Hank Aaron opinions

[djson1]

Anybody care to give me their thoughts on this Aaron signed ball? Any Hank Aaron experts out there? I've always had trouble authenticating Aaron as his signature evolved quite a bit over the years. Thanks!

[Scott Garner]

Who is the league president on the ball?

[djson1]

Scott, it's a William (Bill) White ONL ball.

[dspuria]

I am not an autograph expert but I have been collecting Aaron for over 30 years and I have many Aaron autographs.

I believe your Aaron is real and that it was signed in the late '80's or early '90's. It matches up well with my Aaron autographs from that period. It is probably on a William White ball or possibly a Giamatti ball. See attached photos. First photo shows 3 White balls. Second photo shows evolution of Aaron's signature from Feeney (far left), to Giamatti (center) to White (far right). Sometime in the early '90's he truncated the "n" and the "k" for awhile. (He apparently had arthritis but was not taking any arthritis medicine at that time.)

Also, in the late '80's and early '90's, no one was forging Aaron since he was a $40 - $50 autograph.

Hope this helps.

[djson1]

Those are some nice Aaron signed balls, dspuria. Thanks for posting them. I especially like that Oh/Aaron ball. I recently passed on one just like that because I wasn't sure about the Aaron sig. The Oh definitely looks good to me though.

[dspuria]

My pleasure. Good luck.

[dgo71]

If I could borrow this thread, a friend of mine who buys collections recently acquired one of these Front Row Hank Aaron signed cards.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1992-FRONT-ROW-HANK-AARON-AUTOGRAPH-ATLANTA-BRAVE-HALL-OF-FAME-/321730848618?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae8a7276a

Supposedly certified but I have never seen an Aaron signature with an "H" like this, and the first "A" in Aaron doesn't sit right with me either. Checking eBay there are quite a few listed at what seems like steal prices for Aaron. I told him when he showed it to me that I didn't think it was authentic but he told me it was certified and he felt it was good. I wouldn't touch this card, even with the $30 BIN one is currently listed for. All I know about Front Row was that they produced draft pick sets for a year or two with players pictured in their HS/college uniforms, and then quickly disappeared. Does anyone have insight into this card? Any info is appreciated!

[dspuria]

I don't know anything about the card, but in my opinion, the autograph is bad.

[HOFAUTOS]

If I could borrow this thread, a friend of mine who buys collections recently acquired one of these Front Row Hank Aaron signed cards.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1992-FRONT-ROW-HANK-AARON-AUTOGRAPH-ATLANTA-BRAVE-HALL-OF-FAME-/321730848618?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae8a7276a

Supposedly certified but I have never seen an Aaron signature with an "H" like this, and the first "A" in Aaron doesn't sit right with me either. Checking eBay there are quite a few listed at what seems like steal prices for Aaron. I told him when he showed it to me that I didn't think it was authentic but he told me it was certified and he felt it was good. I wouldn't touch this card, even with the $30 BIN one is currently listed for. All I know about Front Row was that they produced draft pick sets for a year or two with players pictured in their HS/college uniforms, and then quickly disappeared. Does anyone have insight into this card? Any info is appreciated!


PSA/DNA has slabbed a ton of these as authentic. Bad thing is they are not good. The price they sell for is a good indicator that the smart collectors are staying away.

[dgo71]

PSA/DNA has slabbed a ton of these as authentic. Bad thing is they are not good. The price they sell for is a good indicator that the smart collectors are staying away.

My late night Google searching actually led me to a post you made about these cards on this site a couple years ago and I was going to PM you. I agree, I immediately thought the Aaron was bad and seeing the examples on eBay only solidified that opinion. Do you (or anyone) have any backstory on these? How did a company that at the time was trying to be a legitimate contender in the hobby resort to trying to pass these off as real? I was a little surprised that I couldn't find any articles on these cards in any of my searches. Just looking for further info to support my case, I really want something to show my friend (the auto itself was all I needed, but he doesn't know autographs very well) so he doesn't try to sell the Aaron to some unsuspecting collector.

[Karl Mattson]

The Front Row autos don't seem terribly different from most of the other Aaron autos I've seen from the early to mid-1990s - what specifically don't you like about them?

And, if they're bad, what's your theory of the crime? Front Row had someone forge these and then distributed them with Aaron and his people not knowing or caring? And then PSA authenticated them based solely on their provenance and didn't bother to compare them to the hundreds of exemplars they have?


http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq110/kmattson40/aaron_zpsw4hbp2eu.jpg

[dgo71]

The "H" and first "A" are the most obvious characteristics I don't like. Sure, they are "similar" but not close enough for me to believe they are real. Also, the slant of the Front Row signatures is completely different than any of the Aarons I own or have seen, or any of the ones you posted.

I'm don't have a theory, that's what I'm really asking about here. It seems mind-boggling that a company would pull something like this off, and I was shocked I couldn't find anything about this online. If real, which I highly doubt, why would eBay be littered with Hank Aaron autographs for $30 or less? If fake, why is there no mention of this anywhere (that I could find anyway), you would think at the very least Aaron would have brought a lawsuit against them.

[Exhibitman]

How would these rate?

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/miscellaneous4/websize/1970s%20Hank%20Aaron%20team%20issue%203.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/miscellaneous4/websize/Aaron%20Team%20Issue.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/miscellaneous4/websize/Aaron%202.jpg