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kingjammy24
05-06-2008, 06:07 PM
Slugging it out

Batmaker, collector head to court

BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Robert Plancich, a high school umpire from Arcadia, Calif., is the sports memorabilia industry's loudest critic, a self-appointed whistleblower who has mounted a tireless crusade to clean up a dog-eat-dog business.

Some dealers and collectors call him a hero bent on reforming an industry plagued by hustles and conflicts of interest. Others - including some of the most prominent names in the industry - call him an abrasive blowhard who irresponsibly attacks the industry's most respected auction houses, authenticators and dealers.

Memorabilia's elite suffered Plancich's attacks in silence for years, privately dismissing him as an angry crackpot with no credibility. But last month, the industry finally bit back: Louisville Slugger manufacturer Hillerich & Bradsby sued Plancich in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking an end to his often confrontational campaign questioning the authenticity of a bat purportedly used by Joe DiMaggio during his legendary 56-game hitting streak.

H&B, which bought the bat for $345,000 at an April auction conducted by Mastronet Inc., says Plancich's relentless criticism has delayed plans to display the bat at its Louisville Slugger Museum. "Each day that the museum delays display of the bat, H&B loses money through loss of museum guests," the suit says.

Many collectors and dealers applaud the lawsuit. "He's been throwing mud at people for so long, it's time for him to back it up," says top authenticator Dave Bushing, a frequent Plancich target who was both the authenticator and the consigner of the controversial bat.

Other collectors and dealers, however, believe H&B is trying to silence Plancich, a former accountant who left a job at Arthur Andersen to care for his elderly mother and now gets by on savings and the money he earns refereeing youth sports.

Plancich declined to comment for this story, but supporters say he doesn't have the resources to hire a lawyer to fight H&B. Even if he does prevail, other battles loom: Doug Allen, president of Mastronet - the nation's largest sports memorabilia company - says his company has also considered legal action against him.

"This appears to be an attempt to shut up a critic of the industry," says Dennis Esken, the nation's foremost glove expert. "What Robert is doing is good for the hobby. It's just not good for their business."

Adam Warshaw, a Burbank attorney who is a regular on Network54.com, a vintage card Web site where Plancich frequently posts memorabilia industry criticism, believes the lawsuit may even violate California law. California's anti-SLAPP statute - SLAPP stands for "strategic lawsuit against public participation" - was passed in the early 1990s to protect environmentalists who were sued for criticizing corporate polluters, and Warshaw says it protects Plancich, too.

The complaint filed by Hillerich & Bradsby's lawyers does not explain how Plancich has prevented the company from exhibiting the bat, and company spokesman Rick Redman told the Daily News he can't comment on pending litigation. "How does a guy writing emails and letters in California keep people from visiting a museum in Kentucky?" Warshaw asks. "I don't see this as anything but an attempt to shut him up."

Plancich, moreover, is not the only person who has questioned the authenticity of the purported DiMaggio streak bat; as the Daily News reported in June, a number of prominent collectors, authenticators and dealers expressed skepticism. Both believers and detractors can point to mounds of evidence to support their arguments.

Some skeptics have been converted; last summer bat expert John Taube expressed doubts but now says a preponderance of the evidence indicates this was a streak bat.

But like many high-priced pieces of memorabilia, there's no hard evidence that proves with 100% certainty that the Yankee Clipper used this bat during his famous streak.

Marshall Fogel, a prominent collector from Denver, says it all comes down to how you interpret the data: "There's no question it's debatable. It just depends on what side you want to fall on it. Louisville Slugger made the choice to believe the bat is real," says Fogel.

The whole controversy, Fogel adds, would never have erupted if Bushing had not committed what he considers a serious ethical breach. It was widely known that Bushing had extensively researched the bat and gave it an A-10, his highest mark.

But he didn't tell people he was the seller - and had every reason to pump it up (Hillerich & Bradsby didn't know Bushing was the seller until contacted by a Daily News reporter weeks after the sale).

Bushing is the industry's most influential authenticator, and by not identifying himself as the seller, Fogel says, Bushing abused his influence. "I think he tries to do the right thing, but if you are the seller and the authenticator, you need to disclose that," Fogel says.

Some collectors say Bushing provides a valuable service that has brought order to an unregulated industry, but he has also dropped the ball on a number of big-ticket items. Most recently, Sotheby's had to inform potential buyers that a Tom Seaver glove offered at its December sports auction wasn't a "circa 1969," as Bushing described it. The glove, as the Daily News first reported, wasn't manufactured until at least five years after the Miracle Mets' amazing World Series victory.

"The 'experts' are authenticating pieces they are not qualified to authenticate," Esken says.

In past interviews, Plancich told the Daily News his crusade began a few years ago after several autographed baseballs he'd hoped to consign to an auction were rejected as forgeries. Furious, he formed the Collectors Alliance for Reform and Disciplinary Sanctions, a one-man group dedicated to cleaning up the industry.

Plancich threw himself into his campaign with a fury, contacting the press and law enforcement agencies demanding investigations and contacting dealers, authenticators and auction houses he believed were offering questionable memorabilia to the public.

Allen and other memorabilia executives suddenly faced an avalanche of E-mails, letters and phone calls that were often confrontational.

"If I see or hear that this historically significant piece of lumber is on display at your 'private' museum where the 'public' can view it, then you and your company have crossed a line that I am sure you don't want to cross," Plancich told H&B in June, according to the company's lawsuit.

Many executives acknowledge that Plancich has had a big impact on the industry.

Plancich helped shed light on some of its most blatant fumbles, including the "circa 1960" Mickey Mantle glove "61*" director Billy Crystal purchased for $239,000 (the Daily News later reported the glove wasn't used a the height of Mantle's career, but in 1966, when the injury-plagued slugger appeared in just 108 games and the Yankees finished in last place in the American League).

And as a result of Plancich's constant criticism, Bushing says, his authentication service will now inform clients when it owns a piece it is authenticating. "He's been a big help in a lot of ways," Bushing says. "I just wish he would do it in a positive way, and not be so vindictive."