When an Autograph Is Not an Autograph

For almost two months, Jim Pierce spent his evenings and weekends searching for something, anything, with an autograph of baseball superstar Ken Griffey Jr. It was to be a gift for his son Ronald’s 10th birthday.

Finally, at a swap meet in Arlington, Va., Pierce found the perfect gift: a Seattle Mariners baseball jersey with Griffey’s name scrawled across the back. He excitedly laid out $250 for the prize. But when he visited a sports-memorabilia shop a week later and saw a baseball card, a bat and a magazine cover bearing Griffey’s autographs, he was appalled.

“They looked nothing like the name on the jersey I bought,” said Pierce, 48, of the District of Columbia. “I brought [the jersey] to the shop, and he told me I got ripped off.” So have thousands of other autograph collectors across the nation. According to the FBI, a stunning 70% of all autographed sports memorabilia is fraudulent.

“That is a conservative estimate,” Chicago FBI agent Bob Long said. “Some indications are that it may be higher than that. But our policy is this: If you don’t personally see it getting signed, beware, because more than likely it’s phony.”

In an industry that has swelled to $750 million a year, the sports-memorabilia market is teeming with con artists, primarily because of the trusting nature of sports fans.

“A lot of these people aren’t savvy businessmen or expert collectors, they’re just fans who love an athlete,” Long said. “That’s what makes the crime especially hard on them. They think they’re buying a part of an athlete they worship, but in many cases they’re getting their dreams stolen.”

The crime, officials say, is relatively easy to commit, requiring only a pen, a piece of sporting equipment and a zealous fan. Though some of the fraud operations are much more elaborate, cracking down on the crime has been difficult and sporadic at best, Long said.

“We’ve taken some memorabilia to the athletes, and even they couldn’t tell us whether they had signed it or not,” said Long, whose office uncovered one of the nation’s largest sports fraud rings this summer.

In August, investigators arrested memorabilia dealer Anthony Alyinovich, 29, of Chicago, on charges of distributing nearly $5 million worth of jerseys, shoes and balls forged with famous athletes’ signatures. Alyinovich, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud and is cooperating with authorities, also set up a bogus handwriting analysis and authentication company to dupe stores and customers, investigators said.

“It’s frightening how high the level of fraud has gotten, said Jeff Doranz, owner of Jeff’s Baseball Corner in Springfield, Va. “I don’t buy many autographed things anymore, and I’m in the business. I tell youngsters if they want to get a real autograph of a star nowadays, their best bet is to go to the ballpark and try to get it themselves.”

But even that can be risky. Baltimore Orioles officials say they have seen a rise this season in autograph scams at Camden Yards.

The fraud, according to those in the business, appears to be most prevalent in two areas: the legendary player who is still alive and the one who isn’t.

“When you’re talking about Ted Williams or Hank Aaron, they have signed so many things over the years it’s nearly impossible to tell what’s real and what isn’t,” said Camron Bussard, public-relations chief for Upper Deck, which produces a line of memorabilia that includes trading cards.

The problem is compounded when an athlete is dead, Bussard said: “Then you have to take the word of a handwriting expert.”

The FBI considers both Scoreboard and Upper Deck legitimate authentication companies, agent Long said.

The endorsement comes with a caveat, however. “There’s always the risk someone will also forge the certificates of authenticity,” he said. “It’s a purchase made with a lot of faith.”