Not your average "is this real?" Mantle thread

[Tuna82]

I do not want to say too much as to influence opinion but would love to hear the board's pro's thoughts. I try my best not to clutter the forum with these kind of threads but this ball has thrown me a twist...Thanks to all of you who share your knowledge around here. I have learned a ton... So what do you think?

[mighty bombjack]

Looks good to me, but others know Mantle better than I.

[packs]

Looks weird to me but I am not an expert. Though my Mantle instincts have been good in the past couple threads.

[Mr. Zipper]

In my opinion, it appears to be an authentic exemplar with a few road bumps.

[shelly]

:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d I would buy it and enjoy it.

[Tuna82]

Originally Posted by shelly

:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d

Shelly, Thank your for responding but is that a good smiley or bad one?

[shelly]

When its bad when it is good

[Tuna82]

Originally Posted by shelly

When its bad when it is good

haha...thanks, the animations didn't show up in original one for some reason. I appreciate you chimiing in Shelly ( as well as the rest of you)...Let's see if Jim, Richard, or Chris care to comment before I explain why I posted.

[dgo71]

Reading other Mantle threads, I thought the "banana M's" were a sign of a bad Mantle sig, so I would have thought this one was bad... This is why I paid a premium to get my Mantles from a dealer I trusted implicitly!

[Deertick]

Originally Posted by dgo71

Reading other Mantle threads, I thought the "banana M's" were a sign of a bad Mantle sig, so I would have thought this one was bad... This is why I paid a premium to get my Mantles from a dealer I trusted implicitly!

These are "banana M's".

[scmavl]

Looks good, maybe he signed it while walking. A couple of blips but enough of the right stuff to feel good about, IMO.

[dgo71]

Thanks for the comparison post, very noticeable difference when viewing them side by side.

[RichardSimon]

Shelly knows the Mick as well as anyone.
They closed many a bar in their youth .

[shelly]

You call them banana m's I call them the quarter moons.Either way they a crap. Richard, Mickey could drink almost any human under the table. The only ball player that put him to shame in that era was Billy Martin

[joed25]

100% authentic

[Tuna82]

Thanks to everyone for the replies....This confirmed what I already believed. I saw no issues with the autograph itself and the ball has the Upper Deck hologram on it. The hologram looked legit and I didn't think incription threw up any red flags (esp considering this was common UDA ball inscription). My surprise came when I called Upper Deck to verify the hologram matched a Mantle ball and their response was "We cannot confirm the authenticity" and will make no further comment. This concerned me as I generally check all my Upper Deck products with no issue. I do this as much for if I ever sell it I know many buyers will do the same. I asked question after question and they would say no more. I then as a test tried to verify other UDA products I owned which I had the original box, COA, pouch, etc.. as I knew they were legit. Not all of these could be confirmed so apparently Upper Deck has developed some cataloging issues or something lately which is rather disappointing. I always considered their memorabilia side to be top notch if you couldn't watch it be signed yourself...Anyways, thanks for the help. I haven't decided what I am gonna do with the ball yet but least I know its good whatever direction I go.