Mastronet slammed by "outside the lines" ESPN

murcerfan

schr1st

Any link available for it yet, or will it be on Sunday's show?

qualitycards

Slammed in what regard? ...jay

calleocho

a glove supposedly used by Joe D. that was actually made four years after he stopped playing

qualitycards

Calleocho - OUCH! Thanks for the update...jay

Also whatever happened to the Mantle glove that Billy Crystal paid almost $250,000 which was supposed to have been from '56 or '61, and it turned out to be from '66 a yankee losing season.

Scumbi

This item from the Mastronet current auction leaves me some doubts:

Meet and Greet Babe Ruth as He Comes Out of Retirement to Defend Home Run Record

You and two guests will spend breakfast and a full morning in the company of the Babe. He will sign whatever you like and tell you about his legendary feats including the "called shot" off of Charlie Root. Ruth has recently announced he will return for the 2005 season and try to stay ahead of Barry Bond in the home run department even though he's been dead for 50 years. Ruth admitted to reporters that it would be tough since many of his muscles have atrophied and his left eye is a gelatinous ball of rot. "I'm going to work extra hard in spring training to get my game face back on...or simply my face", was Ruth's quote. This once in a lifetime opportunity to spend a few hours with the Babe can be yours.

Est. 13,000,000 - 20,000,000 (Billy Crystal will receive 250,000 dollar discount if he bids)

Is there something fishy about this or is it me?

Scumbi

HCS

Hands down, Scumbi is the top comic on these boards.

mikeschmidt

<< <i>his left eye is a gelatinous ball of rot. >>



I am going to try and incorporate this phrase into some of my conversations today.

NickM

mikeschmidt - it should be easy. Just start a conversation about newspaper circulation auditing.

Nick

goodriddance189

oh my god, the "great" murcerfan finally comes out of hiding and makes a sports card related post. we should all feel lucky to have such an "expert" in card collecting share his vast wealth of knowledge

fsjeter

According to this article, it is Sotheby's not Mastronet.


Glove Story
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
11:58 p.m. ET (8:58 p.m. PT) on ESPN
In the memorabilia world, the DiMaggio name is gold. His gloves, bats and autograph have fetched big money and have consistently been among the most sought after in the industry. But what if a piece of treasured memorabilia from an icon of his caliber was found to be a fake? Tonight, OUTSIDE THE LINES chronicles just such a story. When a Joe DiMaggio glove appeared in a Sotheby's auction five years ago, accompanied by a signed note from Joe himself confirming it's authenticity, it prompted an amateur collector to begin asking questions. His search for the provenance of the glove led him to Rawlings and then to a renowned glove expert, who confirmed his suspicions. The DiMaggio glove that had sold for as much as $36,000 dollars was not even manufactured until after DiMaggio himself had retired. Tonight we examine just how prevalent this kind of thing is in the memorabilia industry and how buyers can avoid getting ripped off. Bob Ley hosts.

Guests:
John Brigandi: Sports Memorabilia expert on YES Network's, "What's It Worth"
Fred Budde: Has authenticated uniforms and bats for several major dealers and collectors

Scott

helionaut

I cam e in on the middle of the episode, so I'm not sure of the details, but Mastronet was invovled in some way. Possibly it was sold by both houses. Neither house sent a rep to be interviewed, but they both sent written statements, Sothebys saying that they basically were satisfied with the authentication and provenance, but Mastronet said that they had rectified the situation with the buyer, whatever that means.. And to be fair, if that's the word, there could be a simple explanation. They did state on the show that the glove in question was once owned by Barry Halper and sold in his big auction. He had 2 gloves authenticated by Joe D himself with signed notes. One glove was from the early part of his career, and the note states so. The other was from the later part of his career. Halper has speculated that the notes got mixed up in the Mastronet warehouse, so the note that Joe D wrote saying he used the glove in the early part of his career was sent out with the older glove. However, that doesn't satisfy the claims of Fred Budde who said that there were features on the glove that weren't used until after 1951, but 1953 or 1954 at the earliest. Fundamental things like laces between the fingers.

They interviewed a couple other authentication experts whose names I didn't catch who gave some fairly damning testimony. One said that it was basically a huge red flag and conflict of interest for the big houses to do their own authentication with experts on their payroll, seeing as they get their cuts on every sale. The other said that he was told by an expert at one of those houses that if you had a glove with a note from the player, and your house was flooding and you could only save one, you should save the note,"because you can always get another piece of old leather."

These are things that give me shivers about the hobby, and are probably why I'll never spend $50,000 on a glove.

murcerfan

The clincher to me was that someone at Mastro's claimed :
(paraphrasing)
"The Joe D. letter of authenticity was like gold, 'cause you can always find another glove to go with it"


edited to add:
someone at Mastro's supposedly said this according to one of the experts ESPN interviewed.

marz

post some better pictures here!

RG58

According to numerous sources, Joe Dimaggio hated Barry Halper (but he kept it to himself)-- Dimaggio probably gave him some old dirty glove sitting in his garage that he never used in his playing days. Joe is probably staring down from heaven with a big smile on his face, thinking "gotcha Barry, you scum".

mudflap02

And for the record, I seriously was able to use the phrase "gelatinous ball of rot" in conversation in the past few days. I was in New Orleans getting a flight physical, and the Doc dropped some kind of liquid pain into my eye (cyclo?) which he neglected to tell me would sting and dilate my eye for 36 hours until after he put it in. He came to check on me about 30 minutes later, and asked how my eyes were feeling. Then I dropped the bomb - true story.

jaybyrd

<< <i>According to numerous sources, Joe Dimaggio hated Barry Halper (but he kept it to himself)-- Dimaggio probably gave him some old dirty glove sitting in his garage that he never used in his playing days. Joe is probably staring down from heaven with a big smile on his face, thinking "gotcha Barry, you scum". >>



From what I have heard Joe Dimaggio did not like too many people and trusted even less.

mikeschmidt

I spent a day at Barry Halper's house when Joe DiMaggio was in attendance. I in no way saw any animosity between the two. My understanding was that Joe D. was a frequent visitor - and I would question why he would keep returning to Halper's house if he had anything but respect and friendship for the man...

~ms

DaBigHurt

Yeah, but how can 'according to numerous sources' be wrong??

RG58

I thought you guys were true baseball lit junkies.

You should give the newest Dimaggio book "Dimaggio. Setting the Record Straight" by Morris Engelberg and Marv Schneider a good read. You can pick it up at Barnes and Noble!

In fact, there are two great relevant chapters (chapter 4 and 5) in that book entitled "Big Deals" and "King of the Card Shows"

More... read pp 115-121. These 5 pages are entirely about the Dimaggio/Halper relationship.

It reads like this "Joe did what he did out of friendship, but he came to realize that Halper has used him to build a successful memorabilia business for himself....Halper used Dimaggio more than anyone else...when he saw Halper's number show up on the display (caller ID), he wouldn't answer it...Halper did not come off well in Dimaggio's diary... DImaggios's dislike of Halper intensified when Joe became convinced that Barry had purchased... "I should turn the a -hole into the FBI for buying stolen property"...


there is more... would you buy a glove for 30,000$ that Dimaggio gave Halper? I think Dimaggio is laughing as he reads this now!