Mattingly Game Issued?

[Eric]

I know this is the "Game Used" forum, but a forum member emailed me this listed from ebay for a "game issued" items which was worth noting. Not sure this is the true definition of "game issued"....

1993 DON MATTINGLY YANKEES AUTOGRAPH GAME USED JERSEY
JSA AUTHENTICATED
which sold for $1129.98.

3784

3785

3786

Here's the description
Presented is a 1993 Game worn home New York Yankees jersey #23 Don Mattingly.This jersey is refered to as game ready, meaning that it was issued but maybe never was used.This is a authentic Russell Athletics jersey it is size 44", which was found to be worn by Mattingly in the early 1990's. The jersey is autographed by this superstar directly under the New York Yankees emblem on the left breast. The signature is signed boldly in blue sharpie and was graded a "9" by Huggins and Scott Auctions. Acompanied with this jersey is a COA from James Spence authentication (JSA) for autograph only. The jersey also features a set tag that says "93" "Mattingly". See Pics Below.

[JimCaravello]

Hi Eric - there are three glaring issues with this jersey:


There is a "R" on the right sleeve, which is all wrong. There should not be any "R" on the sleeve.
The size is wrong - Mattingly wore size 42 up until 1995; when he wore a size 44.
The strip tag is a fake - it's not long enough and the stitching and lettering is all wrong.What you have here is signed jersey sold as game issued - a real crime.........

Jim

[Yankwood]

I thought the "2" looked horribly wrong....

[hblakewolf]

....what's "JSA AUTHENTICATED"???

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[suave1477]

Wow Jim hit it right on the head as soon as I saw the pictures I said the same exact thing to myself those stick out tremendously, I don't know how this could have been passed off as Game Issued.
I mean for god sakes they could have at least tried to remove the R on the sleeve lol lol.

[suave1477]

Howard, JSA Authenticated the autograph on the Jersey.

[JimCaravello]

JSA is Jimmy Spence - so he certified the auto. This is why ebay can be a bad place. The high bidders and winner think that JSA knows how to certify a game issued jersey - when in fact, all JSA is certifying is the autograph. This jersey cost someone $150 and they just made $1,000 with the fake tag and the misleading auction description. This stuff infuriates me............jim

[Eric]

Sorry-

Here's the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=290097750101&rd=1&rd=1

[kingjammy24]

hello

i saw that jersey last week on ebay. it was rubbish but i didn't have the patience to get into it on here. i figured..you know, if you buy a mattingly jersey with the "R" in plain sight, then maybe you deserve it. it seems in this hobby there's plenty of rightful blame on authenticators but you rarely hear buyers get an earful. they're usually portrayed as the innocent victims of unscrupulous activities. well, perhaps in some cases they're really the victims of their own laziness and ought to face the consequences of that. if you're going to part with $2k, for example, on a manning gamer and completely fail to even look at a single picture, then it's a $2k mistake that was your fault.
it reminds me of the current subprime mortgage woes. people stupid enough to get into loans they chose not to fully understand and banks lending to people who never should've received loans and now both sides are weeping as if the consequences weren't painfully obvious and predictable from the start.

anyway, the jersey is rubbish. the russell "r" on the sleeve is enough to dismiss it as anything but a retail jersey. if you wanted to go further, then, as jim said, the strip tag is poor homemade version. the final nail in the coffin is the lack of a poly tag. it's a doctored retail jersey that someone with more money than sense paid over $1100 for. the retail jersey itself is probably worth about $60. the mattingly autograph maybe $80. you can blame the seller for not researching what he was selling, but i'd be just as inclined to blame the buyer for not doing any research on what he was buying. it's buyers like that that create a market for lou lampson. without them, lou would be out of business.

rudy.

[DonFan23]

Nice job on identifying all the issues. It should serve as a reminder to all of us to check all the photos of an item carefully, as the Russell shoulder logo is not at all visible from the front shot of the jersey.

On a separate note, this auction also is a prime example of why I'm not at all crazy about ebay's new hidden-identity policy for bidders. I can't say with any certainty that there was anything fishy going on here, but I will always be leary of an auction where a losing bidder has 19 bids on a single auction item.

[allstarsplus]

The seller references Huggins and Scott auctions and I found the jersey on there which was part of a Yankees collection of 6 items. The winner of the lot paid $1,100 + Buyers Premium for the whole lot. The H&G Auction description makes no mention of "game worn" or "game issued".



http://www.hugginsandscott.com/f07/4888_clemens_signed_stat_jersey.jpg

http://www.hugginsandscott.com/f07/4888c_clemens_signed_stat_jersey.jpg

(6) New York Yankees Signed Lot with Clemens and Stengel
Lot Number 464


Quantity: 1
Bid Started: 02/21/2007 10:00:00
Bid Open: 400.00
Bid Ends: 03/09/2007 01:30:00
Bid Count: 13 Overtime: 30 Minutes
Currently: 1100.00 Time Left: 0m 0s
View Count: 176

Description
The presented lot contains six attractive New York Yankees autographed collectibles, including four single-signed jerseys, a single-signed ball and a multi-signed bat. The highlight uniform is a Roger Clemens signed limited edition (#13/22) jersey featuring his stats from 2001 embroidered on the front; the signature grades (“9”). The remaining three jerseys have each been signed by Don Mattingly, two of which are inscribed “The Captain”, ’84 AL Batting Champ, ’85 AL MVP” and limited to series runs of only 23. The third “Donny Baseball” jersey bears Mattingly’s signature on the chest, though no inscription is present; Mattingly signatures each grade (“9”). The lot also contains a Rawlings Big Stick measuring 34” signed by twenty-two 1998 Yankees including Rivera, O. Hernandez, Cone, Torre, Stottlemyer, Strawberry, Raines, Wells, Jeter and many more. The final piece of the lot is a single-signed Casey Stengel (d.1975, “6-7”) Special League baseball whose reverse sweet spot does exhibit minor piercings. Nonetheless, a superb New York Yankees autographed collection already accompanied by an LOA from James Spence Authentications.

[allstarsplus]

Location of the sig is identical. Blue to black ink? I guess it could be the flash.

http://i13.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/94/95/e417_1.JPG

http://www.hugginsandscott.com/f07/4888c_clemens_signed_stat_jersey.jpg

[JimCaravello]

Wow! Great investigative work!!

[Eric]

The buyer of the jersey is now aware of the work presented here. Let's see what happens...

[josh@hugginsandscott.com]

Hi Everyone:

First, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Josh Wulkan, I am the VP of Huggins and Scott Auctions. I recently found out about this board, after being a long time member and contributor to the Network54 board, which is more my area (vintage cards).
Personally, I have been a long time collector of game used bats, but once I got married and had a child, the funds for bats went elsewhere. Anyways, enough about me.

I'd like to thank you guys for all of your hard work and contributions to the industry. Like the "other" board, it's really amazing what forums, postings and chat can do within this hobby. In particular, I'd like to address this issue, regarding the Don Mattingly jersey that sold on eBay for $1129. I was able to contact the seller of this jersey today and had a long conversation with them concerning their mis-description and subsequent use of our name in the description. While I fully understand that the description did not state that we mis-represented the jersey as a game-used jersey, I felt it necessary to convey my displeasure with them using our name in a description of such a blatent mis-representation.

I do agree with Kingjammy24 that some of the blame for this item selling for over $1100 does need to fall on the bidder for not doing their homework (and the subsequent under bidder), but the title and description were completely out of line. Since the seller is also a bidder in our auction, I felt it would be ok for me to contact them and discuss this with them. After seeing my point, the seller has decided to not allow the sale to take place, and fully disclose the information, as it was reported in this forum, that the jersey was, at some point prior to us selling it, doctored to appear to be a game jersey.
I am guessing that at some point, the jersey will be relisted on eBay as a replica, autographed Don Mattingly jersey with a post-production strip tag that was not issued by the team.

I want to thank this board for their efforts and great information. I have book-marked the site and will check it often. I don't know how much information I will be able to add to your already extensive knowledge, but if anything comes up that I can chime in on, I certainly will.
If anyone has any questions regarding this, or anything in our auctions, please don't hesitate to email me directly.
thanks again,
Josh Wulkan
VP of Auction Operations
Huggins and Scott Auctions
josh@hugginsandscott.com
www.hugginsandscott.com

[allstarsplus]

If anyone has any questions regarding this, or anything in our auctions, please don't hesitate to email me directly.
thanks again,
Josh Wulkan
VP of Auction Operations
Huggins and Scott Auctions
josh@hugginsandscott.com
www.hugginsandscott.com (http://www.hugginsandscott.com)

Josh - Rarely have I seen anyone take such swift action as your company did in a situation like this. I called Bill Huggins yesterday afternoon to alert him about this distortion as I pointed out to him that your company has done nothing wrong here. You have taken an incredible step of doing the research into "TheCardboardKings" and righting a wrong.

I can only hope that your fellow auctioneers follow your lead as unfortunately this happens more than you can imagine.

Great job!
Andrew

[JimCaravello]

Josh - welcome to GUU and thanks for the post! I know that I speak for all of us and we thank you greatly for your post and the actions you have taken. Thanks again - Jim

[josh@hugginsandscott.com]

Jim and Andrew,
thanks for the welcome and I do hope that we have corrected this issue and hopefully it will not happen again (atleast with this seller).

Josh Wulkan

[allstarsplus]

Josh - In life we sometimes have no control over the actions of others. Huggins & Scott did NOTHING WRONG here as you sold consigned items in your auction in good faith to a 3rd party that acted on their own accord to misrepresent the Mattingly jersey and unfortunately "adverstised" your name in their eBay auction listing.

You could have done what most other auction companies have done and totally ignored the situation as "not my problem" because it could have jeopardized a relationship with a bidder (hence future profits).

The end result is saving the end buyer from a misrepresented jersey and exposing the TheCardboardKings which was the right thing to do.

For anyone that hasn't bid or consigned to H&S, this is a great reason to deal with them. Tops in integrity and honesty and business ethics!

Andrew