Andrew,
Both Mantle and Williams signatures did change, but that was over many years. Both of them evolved over 30+yrs and were influenced by the emerging show circuit. It has been documented many times that Mantle refined his signature for the card show scene specifically, and was also well known for the care he took to find the nicest spot to sign(as opposed to Joe D who couldn't care less about it).
This example would be a total change in his style of signing "E"s over only a few years. Personally I think going from a looped E to the more fancy version is a big jump. One would expect that as a person becomes a star and is being asked to sign more autographs that one would change to the easier version of letters, and not the harder one that takes more time to write.
I can't say 100%, but unless someone has some legal document of his signed that way, I won't believe it and wouldn't buy it.
To all,
I'm curious. Does anyone have an exemplar in their files of a documented Grove signed this way? Jim, Richard, Kevin, anyone?
Jason,
Cam you get a close up of the Grove on that ball?
Thanks
Best,
Mark
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