MAN! (tul)?

[spedrunr]

anyone care to share some light on this ?

200151037531

[BretMan]

Ran across that one a few days ago and have it on my watch list.

Rawlings produced a Mantle-endorsed DCT first base mitt from '68 through '70. The were the top-line mitts sold, Heart of the Hide quality. I haven't seen many and when they do surface they bring high prices.

But there's something odd about this one.

Is it just me, or does something look strange about the Mantle endorsement? Like maybe it's been somehow darkened or enhanced? Or maybe even added on later?

Even from an autograph/handwritting standpoint it doesn't look like the signature matches the usual Mantle stamped signature. I'm no handwritting expert, but it looks like a poorly-forged attempt to copy The Mick's autograph.

[spedrunr]

hey bretman, i thot the same thing, it looks a little strange and it seems a little too high up on the glove. like if it were the real deal they would have lowered the bull and made more room for the sig

although the "personal model" part looks to be original

anyone have the real deal to compare it to?

[vintagebrett]

I found this picture on long-time glover Bruce Rodger' site:


Looks to be in the same area.

[burker72]

I just went back to this auction and it is down to $400. It looks like there may have been some retractions by past bidders - maybe the forum spooked some of the potential buyers.

To me, it is just not a good looking enough display glove to spend that kind of dough on. Besides, Mantle is a centerfielder and always will be, not a first baseman. At that point he was just hanging on. I wasn't around then, but I'm sure there are few memories of the Mick playing first.

[BretMan]

Upon further review...

Maybe my first post/assesment of the signature was a bit too harsh. I compared the endorsement to other Mantle gloves from the same era and they look to be identical.

Even the signatures on the other Mantle gloves look like a poorly-forged attempts at Mantle's autograph! But they are consistent with with the "penmanship" and appearance on this DCT mitt.

While I may have been off on that assesment, it seems that we were spot-on about the signature looking odd, or "darkened".

The seller revised the item description today, adding the note that, "The Mickey Mantle signature has pencil or ink over it, please email for a picture". The bid retractions listed under the "bidding history" seem to coincide with this item revision.

[leftygomez]

i was the high bidder as i have the lefty version and wanted a bookend, i asked the seller if the glove had ink and he repied about the sig. being highlighted with ink and i asked to cancell my bid which i did. i hate ink! then they had an administrative withdrawal by ebay(no longer a registered user) and that brought it down to 400.00. the ink makes it look funky/fake as i compared it to my lefty version and its on track.

[softball66]

If you'll notice from the other posts today, (my thoughts) it looks like our old forging buddy is at work again in Indiana. Not saying that this is a faked autograph or from him, but anything that looks suspicious on eBay at this time, take the time to check it out carefully -think it through. Caveat Emtor!