Mark Mcgwire Collectibles Are Hard To Find

As recently as three years ago, anyone looking to acquire a Mark McGwire baseball card, autograph or game-used jersey would have had little difficulty.

"His cards were in the bargain bins," said Rich Klein, a trading card price analyst for Beckett Publications. "Dealers couldn't give them away."

These days, with McGwire chasing Roger Maris' single-season home-run mark, it's difficult to find McGwire collectibles at any price.

Because the supply of McMemorabilia is not keeping pace with demand, autograph forgers and unethical sports dealers have been preying on unsuspecting customers. Earlier this month, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon launched an investigation into several companies reportedly selling forgeries. McGwire has identified several bogus signatures, including a fake facsimile inadvertently printed on the cover of a collectibles magazine.

According to Bob Cohen, his agent, the slugger has not signed autographs at card shows in more than a decade and has turned down numerous lucrative offers to sign items privately.

"He's focused, and he realized at the beginning of the season that he didn't need any distractions," he said. "He's not out there running after every check that's thrown at him."

The value of McGwire's rookie card - 1985 Topps card No. 401 picturing him a 1984 Olympic uniform - has risen in recent months from $30 to $100, according to Beckett Baseball Card Monthly.

A signed baseball is worth $45, according to Tuff Stuff magazine, and a legitimate game-worn jersey can command more than $1,000.

The problem, in the case of autographs and game-worn memorabilia, is proving authenticity. Unlike many top players, who are paid by memorabilia companies to provide signatures, McGwire has no such arrangements, signing only at the ballpark.

Ken Griffey Jr., who also is chasing Maris, has been paid for years by Upper Deck Authenticated of Carlsbad, Calif., to provide autographs, which are sold through a network of dealers and retail outlets. The company places irremovable holograms on each signed photo, ball and jersey to ensure authenticity.

Cal Ripken Jr., a generous signer at the ballpark, has signed for The Score Board, a Cherry Hill, N.J., company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year. Ira Rainess, his marketing manager, said fans should only feel confident about the authenticity of a Ripken signature if it was received in person or came through Score Board.

But anyone hoping to acquire a McGwire autograph without having to worry about its authenticity must do so in person at the ballpark.

"And most of those people are taking them home, not reselling them," said autograph expert Kevin Keating of Alexandria, Va. "Given McGwire's constraints and how many signatures you see on the market, we must assume that most of them are fake."

Even some sports memorabilia experts have been fooled. Each month, Tuff Stuff prints a facsimile signature of the player pictured on the cover. When McGwire saw his autograph on the front of the September issue, he contacted the magazine to say it wasn't an authentic reproduction.

Larry Canale, editor of Tuff Stuff, said the magazine normally obtains autographs to be reproduced for the covers from companies such as Upper Deck Authenticated or Score Board, but had to go with a less reliable source on McGwire.

Tuff Stuff issued a press release regarding the mistake and plans to print an explanation in an upcoming issue. "It's a lesson for everyone," Canale said. "If we can get duped, anyone can."

Cohen said he's heard cynics suggest McGwire is waiting until after the season to cash in on an exclusive autograph deal. "It's a logical inference to make," he said. "But it's absolutely not true."

McGwire often has expressed disgust with the sports collectibles industry and those that profit off autographs. He rarely signs the sweet spot of baseballs or the barrels of bats, thus lessening the resale value. And he's turned down six-figure offers to sign autographs for as little as three hours.

"All of that is admirable," Keating said. "But by not making autographs available, he's almost encouraging fraud. If he doesn't want to be paid for signing, he should give it to charity or his foundation."

Game-worn jerseys can be more difficult to authenticate than autographs. Typically, jerseys reach the marketplace only if a team sells an entire set after the season. But according to Phil Wood, a Baltimore memorabilia expert, the Cardinals have rarely done so.

"Unless McGwire has given some away, I'd have my doubts about their authenticity," he said, noting his former team, the Oakland A's, has sold jerseys to dealers for years.

Dealers say Cardinals jerseys purportedly worn by McGwire have popped up in many places this summer. Many are salesman's samples, which look identical to the actual jerseys, right down to the taggings. These usually are identified to potential buyers as samples, but there's nothing to keep an unscrupulous dealer from trying to pass them off as legitimate.

It wasn't that long ago that McGwire memorabilia gathered dust at card shows and shops. When injuries limited him to 74 games from 1993 to '94, many collectors assumed his career would fizzle. Now, with 433 home runs, he almost certainly will reach the 500 home-run club that practically ensures Hall of Fame induction.

There also has been heightened collector interest in the other Maris chasers in recent months, although not to the extent of McGwire.

According to memorabilia experts, there has been little increased demand for Griffey, if only because of the consistency of his career and because he's always been a collector favorite.

But Sammy Sosa's rookie card, a 1990 Leaf edition, soared from $8 to $25 between the July and August issues of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly. That type of movement is unusual, Klein saide, but not surprising now that he has crossed the 250-homer barrier and, at 29, still has time to compile numbers worthy of Cooperstown.

There also has been increased interest in Juan Gonzalez memorabilia, although dealers say that has waned since the Texas Rangers' slugger fell off the pace to break Hack Wilson's single-season RBI mark.

Collector demand for Greg Vaughn collectibles also has soared now that the Padres' outfielder has revived his career. In recent months, his 1990 Leaf rookie card has gone from 50 cents to $5.

All of which has helped revive a troubled memorabilia business that never fully recovered from the 1994-95 baseball strike.