OT: YouTube Video Of Bryce Harper Signing/Mantle Forgery
 

This was brought to my attention a few minutes ago. Bryce Harper autographing a baseball with The Mick's signature already on it. Unfortunately, the Mantle signature is a forgery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7kBg...eature=related

So much for the guys "grandfather" getting The Micks sig, eh Chris? ;)

They all get the forgeries from their grandfather, only their grandfather was
Marc A. Szakaly, the guy busted in Florida for forging Ruth baseballs.

How many Mantle forgeries do we see on Ebay where the seller writes "This was handed down to me from my father or grandfather." Most of the crap was probably purchased from the Home Shopping channels during the 1990's.

There ya go, grandpa shopped on Home Shopping :D.

What I don't get is even if the Mantle was legit, why have Harper sign it? They don't have anything in common at all. it would cut down the value. like adding a hank aaron or barry bonds to a ruth ball. no one is doing it anymore once they saw single signed ruth ball going way up with the aaron (or bonds) not adding anything to the value and making it worth less.

I like the way one commenter says it's no big deal because harper is a certain hall of famer barring injury. Oh if I had a nickel! Ken G. on the home shopping network pumping up some of these #1 draft picks rookie cards saying they are the next Nolan Ryan or Reggie Jackson so buy now.

Travis,
As Forest Gump so famously said: "Stupid is as stupid does". :p

I could understand the argument that "barring injury", Bryce Harper WAS a certain Hall of Famer. The only problem is, that he's not a catcher anymore. Speculatively speaking, the type of offensive production he should have would've been spectacular for a catcher, however, in the OF it's just not as impressive. I understand the Nationals wanting to protect their investment, but this simple move reduced the value of their investment.

Coincidentally, I view Joe Mauer the same way. If he ends up moving to the OF or DH, he suddenly becomes overpaid/overrated. As a big Victor Martinez fan, I always felt the same about him too, especially since he's rarely behind the plate anymore. These guys are still great, BUT not as great if they're not behind the plate..

if he really wanted harpers signature on a mantle ball he thought was real, he could simply wait until harpers hof career is over, then get the sig. its not like wouldnt be signing then. he could cut down on his risk that harper doesnt become another todd van poppel or brien taylor, etc. (i realize those guys were pitchers, which is even more risky, and taylor never even pitched in the majors.)

Any Feller/van poppel or Gibson/Taylor signed balls would simply look foolish.

hes probably getting it signed to sell right now. Harper is all the hype right now and if peeps are paying thousands for a rookie card, trust me someone will pay a huge premium for Harper/Mantle dual ball over just a Mantle on its own (even though the Mantle is fake)


http://www.ebay.com/itm/2011-BRYCE-H...item2c6381b3ad

Wow. Sometimes I wish I could actually play baseball. I would have taken one look and broke the guy's heart. But hey, I would have given my hat or something.

On a side note, I still think Mauer is a guaranteed first ballot HOFer. Three batting titles while a full-time catcher. No equals at the position.

Agreed. However, from here on out, if he moves from behind the plate, he's not quite AS valuable to the team as if he were behind it. Regardless of position, he and Vic are still two of the best hitters in the game when healthy though.

Do you think those guys that got Mark Prior's auto on a Koufax ball are regretting it? There are always "can't miss" prospects every year. Matt Bush was a can't miss prospect being the #1 pick and never made the show. Like the other guy said, wait for about 15 years and then get the auto.

too bad
 

This is the same exact forgery I got swindled on way back.
Here I am about to hit in into Lake Cochituate in Wayland, Massachusetts.
As you can see, I wrote "FOGERY" and "Dealer's Name" on it! (mis-spelled on purpose!)

My called shot!
 

Here I am calling the shot, lol......
Regards, Bill Hedin

move over, Babe!
 

lol, despite my illness, I made it into the lake...... where forgeries belong!

Whenever I hear phrases like "cant miss player" or "future HOF'r" attached to players in their 2nd or 3rd year, it always brings to mind those greats from yesteryear such as,...Jeffries,..Strawberry,..and,...ahh,..umm,... that dude that played with the Reds.

Sabo? or Esasky?(just kidding about Esasky).

How about the Yankees Sterling Hitchcock? What a bust!!

Here in Cleveland, I believe it was Mark Lewis..

no, not him, umm,...oh yeah,.. Eric Davis.

I can see the headline now.

PRICELESS BASEBALL FOUND IN LAKE!! :D

Mark Lewis was definately another one! ;)

I collected Eric Anthony rookie cards when they first came out, speculating he was going to be the next superstar. Lucky I didn't pay much for them.

but tracking him down his rookie year and asking him to sign a willie mays, hank aaron or ernie banks signed baseball would be ridiculous.

Duh! How could I forget the obvious Cleveland sure thing...Cory Snyder.

Yessir, Cory was one too. I actually played A league softball in Newport Beach, CA against Cory Snyder and company after he busted out of the major leagues. We beat 'em. ;)

As big of a bust as he was, he was still one of my favorite players as a kid. His real value would've been at SS, but he ultimately just became one of those super-utility types.. Not a a bad player to have though..

Eric Anthony didn't even have 25% of the hype that Bryce Harper has.

A better comparison would be all the people back in the day getting Todd Van Poppel to sign an item that Nolan Ryan had already signed since Van Poppel was the next Nolan Ryan. Especially after Beckett put (and hyped) Van Poppel and Ryan together on the cover of their first ever issue of "Beckett focus on future stars"


But i do think it is something very foolish to do, but there IS a market for it. Just look at numerous new cards that come out these days were a dual autographed card will pair a rookie "future star" and a hofer together and it sells for big bucks.

I remember when Sidney Crosby was an NHL rookie and people were getting items dual signed by him and Mario Lemieux or back when Lebron James first entered the league and their were items dual signed of him and Michael Jordan. Sometimes it may end up working out, more times the item will look foolish a few years after it was signed, but there is STILL a market for items like this whenever "The next future superstar" starts to play. A ton of people like to buy based on hype.