Posted By:
hankronI am no baseball glove or bat expert and could not authenticate a Sandy Koufax game used glove if my butt was on fire (not sure how my butt being on fire would help one way or the other, though), but I would want more evidence presented that this glove is not legitimate. Bushing/Knoll/SportscardsPlus/Sotheby's have represented this glove as genuine. Yes, they have made mistakes, but, before I overturned their opinion, I would want more information than the smallish auction pictures of the glove show it doesn't have much wear.
I understand that Herbie Scharfman (a well known sports & Dodgers photographer who I am familiar with) could very well have been given a legitimate Koufax glove, but the question is how does one attach the glove to a given game. Is Scharfman's word good enough? Is it possible that he embelished the store to his daughter over the campfire? Is his daughter's word good enough? What does her letter say? Is there relevant photo evidence, etc? Does the glove show game use? Has Koufax said anything? I would think the fact that glove was apparently displayed as the glove in Dodgers Stadium would be relevant (The Dodgers may have accepted Sharffman's opinion on face value and not researched the issue, but one would think the Dodgers organization's opinion would be worth something). Are the experts saying the glove is definitely the No Hitter glove, likely the glove or the evidence suggests it very well could be the glove? (How the experts represent their opinion does matter. If an expert says the glove 'could be' or even 'likely is' authentic that is what they say, and it would be wrong to claim they guaranteed 100 percent it was authentic.).
Even if I was a glove expert, I don't know these things. I guess what I am saying is that, on a personal basis, I don't know that the glove is authentic (though the glove is a Koufax glove, is backed by the opinion of the Dodgers and the estate of a famous photographer who would have had regular contact with Koufax). But I also don't know that it's a fake. Okay, the glove apparently doesn't show enough wear ... and what else.