[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Later facsimile autographs on cards, such as on Topps issues, were usually authentic autographs which someone at Topps would then trace over using a dark black ink for the sake of having a bold facsimile on the card. This is why the majority of the signatures look "close, heavy-handed, and just a bit off".

On the T205s, I was always of the impression that the artist may have freehanded many of the autographs from actual exemplars rather than tracing over an authentic autograph. There are various nuances in shading, sizing and formation that are often askew from the real deal.

Edit: I guess I'm just using different words to say the same thing as the others, but we're all in agreement!

Edit 2: Without looking over the entire set, I have some very distant memories that some of the "autographs" bear little resemblance to certain players' actual signatures and that these ones were just creations of the artist's imagination. It has been soooooo long since I've looked at this set that I have forgotten which cards these would be, or how many times it happened.