[mr2686]

The problem is that there are a lot of variables with autographed baseballs. The pen used is important (some ink will fade), pressure used by the signer, how the ball is stored (sunlight kills), how much the ball is handled (oils from your hand will cause the spot toning you see sometimes, and last but not least, the ball itself. Some years seem to be much better for accepting the ink. Not sure if it's the manufacturing process in some years, or what. Bottom line, try to control what you can control and chances are you'll be fine. By the way, I have 150 plus balls and have only had a couple of them that had problems over the past 35 years.