THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310350
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT BOWLES, THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 91 lines
For almost two months, Jim Pierce spent his evenings and weekends searching for something, anything, with an autograph of baseball superstar Ken Griffey Jr. It was to be a gift for his son Ronald's 10th birthday.
Finally, at a swap meet in Arlington, Va., Pierce found the perfect gift: a Seattle Mariners baseball jersey with Griffey's name scrawled across the back. He excitedly laid out $250 for the prize. But when he visited a sports-memorabilia shop a week later and saw a baseball card, a bat and a magazine cover bearing Griffey's autographs, he was appalled.
``They looked nothing like the name on the jersey I bought,'' said Pierce, 48, of the District of Columbia. ``I brought (the jersey) to the shop, and he told me I got ripped off.''
So have thousands of other autograph collectors across the nation. According to the FBI, a stunning 70 percent of all autographed sports memorabilia is fraudulent.
``That is a conservative estimate,'' said Chicago FBI agent Bob Long. ``Some indications are that it may be higher than that. But our policy is this: If you don't personally see it getting signed, beware, because more than likely it's phony.''
In an industry that has swelled to $750 million a year, the sports-memorabilia market is teeming with con artists, primarily because of the trusting nature of sports fans.
The crime, officials say, is relatively easy to commit, requiring only a pen, a piece of sporting equipment and a zealous fan. Though some of the fraud operations are much more elaborate, cracking down on the crime has been difficult and sporadic at best, Long said.
``We've taken some memorabilia to the athletes, and even they couldn't tell us whether they had signed it or not,'' said Long, whose office uncovered one of the nation's largest sports fraud rings this summer.
In August, investigators arrested memorabilia dealer Anthony Alyinovich, 29, of Chicago, on charges of distributing nearly $5 million worth of jerseys, shoes and balls forged with famous athletes' signatures. Alyinovich, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud and is cooperating with authorities, also set up a bogus handwriting analysis and authentication company to dupe stores and customers, investigators said.
``It's frightening how high the level of fraud has gotten,'' said Jeff Doranz, owner of Jeff's Baseball Corner in Springfield, Va. ``I don't buy many autographed things anymore, and I'm in the business. I tell youngsters if they want to get a real autograph of a star nowadays, their best bet is to go to the ballpark and try to get it themselves.''
But even that can be risky. Baltimore Orioles officials say they have seen a rise this season in autograph scams at Camden Yards.
``People have been trying to sell merchandise they claim has been autographed by (outfielder) Brady Anderson,'' said Orioles spokesman Tom Kennan. ``But he hasn't signed that much stuff at all.''
Even more popular is anything signed by Cal Ripken. Ripken rip-offs have become so common, said his marketing agent, Ira Rainess, that the future Hall of Famer has signed an agreement that he will sign merchandise marketed only by Scoreboard, the sports merchandising company.
Ripken still takes 15 minutes before every ballgame to sign items belonging to fans, Rainess said, ``but we're hoping those things never go on sale.''
Sports memorabilia, particularly baseball cards, became big business in the early 1980s, as investors sought new collectibles after the stamp and coin markets flattened. Over the next decade, the sports-card market became saturated and autographs became the hot item.
Today, the cost can range from $20 for an autographed photo of Roberto Alomar to $5,500 for a baseball with Lou Gehrig's trademark tiny signature. (In contrast, Babe Ruth's bold signature, which fetches about $3,500 a ball, stands nearly an inch high between the stitches.) Neither, however, demands as much as Joe ``Iron Man'' McGinnity, a pitcher for the New York Giants in the early 1900s. A signed ball with his name commands about $15,000.
The fraud, according to those in the business, appears to be most prevalent in two areas: the legendary player who is still alive and the one who isn't.
``When you're talking about Ted Williams or Hank Aaron, they have signed so many things over the years it's nearly impossible to tell what's real and what isn't,'' said Camron Bussard, public-relations chief for Upper Deck, which produces a line of memorabilia that includes trading cards.
The problem is compounded when an athlete is dead, Bussard said. ``Then you have to take the word of a handwriting expert.''
Bussard said his company, which sells autographed merchandise, uses a five-step process to authenticate an athlete's signature, including having an employee witness every signing and imprinting the item with a serial number. The FBI considers both Scoreboard and Upper Deck legitimate authentication companies, agent Long said.
For years, the sports-memorabilia business went unscrutinized by law enforcement. Long said federal investigators were unaware of the prevalence of fraud in the industry until 1993, when a Chicago resident contacted FBI agent Mike Bassett to report that he had been sold a baseball card with a phony signature.
``It was almost luck that we discovered'' the scam, Long said.
KEYWORDS: AUTOGRAPHS SPORTS FRAUD by CNB