Ruth opinions
 

Hey All,

Apologies for the bother. I know this is super blurry, but would be interested to get some opinions on this one. It's on an authentic William Harridge AL Ball - so it's at least the ball confirmed to be period. Thanks and appreciate your insights. i know it is tough to see, I tried to blow it up a bit more.

No good.

How do you know?

because
 

it looks like a 5 year old with only three fingers on each hand signed it? Does it honestly look like any of the other examples you've been looking at? I suppose you could start at the beginning on the first letter and go from there. Not trying to give you a hard time - just suggesting you might be better served observing Ruth's signatures with a high degree of being authentic by consensus. Many examples can be seen here and in better auction house catalogs online.
Ruth's signature brings big bucks. That makes it fertile grounds for the skilled or do-it-at-home forger looking to separate the naive and/or greedy from their money. It's an expensive autograph notwithstanding something I heard here - the most expensive autograph you will ever buy is a forgery. That's why I think it important to be proactive - teach yourself so you're not blindly trusting somebody else - or link up with a respected entity and still ask questions. Any autograph you don't actually see signed is a leap of faith. The degree of the chasm dependent on many factors.
As an aside - balls in which the signature is illegible due to toning, staining, or other factors should be suspect to begin with and unless rare or steeply discounted - patience might be most beneficial (and you'll have time to study up :) ).

I have a few autographs but in no way mean to suggest I know ANYTHING about autographs and their authentication. I saw you struggling a bit so figured I'd reach out.

No guarantees whether written or implied.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I was hoping that given it was on a period ball it might have a better shot at being real. I actually thought the "Ruth" which was more visible than "Babe" looked pretty accurate...but as you can see I obviously have no idea.