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Posted By: runscott

You need a paper trail that stops at all previous owners, hopefully leading back to a family member of one of the ball players. There have been a number of baseballs in auctions that I wanted, but the provenance wasn't there - I was especially interested in some pre-wwI "no-hitter" balls. There were always great stories that went along with them, but they were also exactly the stories a scammer would have created. "right-fielder caught the ball for the final out, everyone mobbed the pitcher, presented the ball to him after the game and it's been with the family ever since." Heck, the right-fielder could have kept the real ball and sub'd a practice ball! Or a child could have used the ball for a pick-up game (this has really happened) and then his brother found a replacement before mom and dad got home.