Greatest Ted Williams Auto

[yanks12025]

Here's the greatest Ted Williams autograph, I don't think someone posted it before.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ted-Williams...ht_1680wt_1159

P.S... If it was signed that way because of his health, I didn't know.

[Tuna82]

I saw this earlier and was afraid it was bait and switch as in thats not the ball that originally came with that box. I was considering to email asking about the hologram on the ball. My UDA Ted looks nothing like that nor any others I have ever seen.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

Here's the greatest Ted Williams autograph, I don't think someone posted it before.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ted-Williams...ht_1680wt_1159

P.S... If it was signed that way because of his health, I didn't know.

And of course Upper Deck would foist this one on the public. Even if it is good, even if he signed it when he was seriously ill,who would want it? It is so easy to get a fine Ted autograph.

[travrosty]

i think williams signed until the very end. the son kept shoving baseballs in front of him at every opportunity. but if he couldnt make a good sig, he should have called it a day.

[Tuna82]

Originally Posted by travrosty

i think williams signed until the very end. the son kept shoving baseballs in front of him at every opportunity. but if he couldnt make a good sig, he should have called it a day.

Yea but I am pretty sure he stopped signing for UD in 94 or 95 due to contract dispute...

[thecatspajamas]

Did Ted Willams sign for UD too?

[Wymers Auction]

That probably came form the LLP Auctions forger.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Wymers Auction

That probably came form the LLP Auctions forger.

We exposed them so much I thought they would be buried by now.

[Clark7781]

I think the "Greatest" TW autograph is the forged addition of text written on a "warm up" signature of Mr. Williams that his retard son submitted in court stating that his father wanted to be cryonically preserved at Alcor.

And yes, his son was an a**hole. When Teddy was honored at the all star game, instead of wearing his Red Sox hat, Jr had the old man wear a hat with the internet name of him latest venture.

Then, Teddy would be made to sign ball after ball after ball and was quoted along the lines of saying something like this: "I'm 80-soming f**king years old and still work [signing autographs]."

His son was such a scumbag...

[Wymers Auction]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

We exposed them so much I thought they would be buried by now.

You are right Rich, but it does have a scary resemblance of incompetence.

[Big Dave]

Ted did quit signing for Upper Deck around 1993, and signed for less then two years due to a contractual dispute. He didn't signed for them anymore after that. The signature shown is a very late in life style. The only way Upper Deck could have gotten that, and the signature shown is real, is to have bought it, cause it wasn't signed in their presence.

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by Clark7781

I think the "Greatest" TW autograph is the forged addition of text written on a "warm up" signature of Mr. Williams that his retard son submitted in court stating that his father wanted to be cryonically preserved at Alcor.

And yes, his son was an a**hole. When Teddy was honored at the all star game, instead of wearing his Red Sox hat, Jr had the old man wear a hat with the internet name of him latest venture.

Then, Teddy would be made to sign ball after ball after ball and was quoted along the lines of saying something like this: "I'm 80-soming f**king years old and still work [signing autographs]."

His son was such a scumbag...

I still wonder if John Henry's early demise was karma payback.

[mcgwirecom]

I was at the second 500 HR Club show in AC. I am not a big John Henry fan, but after he walked through the show I noticed that a whole ton of Ted Williams signed stuff had disappeared! He came by our table and stopped to look at a 500 HR Club Bat I had for sale. He asked "whose bat is this?" I said "it's mine" fully expecting him to say it was no good because I had heard he says that about everything. But I knew it was good so I stood right up to argue the point. Then he said, "this is a good one" LOL So my friend snapped this pic of us. He was actually pretty nice, but I know all the stories of how he made his money off the old man. But I think Ted was happy to be around his kids no matter what. John Henry didn't last much longer than his dad.

[shelly]

Ted Williams was under contract to UDA. He had a contract to finish off some four hundred baseballs.
. I bought seventy Williams UDA balls. To my surprise half of them look like the ball in the picture. Some believe it or not where worse. When UDA looked at them he was allowed to get out of what ever was still due. . Uda did what they did to all the other players that where under contract and left such as Mantle Koufax and others.They dumped them on the market.
When I showed these to people they thought it was cool because these would be last balls he would sign. Just to let you know the Williams balls where purchase by me for $60 Mantle bats for 500-600.

[jerseygary]

I was at Spring Training in Arizona years ago and was talking to a woman who had something to do with a local town museum and she told me a terrible Williams story. Someone had found an 11x14" original print of Ted at the first Red Sox spring training in Arizona in the 1950's (sorry I can't remember the exact year). The owner of the print donated it to the museum and this woman thought it would be a great item to have signed and put in a prominent place in the little museum. She packed it up and sent it to Ted Williams and it came back signed, but with an invoice from his son for a couple hundred dollars! After a few phone calls back and forth she gave up and mailed the photo back to the son and told him to keep it!

[JimStinson]

My John Henry Story........I was in Crystal River Florida , don;t remember what year but it was right after the museum opened , I was doing a buying campaign The local paper had done a story on me. My phone rings and John Henry introduces himself. Wants to know if I can come by and meet with him, "For what?" I asked and he said he wants me to explain "How I can tell an autograph is REAL". My reply was "You want me to explain in 1 hour what its taken three decades to learn?" he said yes. I asked if his dad would be there and if he was I would spend as many days as he would like to answer his questions about autographs FOR FREE. He said his dad would NOT be there. So I told him thanks but no thanks and that my time was as valuable as his .......It was like because I was in his "backyard" it was mandatory I pay him a visit. Massive entitlement issues ...A wierd kid

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

My John Henry Story........I was in Crystal River Florida , don;t remember what year but it was right after the museum opened , I was doing a buying campaign The local paper had done a story on me. My phone rings and John Henry introduces himself. Wants to know if I can come by and meet with him, "For what?" I asked and he said he wants me to explain "How I can tell an autograph is REAL". My reply was "You want me to explain in 1 hour what its taken three decades to learn?" he said yes. I asked if his dad would be there and if he was I would spend as many days as he would like to answer his questions about autographs FOR FREE. He said his dad would NOT be there. So I told him thanks but no thanks and that my time was as valuable as his .......It was like because I was in his "backyard" it was mandatory I pay him a visit. Massive entitlement issues ...A wierd kid

...and I'm betting he would have taken the info given to him to help him when signing his Dad's name.

[JimStinson]

I didn't want to come across as sounding "paranoid" but I was thinking the exact same thing

[danc]

Glad you didn't give him a crash course. I dealt quite a bit with Vincent in the late 1980's.

I appreciate you Sheldon and your attempt to educate as that ball is wretchedly good, I suppose.

DanC

Babycorn.

[7nohitter]

John Henry was an asshole of the firstclass...I'm surprised Ted didn't view him as an 0-18 slump....that's what he amounted to.

[Splinte1941]

I met Ted's personal attorney recently. During our conversation I brought up the rumor that John Henry was the best Ted forger in existence while he was alive. The guy told me a very interesting story of how Ted himself suspected the same thing and set up a sting to try to catch his son forging his name. The story involved a sick child in a hospital, etc. and either John Henry was too slick to take the bait or he was legit but he refused to sign the ball for the kid. In any event, the clouds surrounding a lot of that Green Diamond stuff will always be there.

[Tuna82]

Originally Posted by Splinte1941

I met Ted's personal attorney recently. During our conversation I brought up the rumor that John Henry was the best Ted forger in existence while he was alive. The guy told me a very interesting story of how Ted himself suspected the same thing and set up a sting to try to catch his son forging his name. The story involved a sick child in a hospital, etc. and either John Henry was too slick to take the bait or he was legit but he refused to sign the ball for the kid. In any event, the clouds surrounding a lot of that Green Diamond stuff will always be there.

Interesting story...thanks for sharing

[Big Six]

Despite being a huge Yankee fan, I've always admired and respected Ted Williams more than just about any other player...truly the baseball equivalent of John Wayne...that said, I can not image a more sad ending to a celebrity life than what Ted went through...and to think it didn't stop when he took his last breath...in fact it got worse. He certainly deserved a lot better than he got...here's hoping that the poor guy is at peace...

[JimStinson]

When they asked the writer Ernest Hemingway why all of his novels were TRAGEDIES where the hero always dies in the end , he said that life always ends in Tragedy and the longer you live the sadder the ending.

Williams was for sure a real life Hero ! John Wayne played hero's in films. Williams lived it

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by Big Six

Despite being a huge Yankee fan, I've always admired and respected Ted Williams more than just about any other player...truly the baseball equivalent of John Wayne...that said, I can not image a more sad ending to a celebrity life than what Ted went through...and to think it didn't stop when he took his last breath...in fact it got worse. He certainly deserved a lot better than he got...here's hoping that the poor guy is at peace...

Amen from another Yankee fan.

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

Amen from another Yankee fan.

[RichardSimon]

To me the best baseball story about him was the year he hit .406.
Many of you probably know the story but it bears repeating.
Hitting .3996 going into the last day of the season, doubleheader scheduled. His manager wanted to rest him and he would wind up with a .400 average in the books. Ted refused.
He played both games went 6 for 8 and wound up at .406.
How many guys playing today would have done it that way?
--
And the day that I met him in Florida, at Vince Antonucci's baseball card store, and spent real time with him, and listened to him tell me so many baseball stories, is the best memory I have in this hobby.

[shelly]

Richard,you almost went the whole thread without telling people you met him. I will give some credit. You didnt show the picture.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by shelly

Richard,you almost went the whole thread without telling people you met him. I will give some credit. You didnt show the picture.

I figured I would give you a break and not show the picture this time .

[whitehse]

I am sorry to dig up an old thread but I was searching for info on Ted Williams and came across this one. I knew Ted's kid was a turd back in the day and like a few people said, Karma would eventually get him but reading this thread made me remember something from back in the day.

I remember reading in SCD how John-Henry stated that a large majority of his father's autographs in the hobby were fake and he offered to authenticate any autographs if copies were sent to his home address. I made a copy of the autograph I got in the mid 80's from Don Steinback's Sports Collectors Store in LaGrange, Illinois and sent it off to John-Henry. I actually forgot I sent this off and a year later I received a response. I was actually quite pleased as I dont think I payed more than 10 bucks for the auto and I continue to enjoy it to this day.

[AbejasAsesinas]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Ted did quit signing for Upper Deck around 1993, and signed for less then two years due to a contractual dispute. He didn't signed for them anymore after that. The signature shown is a very late in life style. The only way Upper Deck could have gotten that, and the signature shown is real, is to have bought it, cause it wasn't signed in their presence.

This is part of my concern with the print I posted in this thread. http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=160994

My UDA cert has a copyright from 1996. I've noticed that many of the Williams autographed prints have a similar date, while most of the baseballs have a 1993 date.

So if UDA did not witness the signature, then they broke part of their claimed 5-step process, or there is a possibility that Teddy may have continued signing with UDA after 1993.

Yea... I'm confused.

ETA: Mystery solved (I think): Here is a SI article stating that Ted Williams and John Henry had a lawsuit with UDA, and after settling out-of-court, Teddy fulfilled the remainder of his contract starting in 1995. Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...08/4/index.htm

[Big Dave]

Thanks for the link to the story. Really enjoyed the read.