSNYC

hmm, i do have to say that upon a closer look, the mccovey & robinson do look alittle funny...the others look ok to me, but if one or two don't look right, then it will certainly bring the value of the ball way down.

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Posted By: Dave M

If were offered this ball or $125 for something you were looking to sell, which would you take? The item I am looking to sell has very little meaning to me.

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Posted By: Matt

Dave - there are some board members who are experts in the field - I'd wait for one of them to weigh in before making any decisions. You may want to give them a few days to respond due to the Holiday.

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Posted By: Mark

I think it's good. If given a choice, I would take the slight gamble, and would opt for the ball over the $125.

I have seen lots of fake 500 HR Club Balls, and the Williams and Mantle on this one do not have the typical phony giveaway traits. Just speculating until the board's "heavyweights" chime in...

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Posted By: MikePugeda

Dave,

I agree with some others that the ball looks pretty good. Some have stated concerns over the Robinson and McCovey sigs, but why forge those two if the Mantle and Williams are legit. It can't be a 500HR ball with Rose on there.

Brock,

I would probably hold off on that Clemente sig. When I started collecting Clemente, I purchased a few Clemente autos that looked very similar. Compare it to a signed photo and ball I have below. I talked with a couple of advanced Clemente collectors and was informed that Clemente may have used someone to sign items for him. There are a lot of pieces out there with the same style, but the more I look at his sigs, they are pretty darn consistent and the one you posted just doesn't seem right.

Something about the "to" with lower case and the ES in Best just doesn't seem right. I have three pieces with the same style writing. Could they be rushed signatures...maybe...but as time goes by I am more and more convinced that Clemente had a friend who signed items sent through the mail for him during late 60s early 70s.





Mike

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

The Clemente on eBay was signed by his personal valet, Phil Dorsey. Dorsey signed nearly all mail (and even many stadium) requests on Clemente's behalf from about 1966 to his death. I have brought the item in question to the attention of eBay. It should be removed shortly, if it isn't already.

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Posted By: Brock

Thanks Mike And Jodi

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Posted By: Joe D.

Dave... I am no expert - but Mickey and Ted Williams look fine to me.

"What's Pete Rose doing on a 500 HR ball anyway?"

William... If I remember correctly - I believe Pete Rose was one of the signers at the 500 Home Run Club show in Atlantic City.

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Posted By: Dave M

Thanks for the opinions from everyone. I spoke with the owner and he told me that he has received all of the autographs in person and would guarantee that it would pass authentication from anyone. The signers of the ball are as follows:

MANTLE,WILLIAMS,KILLEBREW,MCCOVEY,BANKS,SCHMIDT,MA YS R.JACKSON,F ROBINSON,PETE ROSE,JOE SEWELL,EDDIE MATHEWS BOB LEMON

He told me that he picked up the Rose and other non 500 HR club members in Cooperstown.

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Posted By: shelly jaffe

the five hundred hr ball is one hundred percent authentic. the only problem with the ball is that pete rose signed it.

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Posted By: Mark L

I don't think it's fully accurate to call Phil Dorsey Roberto Clemente's valet. But I'm sure you're correct about the signiture.

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

"Assistant"?

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Posted By: William

If the experts agree that the ball is good, I'd jump on it. That's a great price for that ball.
With the proper assurances, I'd buy it and add as many 50's and 60's HOFers as the ball, or your wallet, can hold.

Seemed strange to me too that McCovey and Robinson would be questionable, yet the Mantle and Williams looked good. My feeling was that the latter were among the most forged autographs of the nineties and were more likely to look genuine. I've always found the lesser players to be the signatures that are more obvious slip-ups. A bad Killebrew is usually easy to spot, whereas with all the forgeries of Mantle out there it's hard to compare an apple to a bunch of oranges.

I think I remember Rose being at that show in 1989, still it's strange that someone would add him to their ball. I've seen some weird stuff on purported 500 HR balls over the years. One in particular had forgeries of all the 500 HR members and genuine signatures of Bobby Doerr and Duke Snider. That was a head scratcher. I guess some people think that if one or two are real then the whole thing is real.