[ATP]

These replica baseballs are a real scourge on the hobby. For a little while there I was seeing Babe Ruth baseballs and cuts that were replicas popping up left and right. It was easy to spot for a period of time because for the most part they used the same two or three exemplars to make them. At one point a couple years ago I gave up because there was a new one almost every day somewhere. I have probably purchased a dozen Ruth autographs in the last ten years, all of them not authenticated and I felt confident in doing so. I don't think I have bought one in at least three years and I don't think I will buy one again without seeing it in hand before paying. It stinks because with a vast majority of transactions taking place over the internet and with photos only, they look correct and the autograph appears authentic. It takes a second level of digging, to look past the autograph itself and make sure it's not a reproduction.