Mookie and Pedro help, please

[tha-rock]

Two items were donated to the Nashville Old Timers Baseball Association for our 2025 Banquet auction- a bat signed by Mookie Betts and Red Sox cap signed by Pedro Martinez. The Betts bat had COAs from Envoy Collectables and Winky's Sports Collectibles of Port Saint Lucie, Florida. I've never heard of either company, so I don't put much stock in the COAs. The Winky's COA indicates the Betts autograph is from 2018. I would like to know if collectors think the Betts autograph is authentic.

I'm more familiar with Martinez, but he's also difficult to authenticate for me. What do you think about the Martinez autograph?

I'm sorry I can't get the photos to orient properly. Thanks in advance.

[dgo71]

Mookie is too scribbly to say with any certainty. It has the right characteristics but he has a lot of variation to his autograph. I'd lean towards good if someone just donated it without looking for compensation of any kind.

The Pedro looks spot on to me.

[tha-rock]

Thanks, Derek...

The donor is a member of our Board and purchased it with the intention of donating it for our auction, so he's not looking to make money since all auction proceeds go to the Old Timers Baseball Association. Our auction items are donations, and we want to be sure any autographed items are authentic before we sell them.

I'm not at all familiar with Mookie's autograph, and I don't even have one in my collection, so I am at a loss to know if it is authentic. Our 2025 banquet is January 19, so we don't have time to get it to a TPA for authentication unless we pay for expedited service which is prohibitively expensive and lost revenue to the organization if the autograph is not good. I am hoping I can get a consensus of opinions from hobby members that will make us comfortable enough to sell it, but if not, we may have to hold it until 2026 which gives us time to get a proferssional opinion.

Anyone else have thoughts on the Betts autograph supposedly from 2018 time frame?

[scooter729]

Here are a few different Mookie signatures from early in his career, all of which my son got in person at Red Sox games (I witnessed all of them signed).
- bobblehead box signed in 2016, not rushed
- baseball (black sharpie) signed in 2018, quick sig
- baseball (blue ballpoint) signed in 2019, not rushed (second one from top)

I can't state for sure how I feel about yours, but hope this can help give you a few comps from the era, which I can state are 100% real.

Scott

[dgo71]

The Betts does look like a very rushed version of the middle example scooter posted. Side note, it's wild how similar Betts's signature is to Matt Barnes right above him. At first glance I thought Mookie had signed it twice!

[WhatsNext]

Both good, Betts just very sloppy

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by dgo71

Side note, it's wild how similar Betts's signature is to Matt Barnes right above him. At first glance I thought Mookie had signed it twice!

Funny, I had the same thought as I was looking at it! Thank God many of these guys included their number with their autograph, since it's impossible to read their names in so many cases!

[tha-rock]

Thanks, Scott...

I appreciate the photos for comparison and appreciate the help from the community. I've looked at certified Betts' autographs on ebay and I still can't reach a comfortable conclusion one way or the other.

I realize signing on a curved surface is different from signing on a flat surface. I tried following the strokes on the "B" and it just looks different from those on eBay.

Any other thoughts?

[etsmith]

The Pedro Martinez looks spot on so I don't think it's a problem. If you hold the banquet every year you might consider sending the bat in for authentication for the next banquet after this one. One of the problems with that is that the authentication companies have failed more than a few in-person autographs despite them being authentic.

[tha-rock]

Yes, thank you. We may have to hold on to it until we have a definitive opinion one way or the other. If the conclusion is it isn't real, the donor would just keep it.