February 6

(LIABILITY QUESTIONS SURROUND ALLEGATIONS OF FORGED AUTOGRAPHS, MLB LOOKING INTO THE MATTER)

As Upper Deck ponders its course of action and response to the recent controversy surrounding it, and the card/autograph collecting hobby/industry awaits UDC’s response the question of liability lingers.

When HBO through its Real Sports show revealed two of the autographs on an Upper Deck trading card (SP Legendary Cuts) may have been forgeries, shock waves were sent through the industry. Kevin Demitros of Milwaukee paid $85,000 for the card on eBay. It was a 1-of-1 card which Upper Deck said contained the autographs of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson. Respected industry experts say the Ruth and Johnson are likely forgeries.

Lawyers for Demitros and Upper Deck to date have not worked out any settlement and there is a chance the issue, if not resolved, could end up in court according to documents obtained by TBR. In an industry where the by-law has always been “something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it” that by-law is going to get the ultimate test in this case.

Since the original story, TBR has found more such cuts on cards in this product which respected expert authenticators believe are forgeries and at the same time many which are genuine. These were reported in previous TBR articles. To this point only a handful of the autographs in this form, in this product are suspected of being forged. Upper Deck has not responded to formal interview requests in writing but there has been no indication if there are forgeries in the product it is due to anything but less than perfect quality control.

The matter does concern Major League Baseball which licenses Upper Deck to make trading cards.

"Regarding allegations of Upper Deck placing forged autographs into a baseball product we're obviously looking into the matter and we'll reserve further comment until we have looked into it," said MLB Spokesman Daniel Queen.

SP Legendary Cuts is a product licensed by MLBP because it uses retired players and MLB Logos. It is not a product covered by the MLB Players Association as are other UD products because it does not contain cards of current union members.

The other question which arises is the legal issue when it comes to the law itself, the state code. While laws vary from state to state we chose California for two reasons. It remains one of the larger states for trading card sales and Upper Deck itself is in California.

Who is liable if any card maker or a respected company manufactures a product and inside that product there turns out to be forged items sold as genuine? Is it the company making the product? Is it the companies who sold the items to the manufacturer? Is it the store which sells it or is it just “consumer beware?”

These are questions we put to the body which oversees such things, the California State Attorney General. First, we asked about the case of the manufacturer.

“The general standard is ‘what is known or what they should have known and would a reasonable person in that situation would they or should they have known it was a forgery,’” said Tom Dresslar, spokesman for California State Attorney General Bill Lockyear. “In other words what is the duty regarding the card that Upper Deck has in these situations?”

An investigation would have to indicate someone knew the autographs were forgeries when they were put into the product. This isn’t likely since it is doubtful there was intent on the part of anyone at UDC to deceive the public. Most consider the matter probably was an oversight or just sloppy quality control.

But what about dealers who not only sold products which may have contained forged autographs, but those who actually opened packs and sold cut autographs which may turn out to be forgeries? Basically if the dealer opened a pack and sold a forged card it would come down to the age old set of questions “what did he know and when did he know it?” If he knew it was forged he could be liable for criminal charges.

“By the mere fact they sold a card with forged signatures doesn't make them liable,” added Dresslar while holding out the other shoe. “But anybody can sue so it wouldn't protect them from a civil suit or from getting sued.”

Dealers are still selling the product of course as Upper Deck has not responded except to tell Real Sports (HBO) they stand behind their products. When asked about the liabilities of selling a cut which might be suspect, one dealer asked, how could storeowners be liable?

“I think it is BS, how in the world would the shop be liable?” Asked Mitchel Guttenberg of The Bullpen in Los Angeles. “We go on the premise that the cards are real when we order them, and sell them, so there is no way we can be held liable.”

For Guttenberg he’s hoping Upper Deck will respond and take care of the situation soon. He’s standing behind the product as well.

“Until Upper Deck says that they are fixing the problem, I’m still going to sell the product because as of right now the cut autographs are real,” said Guttenberg. “I have to still have faith in Upper Deck that they would be better than putting bad autographs in there cards.”

Another California dealer says he understands the situation from the law enforcement side but also considers it a practical matter.

“I think it comes down to intent,” Ken Buckingham of The Card Pavilion in Santa Ana told TBR. “If a guy unknowingly sells a forged autograph because he thinks it is good because someone has authenticated it, I would think he should be exonerated. If you can prove he intended to sell it that is a different story.”

Buckingham goes a step farther as do many in questioning who is right and whose opinion is wrong.

“I think it centers on the legitimacy of the authenticators themselves,” he added. “Maybe it comes down to a point of having a license for authenticators and having all the card companies have them. Compare it to a CPA for accounting and not just a book keeper.”

It remains a set of difficult questions which is likely why Upper Deck isn’t saying anything for the moment. The complex legal issues are many and millions of dollars are involved in the long run.

Global Authentication meanwhile took the opportunity to capitalize on the HBO show’s use of the company in a blind test to promote itself.  GAI issued a Press Release on the company website stating it was “featured in an extensive study of the Sports Collectibles Industry by HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Global Authentication (GAI) was one of six companies tested by HBO in this blind study.” The release went on to state the story will introduce a whole new audience to GAI and the services it provides.

GAI was given favorable marks for authenticating items and kicking back items which HBO sent them as forgeries.

**

February 9, 2006

(UD AUTOGRAPH SUPPLIER GIVES VIEWS ON UPPER DECK AUTOGRAPHED CONTROVERSY)

At one time Kevin Keating of Quality Signatures of Virginia was the exclusive supplier of vintage autographs to Upper Deck for projects such as SP Legendary Cuts. He began selling autographs to the company in the 1990’s and until the demand for autographs got so great and prices got out of range, he says he was the sole supplier. In an exclusive interview with The Brill Report Keating says with the craziness of the market on vintage cuts it was only a matter of time card companies would find themselves unknowingly buying and using forged autographs.

“As these projects got bigger and other card companies such as Fleer and Donruss started copying Upper Deck and including vintage autographs others were competing with me to buy up the cuts on the market and prices were being driven up,” Keating told TBR. “The prices have escalated in the last five years because the card companies are buying up the universe and pulling the stuff out of the market, creating a new animal, cuts on cards.”

Keating said Upper Deck might give him an order for 20 Babe Ruth autographs and he might be able to get 20 real ones. The going price was about $3500 each. As the market heated up he says there were plenty of other dealers out there willing to sell them for $2500 each, but many were not real.

“As others started competing with me Upper Deck officials maybe scratched their head and thought maybe they could get some for less money than from me,” he said. “They started buying from other people.”

It became a matter of quality control, or lack thereof. Keating says from his very beginnings in the industry he’s taken great care of making sure he knew the in’s and out’s of autographs.

Keating has been a collector since he was 10 years old and had thousands of autographs by the time he finished high school. He went off to West Point, served in the Army Rangers and in corporate America after the army. He owns one of only two sets of known complete Hall of Fame signatures. He doesn’t do auctions but is known as a respected buyer and seller of autographs and even served as Warren Spahn’s signing agent. Keating says he’s spent many hours with players he’s befriended over the years, many of whom are now long gone. He also deals with the Walter Johnson estate, which is how he first came upon a story in TBR.

When Kevin Demitros purchased the SP Legendary Quad Cuts card 1/1 on eBay for $85,000 Keating got a call from Hank Thomas (grandson of Walter Johnson). Thomas said the Walter Johnson autograph on the card wasn’t real. Upon further investigation Keating concurred.

“When I first reviewed the card I had a definite immediate response that the Johnson was problematic,” Keating said. “The (Babe) Ruth was a little more difficult as his handwriting changed a lot from the beginning when he was signing in the teens and 1920’s to the later part of his life.”

The Ruth was first brought into question on the HBO Real Sports show when Shelly Jaffe said he recognized it as the work of convicted forger Greg Marino. Jaffe, who was one of more than 50 people convicted when the Marino ring was broken up, has turned to helping reveal forged autographs on eBay and has also been interviewed for this publication. Keating says he doesn’t think the Ruth autograph was the work of Marino.

“I don’t think it was Marino and not to discount the fact Shelly Jaffe has some inside information I’m not privy to but if the Ruth is not authentic then someone else did it,” Keating said. “I did go through thousands of the autographs as I was preparing to be the FBI’s expert witness in another case and while Marino’s stuff was very consistent they were very different from this one.”

Keating says he talked to FBI agent in charge Tim Fitzsimmons who he says concurred with him that it likely wasn’t a Marino forgery.

The head of Quality Autographs said he also saw the TBR story showing several autographs on eBay (Upper Deck Legendary Cuts cards) which we sent to a respected authenticator. Some were suspected forgeries, others were rated genuine. Keating says he concurs with every one of our experts findings, forged and authentic, except one. He says one Babe Ruth cut our expert alleged was forged, was genuine and Keating says he sold it to Upper Deck.

“I agreed with the opinions of everything according to your expert but I definitely contest the Ruth which was on a flyer from the Commodore Hotel which I sold to Upper Deck,” he told TBR. “There is no doubt in my mind it is authentic and I think your expert just missed it but otherwise his conclusions were dead on.”

The card was from 2004 Legendary Cuts no. 7/13 and features a cream colored background with subway destinations on it. You can see this card in the “Newsletter” section of this site by clicking the Newsletter Tab at the top of the page. The story is archived there. The card had a minimum bid on eBay at the time of $8450.

Keating says he acquired it from a man in his 80’s who got the signature himself with his father at his side. He says the way the card companies cut up the autographs from documents makes it easy for even the best authenticators to make an error because the provenance is removed and the item is reduced to just the naked autograph.

“When you are looking at the autograph on the cards you are deprived of the contextual setting as you are not looking at the rest of the source of the autograph,” he said. “When it gets to that point it’s divorced from any contextual valuation that can be applied to it, it’s not like cutting up a bat or a jersey. The autograph over time is going to be subjected to all kinds of scrutiny and if the autograph doesn’t match-up the conclusion can be easily made the signature wasn’t authentic when it really is.”

In looking for autographs to sell to Upper Deck, Keating says he could have sold the company other legitimate signatures but specifically looked for autographs which would stand the test of being cut down to their rawest form. He said he wanted to make sure the company did not have to face allegations of forgeries because of variations in the actual signatures. When Upper Deck decided to buy outside his realm he says they opened up a can of worms which is the controversy going on today.

“Now what is happening because of the bad publicity regarding this card there is going to be an overabundance of scrutiny, right or wrong, placed on all the autographed cards out there,” he added. “Perhaps this will bring greater attention to it, if 99 percent have authentic versions this will be enough to bring attention to the very small percentage of mistakes.”

One of the downsides for Keating personally is his name is associated with the $85,000 card and he didn’t supply any of the autographs. Upper Deck was putting his company name on the card backs for years when he was the exclusive supplier. However, when other companies were being used his name became grouped with them. The cards don’t necessarily state it was any of the companies which supplied the signature on the card but rather these companies were among the reputable sources used to supply the autographs.

“I don’t mind my name being used when it comes to signatures I sold them because I stand behind those but don’t put my name on the card if I didn’t have anything to do with the signature,” Keating proclaimed. “I went to the company and told them this and they understood and agreed to my wishes for future products.”

Keating says it is unfortunate there is so much bad publicity coming from this but at the same time doesn’t believe it will unduly harm the industry either.

“Anybody who claims this is the death of this industry and these products is being completely irrational and over reactionary,” he stated. “It is an issue that is going to be addressed and I’m confident is preventable. Whatever mistakes were made or are perceived to have been made can be rectified and the systems are in place that can prevent these unfortunate conflicts from coming up.”

He points out, as most others have, authenticators are giving opinions, expert opinions but still opinions and there are going to be mistakes because it is not an exact science.

“I’m confident there are enough authentic examples of the people in question that can be inserted into these cards which would not raise any question by any reasonably accepted authenticator,” said the autograph expert. “That is what the goal should be and that these autographs will pass the scrutiny of any authenticator with any real level of expertise.”

To date, while Upper Deck has not responded to numerous requests for an interview with TBR the company did indicate they stand behind their products to HBO. While the case of Demitros and the $85,000 card has not been settled and may end up in court, TBR has learned Upper Deck is working to make things right with collectors who have cards which may contain suspect autographs, much as they always do with damaged cards.

**

Hitched to a Star
1/15/2003 3:49:44 PM
By Bob Brill

It was a bright sun shiny morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when Florence Brill took her youngest son Robert on an excursion to the Woolworth's store in the community of Mt. Oliver. 'Little Robert,' as his family called him, was in for a special treat. It was June 26, 1959 and his mother told him that tomorrow, Sunday, was his sixth birthday: the first time he was allowed to go shopping to pick out his own birthday present. The store would be closed on Sunday, so he was going a day early. The pair walked up McKinley Avenue to the closest street card stop and off they went. It would be a day well remembered nearly 50 years later.

Once in Woolworth's Five & Dime, he went straight to the toy section. There were myriad trucks, green toy soldiers in plastic bags, wooden paddles with a rubber band attached to a rubber ball and all sorts of cowboy guns and hats. This time though, with a new grown up attitude (after all this was the first time he was picking out his own birthday present) he was going to select something special.

Then it caught his eye. Hanging from a metal rack was the ultimate prize. It was what all the big boys had. His brother Jim had it. His cousins Rich and Davey had them; everybody who was anybody had them. Baseball cards! They stood out amidst the rest of the prizes on the store shelves. These featured three packs of baseball cards in a strip, and clearly visible were six of the cardboard collectibles. It didn't matter who the players were because he didn't know any of them anyway, but there they were.

He reached out and took them in his hands, looking at all the names in the Rack Pack of Topps cards. The cards on the front had pictures in oval shaped framed borders, while on the back each card had statistics and something written about each player. Also on the back was a cartoon which told something about the player.

'A cartoon,' Robert thought to himself. 'I thought this was for the big guys.'

He kept looking through the racks and then he found it. The words 'Pittsburgh Pirates' stood out on one of the cards. It didn't matter that it was Bill Virdon and the card was yuck, pink. All that did matter was it said 'Pittsburgh.' That was the home team. The guys would sure be impressed with this.

'Mom, this is what I want,' the youngster said looking up at Florence.

She nodded her approval and they made their way to the register where she would pay for his newfound passion.

Later that night before bedtime he began the ceremony that would later become a ritual, ripping open packs. Inside the wrappers were more great treasures. The Bill Virdon card was the only Pirate and quickly became his prized possession. There were others cards too. A team card of the Kansas City Athletics. Memorable because of the team logo on the card. It was a funky dancing elephant on a globe. The card was yellow. There was a green-bordered card of a pitcher named Don Rudolph and a lot of other guys whom Robert never heard of, (and consequently, of whom many followers of Major League Baseball hadn't heard of either).

While sorting them over and over, sometimes by team, sometimes by color, Robert began reading the card backs. One stood out in particular. The Don Rudolph card #179 was very interesting. The cartoon on the back pictured a lady with a short skirt dancing on a table top. She was kicking her leg toward a baseball player sitting at the table with a lamp and a drink. The caption read "Don's wife is a professional dancer."

Even at six years old young Robert thought this was odd. It was a moment in time he would recall often, over the next 43 years.

Flash forward to the late 1990's. Robert, now known as Bob, (except to his mom Florence, now 84), came full circle from the blue sky June day in 1959. He was no longer buying baseball cards, but he was selling them. He opened a card and memorabilia store in California after having spent a quarter century in broadcasting and journalism. During his days at United Press International he wrote about cards often and even had a weekly column for the wire service.

Yup, that's my story. And one of the things I kept over the years was a 1959 Topps Don Rudolph trading card, #179. This sits on my register along with two other cards at my store (KC Kings Sportscards) and often I'm asked why these cards are so special. My answer is always, 'These are my humility cards.'

There is a story with each card which features a story of humility pertaining to something in my life that I feel is a lesson I need to keep remembering. Why Don Rudolph? It's simple.

A fella works all his young life to have a shot at the major leagues. Not an easy task by any means. Then he looks for his first baseball card. On the back of that card is featured a cartoon which is supposed to talk about the player's accomplishments or the highlights of his career. For Don Rudolph, after bouncing around in the minor leagues for 10 years, his 1959 Topps card has this cartoon. The humility comes because the cartoon is not even about him…it's about his wife! You have to be humbled by that. No matter how far you go, or how big you get, it doesn't mean someone can't take your place or be more important at any given time.

Over the years I've often wondered about that card, Don Rudolph, his wife, who she was. Her name wasn't on the card and if she was a professional dancer, what did that mean? Was she famous? What happened? Not long ago I decided to find out.

The Encyclopedia of Baseball tells the facts about Rudolph's life but it doesn't reveal the whole story.

Don Rudolph was an obscure journeyman pitcher by all major league standards. Born in 1931, he began his minor league career at age 19 (not uncommon in the post war years) and bounced around the minor leagues for most of the decade. He was brilliant in Jesup of the Georgia State League, winning 41 games in two years. He was 28-8 in 1951.

As a big leaguer, he never fared quite so well. He was 18-32 in a career that ended in 1964. He came up with the White Sox, finished with the Senators and hurled for the Reds and the Indians in between. His best season was probably 1962 when he was 8-10 with a 3.61 ERA with the Indians and Senators. He even tossed the only two shutouts of his career. Part way through the year Cleveland sent Rudolph and pitcher Steve Hamilton to Washington for outfield Willie Tasby.

Rudolph was counted on to shore up a weak starting staff. He was the Senators opening day pitcher in '63, taking the mound in front of President John F. Kennedy on what would be JFK's last opening day. That Monday, April 8th, Rudolph pitched well against Steve Barber and the Orioles, but not well enough. Boog Powell and Jim Gentile smacked homers in a 3-1 Orioles win. After that, things didn't get any better.

When the season ended, Rudolph finished 7-19 with a 4.55 ERA and gave up a whopping 28 home runs in 175 innings. The lowly Senators finished the season 10th in the American League, 56-106. Relegated to the bullpen for part of the year, he picked up his third and final major league save. A former first baseman in high school, Rudolph must have thought about switching back.

'He should have switched when he was clued in by a coach in Washington that he had a 'crappy slider,' said Don's brother Robert. 'He was a good left-handed hitter in the minors aside from his pitching, so he probably should have switched to the outfield.'
The best thing perhaps to come out of that season was he belted his only major league home run. He had 20 hits in his major league career, seven of them for extra bases. His first hit in 1957, his next in 1962.

In 1964 he was limited to 70 innings and finished 1-3.

'They wanted to send him back to Buffalo in the minor leagues at the time but he didn't want to go back down,' relates Don's other brother Charles. 'So he went with his partner and started a construction company called Underground Utilities of California (in the San Fernando Valley).'

Thus, ended the career of Don Rudolph at age 33. Within four years, his life would also be over; tragically, he was killed when the old truck he owned lost its brakes, hit a curb, flipped over and landed on top of him. That was September 12, 1968. He left behind a famous wife and a seven year old daughter.

While I never met Don Rudolph, our paths may have crossed. I lived just two miles away from his home at the time of his death. We might have met at a grocery store, a little league game, or maybe we never met. We'll never know.

But the story doesn't stop there. To get the really good dirt about Don Rudolph, you have to look at what began in 1954, while he was pitching for Colorado Springs.

Rudolph was backing pitching after two years in the service. This is where he met the raven-haired beauty on the back of the baseball card. Born Patricia Hartwig, she was known professionally as Patti Waggin.

'She was the highest paid stripper in the United States in her time, she was everywhere, she danced Vegas, burlesque of course, Minsky's,' said daughter Julina Rudolph, now 41 and still living in the family home where she grew up. 'She was the life of the party, and loved life each and every day. She wasn't a drinker or into drugs. She just loved life period.'

This was truly one of those stories about love at first sight and a ballplayer continuing to pursue that love until it culminated in marriage. They met at a night club in the city he called home at the time.

'She was performing at a club in Colorado Springs and he was pitching for the Sky Sox, I think it was, and he and some others went to her show,' said brother Robert. 'It was instant love on his part. He kept pestering her for a date until she gave in and one thing led to another and there it was.'

Their relationship was, over the years, featured in magazines, newspapers and they even appear in the Cleveland Indians Official Encyclopedia where reviewer Dan Albaugh wrote, 'The 'Off the Wall' chapter features a collection of 53 off-beat stories and anecdotes. There is a photo and story of 1960s pitcher Don Rudolph and his 37-23-36 exotic dancer wife, Patti Waggin.'

For the story on the back of that 1959 baseball card, we went to the man responsible for those things, the legendary Sy Berger. Known as the grandfather of baseball cards, Berger (now retired from Topps) either wrote or oversaw the writing on the back of every Topps card during Topps' Golden Era.

'I remember Don and that card very well,' said Berger. 'Don and my best friend Bob Keegan played on the same team and Keegan, my old college buddy pitched the only no-hitter of 1957 (when Rudolph made his major league debut with the White Sox).'
Berger says he prepared the subject matter for the card.

'I remember telling the illustrators to find something unusual and nice about the guy, or some specific feat that he did,' said Berger. 'But Don Rudolph was not a very big character at the time so I thought that his 'wife was a professional dancer' was cute.'
'I thought it was great, just wonderful that my mom was on my dad's card,' said Julina. 'I carried my dad's cards with me all over.'

If Rudolph didn't get upset that his wife 'upstaged' him on his trading card, he could have encouraged Topps to be a bit more creative. While his first Topps card was actually his 1958 single, he eventually would have six cards with Topps. He had other team and minor league issues but only six major league cards. The first three (1958, 1959 1962) all used the exact same photo. Only in his last three did the company select different photographs.

 'We used the same picture many times in the early days,' Berger recalls. 'Often it was because we didn't have the photographers like we do today, or even in the 60's. You must understand this was 1959 and we were virtual neophytes. Those were the growing years.'

It went even farther than that.

'You may remember in the mid 1950's we had two photos on the card, one was an action picture,' Berger offered. e didn't have the photography or the skills so if you look closely we used different guys in those photos, often they are not the same player. Back then we had to make baseball cards, real baseball cards. Today we make works of art.'

If you look closely as well in the first three Rudolph cards, you notice from 1958-62 not only were the photos the same, but also in the 1962 picture, the cap was airbrushed. In the first two it states "SOX" and the other a 'C' for Cleveland is painted in. Berger didn't realize also, that there was another tidbit in the photo. While they airbrushed the hat, they didn't touch the White Sox uniform. Rudolph may be the only Cleveland Indian ever to wear an Indians cap and the White Sox pinstriped uniform.

'I guess we just missed that,' joked Berger.

His 1962 card carries other interesting items. It states on the front '1962 Rookie' although he had two previous cards and pitched in two previous seasons. Also the cartoon (here we go again) on the back is confusing. It states 'Don started as a first baseman but switched to the mound in school.' It then pictures a coach showing Rudolph how to follow through on his throws with his right hand. Rudolph was a lefty. He even grew an inch from 5-11 to 6'0' over the three year period according to the card back.

Don's death was extremely hard on Patti and seven year old Julina.

'He died three days before my seventh birthday in 1968 and my mother lost it and became reclusive for a couple of years,' the daughter said. 'She never re-married, she always had something in her heart for dad because he was the love of her life.'

The love story comes through in that while both Patti and Don traveled in big name circles, he in sports she in entertainment, they seemed unaffected by their status. He was a teammate of Minnie Minoso, Don Zimmer and Claude Osteen. She traveled the circuit with Blaze Starr and Lili St. Cyr among others. Yet, they would probably have remained happily married with their memories in tact had the tragedy of 1968 never occurred. The fact they worked together is a miracle in itself as most marriages have a tough time surviving that, let alone marriages involving two such high-flying professions.

They also missed out on the autograph scene, which began booming in the 1980's and the 1990's. While they did readily sign when requested it is hard to imagine few signatures of the pair surviving. Patti did send out her own homemade cards with her photograph through the years to fans that requested it. She always signed it Patti Waggin. Rudolph died so young and played for such poor teams that his signature wasn't in demand much during his lifetime.

Today they could have traveled the show circuit together, likely commanding a nice fee for their signatures. Fate, however, has a way of keeping some people from such things. And for us, it might be said, the Good Lord may have had a hand in having a six year old boy decide on June 26, 1959 that he wanted a particular pack of baseball cards to be his first ever sports collectible.

For Don Rudolph he hitched his Waggin to a star. For me, it was just in the cards.