There is an ever-growing sell in sport memorabilia, and sports-related keepsakes incorporate signed commemorative photos, baseballs, footballs, basketballs, pucks and jerseys. A Google listing of corporations hawking these items produces almost five million business sites! A few of the items on offer cost thousands of dollars.

Where there are so many eager and gullible customers, con artists are sure to show up. A San Diego federal judge who recently sentenced many sports autograph forgers to prison said, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of the national pastime, has been undone". The prosecution stemmed from an FBI investigation called Operation Bullpen, which closed down a professional criminal organization that forged and sold sports goods enhanced with bogus autographs. Sixty search warrants we are served, more than two dozen forgers arrested, and a warehouse with ten million dollars value of fake merchandise was seized. The ring leaders received three years in prison and loss of assets to the IRS. Both current and faux "antique" items we are involved.

Any sports fan who has a signed souvenir would be wise to question its authenticity. Phil Halpren, the assistant federal attorney who worked to prosecute the forgers, stated that fraud is so pervasive in the sports memorabilia sell that unless you personally watch as an athlete signs an merchandise , odds are greater than 50 % that its forged. Athletes most popular with the public are a hit with forgers, too. Halpren said, "If you see a Mark McGuire signature, its almost a guarantee, 99.9%, its a forgery." Certificates of authenticity can be fabricated with as much ease as the collectible product they supposedly validate, so this is no protection.

Vendors are fighting back in an effort to maintain the integrity of the advertise. Disney, which owns ESPN, will commence next year to auction signed sports memorabilia online. Disney says it will authenticate the signatures with holograms encrypted with the items identifying information and tamper-proof package seals, videotaping the entire process.

Sophisticated forgers might even develop holographic seals which appear real to the untrained eye. Even so, the great majority of forgers are amateurs, and usually even a basic anti-forgery system is likely to deter them.

Baseball and football are the most popular sports in America, however some famous hockey players like Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr are popular targets for forgery as well.

With the large selection available, both in stores and on web sites, fans may avoid a lot of fraud by applying common sense. For instance, a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth selling for $500 is obviously a fake, because such a cost is unbelievably low, too low for real sell conditons. As well, it pays to know a little bit about the development of baseballs and pens. If you see baseballs supposedly signed in the 20s and 30s with Sharpie pens, these items are obviously fake, because these pens werent invented yet in that era. To quote Phil Halpren : "I have seen Babe Ruth balls signed on a Bobby Black American League President ball. So, you understand , he was president in the early 80s. Thats impossible to have been done. However someone did it."

So, while its enjoyable to have a peice of sports history to call your own, the motto to follow is : buyer beware. Unless you are a professional trader who knows how to authenticate merchandise, do not grab an item strictly for its potential resale value, because you can be disappointed by what you faster or later get back for it. Purchase an product you personally like and intend to keep, and do not spend thousands of dollars. This ensures that you will be happy when you admire your acquisition, without the lingering doubt that you have lost a massive amount of funds on something of dubious assessment of value.