The evolution of Mickey Mantle’s signature
As an author and website owner who specializes in Mickey Mantle memorabilia, the single most asked question that I receive usually centers around the legitimacy of Mickey Mantle’s signature.
As an individual who has collected Mickey Mantle autographs and memorabilia for close to 50 years, I feel fairly competent in this area, but by no means am I an expert. Yes, I can spot a phony Mickey Mantle from 15 yards away, but the truth is, I too have been duped on several occasions.
Mickey’s signature is magical. His autograph is one of the most coveted signatures in the hobby. In fact, the demand is so great, that Mantle’s signature is one of the most counterfeited signatures in the world of sports memorabilia collecting. It has been said that 60 to 80 percent of the Mantle signatures on the internet are fakes. That may sound a little high to me, but I agree that the fakes are very plentiful.
Many times, I will surf eBay looking for Mantle items to purchase when I come across an item that was “supposedly” signed by Mickey. The signature is so bad it is almost comical. And what makes the situation worse is the fact that there might be as many as 10 people bidding on the item. I would love to be able to tell them to steer clear, but I know it is not my place, or is it?
A few years ago, I got an auction catalog from a small-town, Pennsylvania-based company that ran auctions on a regular basis. Inside the catalog, one particular Mantle item caught my attention. It was a single, signed official American League baseball that was supposedly signed by Mickey and possessed the inscription, “The Commerce Comet.” It even came with a letter of authenticity.
There were two problems. First of all, the signature was bad, and secondly, the word “Commerce” was misspelled. Now granted, Mickey may not have been an Albert Einstein, but he certainly knew how to spell the name of his hometown correctly.
It was this blunder that made me call the seller and ask why his company would risk ruining its already tarnished reputation. As soon as the intent of my call was stated, it became clearly obvious that he didn’t want to hear anything about it. The individual on the phone started to get “rude” with me for even suggesting that his company was selling tainted goods.
It was this terse response that started me to think about what just happened. It infuriated me. One would think that a company would want to be advised if something bogus appeared in its catalog, but this was not the case.
Then a few weeks later, I received a complimentary letter from Kevin Nelson, SCD columnist and author of “OPERATION BULLPEN.”
Nelson had nothing but high praise for me on my Mantle series and suggested that I include a section on Mickey’s signature and how it has changed over the years. The more I thought about it, I decided that it would be a great idea. Since my goal has been to inform the public since day one, this will cut to the chase and educate the collecting public, and hopefully eliminate the risk of collectors unknowingly buying fake Mickey Mantle autographs.
And so I begin.
THE COMMON MISCONCEPTION
Recently when watching a rerun episode of “Pawn Stars” on the History network, a guy brought in an autographed 1951 New York Yankees team ball and wanted to sell
