The Quest

The Baltimore Orioles have been in town since '54 and have had over 900 men don their uniform. My goal is to obtain a signed card of each player. If you have something I need, or see something you want, don't be shy, we can make a deal.

Collection Statistics

Total Players 877/977 = 89.25%
1991 Orioles Crown Set
Total Players 309/465 = 66.45%
Alive Players 274/369 = 74.25

Sunday, June 9, 2013

The Truth About Sammy Sosa

Truth is, I'm not sure if the card I featured last month is real or fake.

No one seemed to think it was real and it very well may not be. I bought it on the cheap on eBay from a reputable seller with over 8K feedback and 99.8% rating.  These stats bode well for its validity but the autograph itself just seems off.

I paid about $10 for the autograph, so that is a red flag.  But, the overall market for Sosa is down, and this is an ass ugly set.

The autograph looks too legible and is slightly different from recent DNA/PSA autographs, yikes.  But, how many transformations does a signature make over the course of a 15 year Major League career.  This could be Sosa version 2.0.

Sosa being a high profile player makes his autograph susceptible to forgery.  But, he has hundreds of other in person autographs for sale, many no name ballplayers.  I also received a certificate of authenticity.  From the seller.  Personally guaranteeing the validity of the autograph.  50 years ago that may have been enough.

Could it be fake?  Sure.

Could it be real? Sure.

Verdict:
I don't know and really am not too concerned with it.  When I have sold a few in person autographs on line, I was never questioned and accused of being a forger, so I will chalk this one up to good timing on an ugly card that was signed when Sammy was honing his autograph.

3 comments:

  1. Oh... you were talking about the autograph? Seriously... I'm no expert on Sosa ink, so I won't even attempt to comment on its authenticity. But if it looks good to you, then that's all that really matters.

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    Replies
    1. Sosa has changed his auto so many times over the years. It's hard to tell what's real and what's fake. Here is the one I picked up last year and just got back from PSA. Paid a good bit for him on an O's card too.

      http://imageshack.us/a/img46/8621/scanez.jpg

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  2. Aaron, nice autos, how much is the PSA/DNA authentication?

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