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Joe K.The father of one of my daughter’s friends has a Ruth signed ball displayed in his living room curio. He doesn’t know the first thing about Ruth autographs or memorabilia and doesn’t own anything else even sports related. He showed it to me one day when our daughters were having a play date and told a very heart felt story about how he received the ball from a gentleman who he really went out of his way to help many years ago.
The gentleman was so appreciative of the help that the father had given him, that he gave the father the ball. Is a very nice story he tells and I truly believe the gentleman thought he was giving a genuine Ruth ball to the father. The father seemed so proud of the ball as he showed it to me and told the story. BUT the problem is the ball is clearly a fake signature. In fact it’s one of the worst signatures I have seen, maybe even done by a child. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it wasn’t real. He asked me what I thought and I just told him it was a wonderful ball.
Ruth signed balls are very special. Even for someone that just knows Ruth was a legend and knows little else about him...…even if the signature is fake. I hope this father never learns it’s not real.