Allegedly historic baseballs pulled from auction as fakes

From Kate Briquelet at the New York Post on February 15, 2013, with mention of SABR member Peter Nash:

A major auctioneer tossed a pair of purportedly historic baseballs from a New York City auction yesterday after an upstate memorabilia collector called them out as fakes.

A baseball supposedly signed by Yankee great Lou Gehrig in the 1930s and another supposedly used to make the final out in the 1917 World Series were abruptly pulled from bidding next Saturday by Heritage Auctions.

Both balls were manufactured years after their consigners claim, says memorabilia collector Peter Nash.

Heritage’s director of sports auctions, Chris Ivy, pulled the balls to cover his company’s bases.

“There are some questions on the balls’ stamping, and to err on the side of caution, we removed them from the sale,” Ivy said.

Read the full article here: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/baseballs_tagged_as_fakes_jIX5flVt2HaXwJHxUG9LsJ



Originally published: February 17, 2013. Last Updated: February 17, 2013.