1957? Reds Baseball Opinions

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Posted By: Shawn Chambers

Hey guys,

I've owned this baseball for about 10 years. It was given to me by my aunt. My uncle (deceased) did work for a cleanup crew in Cinci that was responsible for game cleanup for a number of years. She told me he got the ball signed then. My uncle was also a drunk and a liar however.

At any rate, I just found this ball again. The players on the ball would place it about 1957. Some sigs are Smoky Burgess, Wally Post, Ted Kluszewski, Alex Grammas, Gus Bell, George Crowe and others...

I can't convince myself it is real because I have NO experience with autographed balls and am very aware that teams sold stamped souvenir balls by the hundreds.

Just looking for some opinions (and it's not going to hurt my feelings if it is as phony-baloney as my uncle!).

Shawn

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Facsimile ball.

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Posted By: dennis

stamped signatures but a nice item and has value to reds collectors.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Aside from the fact that it's rather easy to tell a facsimile ball from real signatures once you get acquainted with that side of the hobby, a red flag on these balls is there usually is no manufacturers stamp on the ball.

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Posted By: Shawn Chambers

Dan & Dennis,

Thanks for the input. I figured it was probably phoney. I couldn't spot any tiny ink blobs where a pen paused which I would expect on most signatures.

I'm not a Reds fan(even though they are the closest ML team), and that is why I forgot where I packed this thing until recently.

Hopefully, I will find someone who likes it and can sell or trade it off in the future.

Shawn

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Posted By: Mike H

People do collect facsimile signature balls. They are legitimate memorabilia that was sold at the ballparks of many teams. They aren't particularly valuable, but they are ok to sell as long as you represent them accurately.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Yes...I recently got outbid on a 1950s Omaha Cardinals facsimile ball that I would have loved to have. Didn't even know one existed until that ebay auction appeared on my radar.