What happened here?

mlbfan2

Mickey Mantle autographed baseball

Signed with a magic marker?
Left it in the sun?

WinPitcher

Looks like it got wet.

Dboneesq

From what I have been told, those balls that are made in China are very cheap and they do not hold an autograph very well. Over time they will fade just like the Mantle auto did. The ball is not made from real leather ... I guess it's some sort of cheap man made material.

vladguerrero

<< <i>From what I have been told, those balls that are made in China are very cheap and they do not hold an autograph very well. Over time they will fade just like the Mantle auto did. The ball is not made from real leather ... I guess it's some sort of cheap man made material. >>



thats it, they are vinyl

Sean1125

<< <i>Looks like it got wet. >>



Without actually seeing this post that is the very first thing and in those exact words "Looks like it got wet", I work around water/markers and that is EXACTLY how they look when they smear when wet, the majority of the ink leaves but the rest stains.

prthd

we are kinda seeing the same thing happening with the autographed "letter" cards. cards are less than 5 years old and fading badly. similiar with some of the sweet spot autos.

otwcards

It appears to be the typical marker bleed from an inferior signing medium. I've seen this sort of bleed from both ink and marker on vinyl balls, usually MiC.

digicat

Sharpie bleed. NEVER GET YOUR BALL SIGNED WITH A SHARPIE.

SDSportsFan

<< <i>Sharpie bleed. NEVER GET YOUR BALL SIGNED WITH A SHARPIE. >>




I completely agree. The same thing has happened to a few of my autographed baseballs.

I've never purposely obtained a sharpie signature on a baseball, but back when I was getting autographs at games, many players would just keep the first pen they were handed, and use it for all the autographs they signed. They'd then return it to the person who owned it once they were done. This happened to me quite a few times. I'd try to hand them my own ballpoint pen, but they'd just take the item I had, and sign it with whatever pen they already had in their hand.

The reverse has also happened to me. I had a poster that was already signed by three SD Chargers with a blue sharpie. I finally was able to catch up with the one remaining player on the poster, and hand it to him to sign, with the same blue sharpie. Problem was, he already had a ballpoint pen in his hand, and instead of using the sharpie like the other three had, he signed it with the ballpoint. The signature has poor contrast, and can barely be seen; and I've never had the opportunity to get it resigned by him

Steve

csmtampa

sharpie+crappy ball = that

Piggs

Here's a good example of good pen bad baseballs. As a kid in the 70's Mantle was making a appearance at a appliance store at a mall outside Portland Oregon. He sat on a riser outside the store

and signed ball after ball handing them out to people for free. I got three and stored them in my room out of the sunlight but within a few years they started to fade. Now you can barely read them.

The baseballs? Crappy Everlast balls made in Tiawan. I got what I paid for that day. Doug

WinPitcher

Planned obsolescence.

Dboneesq

Doug ... still kewl to have three of them!

pclpads

At that feebay price - $229 - and in that condition, I'll take a dozen!

judgebuck

I know a fellow who got a Roberto Clemente autograph on a ball, and it faded it out and you cannot see it. You can only see the pen indention where he signed (if you look closely). Although it is "invisible," the guy still displays it in his sports room.