Babe Ruth Autographed Baseball Thoughts

[niembre]

Hello,
New to the forum. My wife's grandmother gave us this Babe Ruth autographed baseball. My wife's grandfather got the ball around 1936 from a president of a railroad company. He was around 12 years old. The ball has ES Barnard stamped on the side, so it dates to around 1929. The autograph does not look right to me though. I just do not understand why they would forge and autograph in the 30's. Could this be a clubhouse signature? All thoughts are welcomed.
Thanks

[thetruthisoutthere]

Just a forgery.

[w7imel]

There was a ball similar to yours on ebay that had a great story. Babe was traveling and at a stop he tried to get Ruths auto and his personal manager grabed the ball and signed it like yours. The guy told him he wanted babe to sign it and he told him "unless your a kid or have a skirt this is the only babe ruth autograph your getting." So this ball could be same senario.

[shelly]

Sorry

[niembre]

How much would a ball like this even be worth? I doubt I would sell it, since it's been in the family so long.

[RichardSimon]

It would be worth more then it is worth if it did not have that awful forgery on it.

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by w7imel

There was a ball similar to yours on ebay that had a great story. Babe was traveling and at a stop he tried to get Ruths auto and his personal manager grabed the ball and signed it like yours. The guy told him he wanted babe to sign it and he told him "unless your a kid or have a skirt this is the only babe ruth autograph your getting." So this ball could be same senario.

Bullshit.

[Mr. Zipper]

Did anyone have a huge memorabilia collection in the 1930s? Even a railroad baron?

"Comped" seems like an unusual word choice for someone in heir mid-80s.

[niembre]

She was just telling the story, probably what was told to her by my Wife's grandfather. She also found a program from the 1940 all star game in Saint Louis (signed by comedic actor Joe E Brown), a scorecard from the 1937 Saint Louis Cardinals, signed by the majority of the team (notables are Johnny Mize, Joe Medwick, and Frank Frisch), and a 1938 scorecard between the Indians and St. Louis Browns with several signatures of the Indians. Most notably Bob Feller (who pitched and got the win that day.
Here are some pictures.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

Did anyone have a huge memorabilia collection in the 1930s? Even a railroad baron?

"Comped" seems like an unusual word choice for someone in heir mid-80s.

For certain.

[w7imel]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

Bullshit.

Dave all I was passing along was a story that I saw for an auction that was on ebay. The guy who bought the ball from a older guy said that was how he came accross his "ghost signed". Dont know if true or not just the story that was told. Wasnt there to witness

[keithsky]

Damn you guys. This guy says he is new to the forum and just was asking questions. What is everyone ripping him for? I don't know him but no need to treat him like crap for his first question. No wonder people get pissed and leave on here. Wow

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by niembre

Hello,
New to the forum. My wife's grandmother gave us this Babe Ruth autographed baseball. My wife's grandfather got the ball around 1936 from a president of a railroad company. He was around 12 years old. The ball has ES Barnard stamped on the side, so it dates to around 1929. The autograph does not look right to me though. I just do not understand why they would forge and autograph in the 30's. Could this be a clubhouse signature? All thoughts are welcomed.
Thanks

...since all thoughts are welcome. Let's assume the best - you are honest, your wife is honest. Unfortunately, with those assumptions, that means that your wife's grandfather is the blatant liar in the story. Let's go with that.

[niembre]

Originally Posted by Runscott

...since all thoughts are welcome. Let's assume the best - you are honest, your wife is honest. Unfortunately, with those assumptions, that means that your wife's grandfather is the blatant liar in the story. Let's go with that.

No need to lie about anything. He had to get the ball from somewhere during that time. I took the ball to antiques roadshow in Austin this past summer and the lady who looked at it also did not think that it was a real signature, but she was certain that the ink on the signature was from that time period (30's) She just told me that she is not an authenticator, but the signature did not look like a real ruth signature (which I agreed).

[RichardSimon]

That is some conclusion from the roadshow lady.
To analyze what era ink comes from costs a four figure sum and hours of lab work.
And just because it is old ink, does not mean it was signed in 1930's. Old ink is readily available now.

[niembre]

All I know is that the ball was sitting in the same hallway since at least the 1950's because my wife's mom has always known about that ball. It's not like it just showed up in the house within the past couple of years. They have no reason to lie about it and I am not on here saying that it is real, but the ball from that timeframe has to have some value, regardless of the signature.

[Klrdds]

After reading these posts I feel that you are looking for an opinion on 2 topics:
1. is this ball worth anything autographically speaking because of the bogus Ruth autograph that you know is bad and has a sketchy background at best, and
2. Now that the ball has been shown to have a bad Ruth auto with some questions about its history in the family you are now wanting to know if the ball alone has any value in spite of this bad Ruth autograph.
You now know that to this autograph forum the ball is essentially worth nothing. I would now recommend reposting this thread to the Vintage Memorabilia including Game Used Forum for their opinion based upon your ( the OP) last post where you wonder does this ball have any value at all even with the bad Ruth autograph. Just a recommendation to get both viewpoints as you clearly seem to want to do.

[Runscott]

+1 steve.

Some of our holier than thou members have their noses too high in the air to smell bullshit.

Sent from my SM-G730V using Tapatalk

[Duluth Eskimo]

Or maybe people just enjoy putting other people down then play the martyr. I wasn't even talking about you anyway. It probably is bullshit, but who cares.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Duluth Eskimo

Or maybe people just enjoy putting other people down then play the martyr.

That's what I was assuming you were doing - thanks for validating.

[niembre]

I know it's the truth and that's all that matters. Read my first post, I knew it was not a real signature, I am just curious if you guys have seen anything like this before. I did some google searches and found this site based off of that. I have no intentions on selling the ball I am just curious if it has any value. I figure the ball alone is pretty cool and there is probably not many balls around from 1929. Trust me, if someone offers a $1,000 for the ball, I would not sell it. The ball has sentimental value to me and my wife's family. We aren't even going to tell her grandma that the signature is not real, why upset an 85 year old for something that really is not that important?
It's pretty sad that we live in a society that automatically assumes other people are lying or trying to get over on other people.