3 mantle balls you be the judge.

[STLCollector]

3 mantle baseballs, 3 different inscriptions.....I just dont know. I bought them a few years ago along with the 2 other mantle balls that I already sent to PSA and they came back good(they are for sale in the autograph thread). From the same local auction. I dont want to pay for to send these to PSA. Let me know what you all think!

[joed25]

All 3 are fake

[thetruthisoutthere]

Holy smokes!!!

Yikes!!!

1990's "Operation Bullpen" forgeries.

[perezfan]

Yup.... all bad/all from same source

[Donscards]

The autos are bad--but love your scanner. Don

[STLCollector]

Thanks guys. I thought the middle one had a chance but you confirmed what i didnt want to admit. Don-used my iphone and just took pics.

[rschisler]

Hi there, first time poster with a growing collection of hall of fame autographs. Going after Mantle scares me the most. I've studied a lot of the signatures, and I think I've identified some cues, but could you please educate me as to what exactly tips you off on these particular examples? To me A is cockeyed, C is pretty shaky all the way through... other things you look for? Thanks! I feel a little better looking for Dimaggio and Williams, but the tricks for Mantle elude me.

[GrayGhost]

Watch for the very pointed " banana M's" too. someone can illustrate that for you

[STLCollector]

Rschisler- interested in buying some known fakes for your official mantle studying lab?

[Misha]

Originally Posted by rschisler

Hi there, first time poster with a growing collection of hall of fame autographs. Going after Mantle scares me the most. I've studied a lot of the signatures, and I think I've identified some cues, but could you please educate me as to what exactly tips you off on these particular examples? To me A is cockeyed, C is pretty shaky all the way through... other things you look for? Thanks! I feel a little better looking for Dimaggio and Williams, but the tricks for Mantle elude me.

Me too. I have 2 single-signed balls that I know are real since he signed them in front of my eyes, but I can't see the identifiers that show the ones in these photos are fake. Want to learn more.

Interesting side story, Mantle was the first signing I ever went to, (was in 87 or 88 in Oakland according to my notes), and I handed him my 2 balls and a black sharpie. He said something like "you don't want to use a sharpie on a ball, a ballpoint pen is best". Seeing that I didn't have a ball pen, he borrowed a blue one from the person behind me in line and signed my 2 balls! So from then on I've learned to use different pens on different media. Great teacher and memory for me.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Misha

Me too. I have 2 single-signed balls that I know are real since he signed them in front of my eyes, but I can't see the identifiers that show the ones in these photos are fake. Want to learn more.

Interesting side story, Mantle was the first signing I ever went to, (was in 87 or 88 in Oakland according to my notes), and I handed him my 2 balls and a black sharpie. He said something like "you don't want to use a sharpie on a ball, a ballpoint pen is best". Seeing that I didn't have a ball pen, he borrowed a blue one from the person behind me in line and signed my 2 balls! So from then on I've learned to use different pens on different media. Great teacher and memory for me.

Michelle, if you work on training your eyes, you will eventually see the difference.

It doesn't happen overnight, and in my humble opinion, cannot be taught.

[batsballsbases]

As an example signed in front of me as I was one of the hosts for the Babe Ruth League.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by batsballsbases

As an example signed in front of me as I was one of the hosts for the Babe Ruth League.

Absolutely authentic.