1978 Tom Seaver No-hitter Game Used Baseball
 

I was looking at a game used baseball from Tom Seaver's no hitter on 6-18-78. Reviewed other game used baseballs from REA and Paragon Auctions. Found something interesting. The Ebay ball is a Rawlings 2-dot version, the REA is a Rawlings 3-dot version, and the Paragon ball is actually a Spalding ball. Is this possible to have 3 variants from the same game? Links to each listing are below.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tom-Seaver-G...item2347986a69

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...2012/1113.html

http://www.paragonauctionsite.com/To...o-LOT4480.aspx

Not likely...
Way to many question marks for me to want to buy a ball from this game after seeing the inconsistencies that you have pointed out.

The ball in the Paragon Auction sold last month for $1,360.00. Best I can tell, 1976 was the last year Spalding supplied baseballs to the National League.

Correct! So why would this ball have been used in this game in 1978? Not bloody likely... ;)

The key to collecting game used items is noted in the REA auction :

"In recent years, a large number of game-used baseballs from important games have been found to be fraudulent ... former Major League umpires ... provided the LOAs for many of those balls ... there is always going to be a leap of faith when it comes to any game-used item, be it a bat, jersey, glove, hat, or ball..."

What Doug just said, plus the provenance of an item is essential as far as getting to the comfort level to spend the amount of money that we're talking about. If you see anything about the provenance that seems inconsistent, simply walk away and look for a different collectible.

To quote Jim Stinson, one of the really good guys on the autograph side of our hobby, "the most expensive purchase that you will ever make is the one that is not (genuine) real". Solid words to live by as a collector.

The fact that you did the amount of research that you did prior to your initial post shows that you are already thinking clearly when considering adding an item to your collection. ;)

Scott, you know this from our discussions of my Ryan 5th no-hitter ball, but I generally don't trust any balls that claim this sort of significance, unless I can get a lot better provenance than these have had in their auction descriptions. I watched all three closely and bid on only one - not sure I even trust those official Cincinnati Reds club letters.

Wasn't former AL umpire Al Clark one of the main culprits?

Yes and he went to prison over it.
Fake game used balls from several milestone events including Nolan Ryan's 300th win, Cal Ripken's 2131 game and Roger Clemens 20K game in 1986 if I recall correctly.

Just noticed the ball on EBay sold. Never seen a Reds letter like that before. Ball sold for $450.00. No way!

Great info to know. I have seen some of these "game used" baseballs come up. Lost out on one from Ripken's 2131 game last year. Happy I did now. This is what I love about this board, always learning something new and how to arm yourself with great information. Thanks for the info.