The Ball letter could possibly have been faked, removing ink and retyping with am old typewriter etc.
The points against that are many.
At the time Halper would have gotten it, it would have been a cool but not important item from a non- star player. The nuisance of faking a worn letter to a player from a non- player would make no economic sense. The item they would have had to clean to create it would probably have been worth more.
Get an actual letter to Ball on NY stationery
Clean off existing content
Find an old typewriter or two... It looks like the main letter was a form letter and the name added.
Add different content.
So much work so little return.... Well into the 1990's, I could regularly find letters from somewhat notable people for under $5. Probably still can, it's just a little less common.
Bulger was a sportswriter, and if I recall correctly, at the time sportswriters covering baseball were very close to the team. Perhaps even paid by the team at times. Sort of a PR function where the paper employed them to cover other things during the off season. So the letterhead doesn't surprise me at all.
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