FBI Helps MLB Battle Bogus Collectables

[SoCal Pinstriper]

From The San Francisco Chronicle:

Since it began in early 1997, the FBI investigation called Operation Bullpen has resulted in 62 convictions of people selling forged autographs and other bogus collectibles...

..."It really evolved from need more than from something we thought would be nice to have," said Howard Smith, senior vice president of licensing for Major League Baseball Properties. "We had a couple of situations in which, through the FBI and other investigations, we found out that in the ballpark stores of some of our clubs we had counterfeit material, and we realized we had to take drastic action."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...PGB6C4DR31.DTL

[TripleG23]

Major League Baseball Authentication Program:
http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/au...tion_index.jsp

Steiner Sports Authenticity
http://www.steinersports.com/authenticity.html

Look for other trusted companies part of the MLB Program:
Steiner Sports
Mounted Memories
Tri-Star
Upper Deck

Hope this info helps. If you are a big collector you can also read the same info in Tuff Stuff or Beckett.

-Triple G

[wexy]

Its comfortable to know while the FBI can't find terrorists in our back yard they can find bogus Jeter autographed bats.
Of course piracy is a real problem. Just look all the bogus DVDS and CDs that people buy on the street.

[Gehrig]

Of course there are many dealers who have legit stuff without charging 10x the value of an autograph like
Steiner Sports
Mounted Memories
Tri-Star
Upper Deck

Those guys are just reprehensible for the money they charge for a signature...

Last I checked, Yogi signs a baseball for example for about $35...

Steiner will sell you it for $149 !!!???

Just a bunch of theives...

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Its comfortable to know while the FBI can't find terrorists in our back yard they can find bogus Jeter autographed bats.
Of course piracy is a real problem. Just look all the bogus DVDS and CDs that people buy on the street.

They've only caught 62 in 8 years. I wouldn't say that they're doing great with memorabelia either.

[Romeo the Yankee]

Gehrig can you tell real auto's from fakes woould like to show you a ticket stub I have and see what you think of maybe what year it is from and if it was real.

Wanted to show you here but pics where too big.

[Blackout806]

I wonder how much an original 2001 Barry Bonds steroid needle sells for