Obviously, it’s impossible to get a new autograph from a person when he or she is dead, unless you dig ‘em up and put a pen in their hand, in which case you still need a picture for the COA. So it makes sense that there is a seedy underbelly of dirtbags who are selling forged autographs from famous dead celebrities because it’s really difficult to tell if the items are the Real LeSean McCoy or not.
Last week, the fine folks at Professional Sports Authenticator revealed their Top 10 list of the year’s “Most Dangerous Autographs”, meaning that if you’re looking to pick one of these John Hancocks up, you should probably double or triple check the authenticity. Especially if you’re buying them from a guy behind the Food Lion.
1) Babe Ruth – ($3,000 for a signed cut to $60,000 or more for a choice, single-signed baseball.)
2) Lou Gehrig – ($3,500 for a signed cut to $75,000 or more for a choice, single-signed baseball.)
3) Mickey Mantle – ($150 for a signed cut to $600 or more for a choice, single-signed baseball.)
4) Michael Jordan – ($175 for a signed cut to $600 or more for a single-signed basketball.)
5) Muhammad Ali – ($150 for a signed cut to $500 or more for a single-signed boxing glove.)
6) Kobe Bryant – ($100 for a signed cut to $400 or more for a single-signed basketball.)
7) Tiger Woods – ($250 for signed cut to $1,500 or more for a single-signed golf flag.)
8) Derek Jeter – ($125 for a signed cut to $350 or more for a single-signed baseball.)
9) Albert Pujols – ($100 for a signed cut to $300 or more for a choice, single-signed baseball.)
10) Ted Williams – ($100 for a signed cut to $350 or more for a choice, single-signed baseball.)
Wanna know the way to tell if your Pujols autograph is fake or not? Offer the guy selling it $100. If he says it’s not about the money and then accepts $130 from another guy, it’s legit.
So what’s the penalty for selling one of these fugazi signatures? One California man found out the hard way that… it’s really not that bad. Irving Scheib was busted for trying to sell a fake Babe Ruth autograph on an old-timey glove last week, as he was set to fetch as much as $200,000 on eBay. Instead, he was ordered by a judge to pay a $25,000 fine and serve two years of probation. Had it not been his first offense, he would have spent roughly two years getting his B-hole autographed in prison.
And speaking of the Babe, I stumbled across this old picture of his physical prowess, and now I can see why people are shelling out so much.
What a truly marvelous specimen.
