I'm a newbie but would just like to offer an opinion on the examples shown in the beginning of this post.
The B in the autographs on the left side of page (done on a flat surface) are no different
to the B in the autographs on the right side (on baseball).
The B is not more vertical on the baseballs but is due to some foreshortening and change of viewing angle
when you photograph a curved object.
Think of a stick placed in the ground at an angle in front of you like "/"
when you start to walk around the stick it would slowly appear more vertical until it actually looks like this " l "
Look at the Babe Ruth autograph I picked from the left column and traced it onto a ball. The autograph is on top and the traced autograph on the ball is on bottom. You can see when looking at the red arrows that the B is more vertical in the photo of the baseball .
It is important to note also that the letters "th" in Ruth are now more vertical on the baseball because of the same distortion and can be seen in all the examples of baseballs shown
http://www.net54baseball.com/attachm...1&d=1358810459
my .02 cents for what its worth