Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaneen
I'm sorry, but that is a baseless, unfounded, and quite absurd statement.
Athletes spend an astounding amount of time signing their names every single day. As an "in person" autograph hound for over 35 years, I personally stood outside hotels, stadiums, golf courses, fan events, etc. and literally got thousands of signatures from athletes every year...and there were 15 or 20 guys just like me in my primary collecting venue every single day. When you extrapolate that to every major league city in the country (and I was in one of the smallest markets in Cincy), plus every minor league stadium, plus every PGA event, and on and on I could go, there are more authentically signed items than you could ever imagine in existence.
In addition, MANY former players are on a perpetual autograph signing tour through life. I have personally been in the back room at autograph shows like the National. If you have never seen it, it is literally set up like a large warehouse production with thousands upon thousands of items for the signing guests to sign for wholesale dealers throughout the country before and after their public 2 hour appearance. Many of them sit in that back room being fed a continual assembly line of item after item for the entire day (or multiple days). I'm not exagerating when I say it looks like a mountain of items, stacked on table after table. And this goes on all throughout the year, non-stop. The number of private signings, and players charging fees to sign items through the mail...there is a continual glut of authentically signed material pouring into the marketplace every day.
Then there are the card companies...ever notice the numbering on some of the "limited" autographed cards inserted in packs? Sometimes it's in the thousands. Someone above mentioned some of these showing up having been faked...these are rare, few and far between exceptions. (But these miniscule instances grab headlines and therefore become myth-building fodder for the masses.)
And we have the major companies like Fanatics, Tristar, formerly Steiners and on and on who have these guys signing their arms off to keep the product coming...I'm getting annoyed just having to type this stuff just to dispel the asinine "estimates" I see some people just randomly throwing out there. My God...if Pete Rose hasn't himself signed his name 5 million times (at least!) in his life alone I would be shocked.
Are there fake autographs in the market? Absolutely...plenty of them.
Do some people get taken by fraudsters every day? Yes
Do major TPA's mistakenly authenticate forgeries? Yes, it does happen, but this represents a very small percentage of their work... it's the exception and not the rule.
Are 90 to 95% of all autographs in the marketplace fake? If you believe this to be true, I do believe there are billows of smoke blowing out your rectum.
(Disclaimer - While this reply was typed citing Chuck's quote, it is not intended personally toward him...It is a reaction to all of the ludicrous, unfounded statements and percentages being thrown around in this thread as though they are fact.)
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search the #1 most searched autograph and report back to me, LOL
"Mantle, Mickey", Then Jordan, Michael, Jeter, Derek...Koufax, Sandy. Trout trout pretty little trout. One more splash and come right out. 99% FORGERIES. Try "Autograph cuts" 99.9 % FORGERIES. I'd rather have cold cuts from San Carlos Deli. No chance of fake Nitrates.
Almost as absurd as my statement 3 years ago that baseball cards is a "billion dollar fraud." Members thought I was nuts. Now most with just a sliver of a brain can clearly do the math. It's a multi billion dollar fraud.