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A Book for Autograph Collectors

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ajw

New member
Jan 27, 2009
656
0
New York, NY
I just finished reading Operation Bullpen today. Wow. If you're at all interested in the autograph side of the hobby, you really should read it. It tells the story of Greg Marino's forgery ring, and the hundreds or thousands of autographs he'd forge every day. Anything from Mantle and Dimaggio to Ruth, Cy Young, Mother Theresa and anyone in between. After reading it I'm not sure I could ever buy a vintage autograph without having serious doubts. He would fill orders for two hundred Maris baseballs, one hundred Thurman Munson baseballs and a dozen 500 HR club jerseys in a day or two. Wow. Just wow.

Here's a link to the Amazon page, though I'm sure you can find it elsewhere. I got mine from the NYC public library.

http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Bullpen-Kevin-Nelson/dp/0978634004/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3
 

G $MONEY$

New member
Feb 8, 2009
14,156
1
Calgary
I read the book a few years back. I Enjoyed it so much, i started reading it again a few days after i had finished the entire book. This case really interested me (and still does) when it all went down in the late 90s/early 2000s and i have followed it closely ever since. How many of his forgeries are still on the market? How many have "legit" certs these days? Is there another "Marino Gang" out there right now, avoiding detection?


Heres a bunch of great info if you are not familiar with the case and read the book, its great!!!

http://sandiego.fbi.gov/bullpen/bullpen.htm
 

csmtampa

New member
Aug 25, 2009
1,475
0
"How many of his forgeries are still on the market?"

TONS. A lot of the fake 500 HR club baseballs, *** Authenticated Mays, Aarons, Mantles, DiMaggios, and Ted Williams. And thats not even getting into the vintage stuff.
 

Sean_C

New member
Oct 21, 2009
1,561
0
Agreed. It's one of the reasons I almost prefer team signed balls to single or dual signed ones. I stay away from photos in general as well.

csmtampa said:
"How many of his forgeries are still on the market?"

TONS. A lot of the fake 500 HR club baseballs, *** Authenticated Mays, Aarons, Mantles, DiMaggios, and Ted Williams. And thats not even getting into the vintage stuff.
 

ajw

New member
Jan 27, 2009
656
0
New York, NY
Sean_C said:
Agreed. It's one of the reasons I almost prefer team signed balls to single or dual signed ones. I stay away from photos in general as well.

Just so you know, Marino signed a lot of team items, as well. He's a big Yankee fan and apparently did a lot of Yankee team items.
 

ChasHawk

New member
Sep 4, 2008
22,482
0
Belvidere, Illinois
So where do you go if you want to make sure you are getting an authentic Mantle or Maris ball?

After reading half-way through The Card, I am starting to have doubts about every authentication/grading company.
 

nyc3

Active member
Aug 20, 2008
5,305
0
chashawk said:
So where do you go if you want to make sure you are getting an authentic Mantle or Maris ball?

After reading half-way through The Card, I am starting to have doubts about every authentication/grading company.
uda
 

Therion

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2008
5,779
387
Looooooosiana!
chashawk said:
So where do you go if you want to make sure you are getting an authentic Mantle or Maris ball?

After reading half-way through The Card, I am starting to have doubts about every authentication/grading company.

PSA/DNA is a joke. They've authenticated multiple Bo Jackson preprinted autographs in his autobiography. Even amateurs will look at the auto in Jackson's autobiography and tell you it is preprinted on the book.
 

Therion

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2008
5,779
387
Looooooosiana!
Also, a great site for autograph forgery news is autographalert.com.

They are the guys that helped get Razor to fix their non-authentic autographs. Too bad they didn't listen to me before a major stink got raised all across the autograph community :lol:
 

THECARDFATHER

New member
Dec 27, 2009
115
0
Therion said:
Also, a great site for autograph forgery news is autographalert.com.

They are the guys that helped get Razor to fix their non-authentic autographs. Too bad they didn't listen to me before a major stink got raised all across the autograph community :lol:

Read autographalerttruth.com. This site claims that the gentleman who runs autograph alert is himself questionable.
You cannot trust anybody anymore.
 

nyc3

Active member
Aug 20, 2008
5,305
0
THECARDFATHER said:
Therion said:
Also, a great site for autograph forgery news is autographalert.com.

They are the guys that helped get Razor to fix their non-authentic autographs. Too bad they didn't listen to me before a major stink got raised all across the autograph community :lol:

Read autographalerttruth.com. This site claims that the gentleman who runs autograph alert is himself questionable.
You cannot trust anybody anymore.

This has been discussed before, and to be honest I couldn't care less if autograph alert dude is shady. Everything on his site is dead on, I am not going on a date with him or going into business with him I am reading his blog. Now If I was buying something from him sure, but all his information on autogrpahalert.com has been CORRECT and helpful too many. Now the site you link is totally a dude up to something (been proven to sell fake autographs through his company) trying to defend himself, that sites "information" I question.
 

THECARDFATHER

New member
Dec 27, 2009
115
0
Actually, Autographalerttruth.com is run by Roger Epperson who is a music autograph expert. The ONLY person who claims he is not as advertised is the owner of autographalert.com.

The guy who owns autographalert is right about many things, however he too has allegedly sold bad items (as almost all sellers have). In addition, he is a staunch support of Royal Academy of the Arts who has recently been found to fake photos of celebrities in order to sell items of dubious origin.

I don't know or care first hand about either of these people. However, to read either of these sites and blindly believe is probably not wise. Scary part is that they are both very knowledgable and have a hard on for one another.
 

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