Vintage Military Baseball Fakery: Straight Deception or a Picker’s Ignorance?

Taken at face value, this would appear to be a vintage, game-used baseball from the Marine Corps however, this ball is anything but a military-used item (source: eBay image).

Once again, fraud being perpetrated upon the unsuspecting collectors is pushing me to expose the deed and provide a measure of awareness for those who are unfamiliar with collecting baseball militaria. Online sellers, predominantly within the liar-laden sphere of auctions in what is known as eBay. Fraud and deception are so rampant and blatant that the company that facilitates criminals and deceivers also has in place a substantial program to thwart them after the transactions have been completed. With an item, such as the subject of this article is addressing, is listed for sale, it is incumbent upon the buyer to perform due diligence before pulling the trigger to bid or click the “buy it now” (BIN) button as the folks at eBay lack the expertise to discern fakes from real artifacts.

This screen grab of the auction shows the price gouging for the fake “USMC” baseball.

I have written several pieces regarding fraudulent military baseballs being sold online (see: Fake Military Baseballs) where I have covered many features that are consistent among faked balls. The sellers, hoping to capitalize upon the emotions of the prospective buyers by listing one of the most difficult-to-find artifacts from this time in baseball history, love to capitalize on the understanding that there are so few authentic items with which to perform comparative analysis. In the absence of genuine artifacts for verification, common sense should prevail as one analyzes the artifact using the details presented in the listing.

Light and dark scuffs seem to indicate that the ball has a combination of game play and then needed to have a second round of wear after the USMC stamp was applied (source: eBay image).

The presence of fresh markings (the lighter gouges amid the soiled scuffs and scrapes) indicate nefarious actions and deception (source: eBay image).

Fresh scuffs both above and beneath the USMC stamp are a great indicator that this ball is a complete fraud. (source: eBay image).

The latest example of a fraudulent military baseball is listed by a seller with nearly 5,000 transactions and 100% rating which certainly lends a certain measure of credence to the listing. However, one cannot rely solely upon the seller’s positive sales history to lend credibility any item that is listed. Not to disparage the seller and accuse them of intentional fraud as it is quite possible that the item was obtained from a reputable source.

WWII
Rare-World-War-2–
STAMPED U S M C
Used-Baseball
FROM ESTATE OF VETERANS MARINE
IN WELL PLAYED CONDITION BALL

The description indicates that the seller obtained the ball from a veteran’s estate. One can only assume that the ball was either given to the veteran or he purchased it from a source that was in the business of faking baseballs for profit. What the eBay seller is guilty of doing, at the very least, is perpetuating deception by pushing the bad ball back onto the market and validating it by associating the listing alongside his lengthy, credible sales history.

Remnants of the ball’s manufacturer’s stamp are faint through the staninging and wear leaving one to wonder how the “U.S.M.C” stamp fared so much better during the years (source: eBay image)?

As with all of the other faked examples that have been on the market over the last decade, this baseball does nothing to set itself apart from the fraud-field, aside from the use of “U. S. M. C.” stamped on one of the panels. On the surface, this might seem to be a legitimate mark as the unsuspecting buyer would assume that the Marine Corps applied this stamp to every piece of issued gear. In giving the benefit of doubt and accepting this marking at face-value, one would have to ignore that the baseball has two diverging planes of use and aging. In addition, the USMC stamp itself would not have made an appearance on the baseball as these were not “issued” by the Corps or sourced by the War Department for the military supply system.

Visible above (and to the left) of the USMC stamping are faint markings that are residual from the manufacturer’s marks (also stamped onto the baseball with an ink stamp) – though the mark is indistinguishable for identification purposes. Due to wear (either from game-use or synthetic as part of the faking process), the manufacturer’s mark is nearly eliminated which then calls into question the Marine Corps stamp. With such heavy usage and staining, how is the Marines stamp so vivid and showing very minimal wear?

Not the crisp lines on the partial “C” in the stamping. Also note the recent wear marks that pass beneath the tail of the C indicating that the stamp was added after the aging (source: eBay image).

It is quite obvious that the USMC lettering was applied after most of the original wear. Aside from the aging (it has been roughed up after the stamp was applied), the stamp shows that it was applied twice, possibly in an attempt to obtain better coverage for the letter “C” while leaving a sloppy, unprofessional marking.

The issues with the ball are substantial and call into question the validity of the seller’s claims. Besides the concerns regarding the apparent synthetic aging and that there are no existing valid examples of any baseballs bearing the USMC marking, the seller’s actions displayed within the listing are enough to steer anyone away from submitting a bid.  Authentic military baseballs (such as those provided to the troops by the Professional Base Ball Fund that were marked accordingly) are valued in the $40-70 range, condition-dependent. This seller has this faked ball listed with a starting bid of $150. Along with the price gouging, the exorbitant shipping costs coupled with the seller’s no-returns policy are both red flags.

Had the ball been authentic, the $150 opening bid price is still far above what it should be for a military baseball. The seller is also gouging on the shipping ($10 for a baseball as is shown in this screenshot) however the red flag for this listing is that the seller does not accept returns. This policy alone is an indicator that he does not stand behind his claims.

It is difficult to determine where the deception lies with this auction listing. What is certain is that potential buyers need to perform their due diligence before they decide to pursue such purported artifacts – especially when they are as overly-priced as this one.  As an aside, I did reach out to the seller to provide the reasons supporting my recommendations that the auction listing be discontinued and the ball destroyed. Expecting to receive some sort of pushback in response to the message, I was surprised that the seller considered the information that I provided. In addition to the reasons that I listed in my message as to the why the ball is not genuine, I also recommended that it not be sold to prevent it from being used to defraud another interested party. The seller’s response was to merely reduce the opening bid amount by $100 and to cherry-pick some of the details from my email.

Upon learning and acknowledging that the baseball was a fake, the seller simply reduced the listing price from the original $150 and persisted in overcharging the shipping price.

Buyer Beware! The seller is knowinging selling a fake WWII USMC baseball and updated the listing’s description with snippets from my email that informed him of the issues with the baseball, choosing to sell the ball to an unsuspecting buyer who doesn’t read fine print.

 

*UPDATE: These eBay Pitch-men are Tossing Spitballs at Unsuspecting Collectors

Since I published my article, These eBay Pitch-men are Tossing Spitballs at Unsuspecting Collectors a few weeks ago, the eBay seller, giscootterjoe who has an endless supply of the baseballs in question, has listed two more auctions with one closing with a final bid price of $422.00 by the unsuspecting “winner,” of 17 total bidders. The current in-play auction has nine bidders and the price has exceeded $60.

Pay particular attention to the timing of the sales. Go back as far as eBay’s history will allow in order to discern the full extent of the fraudulent baseballs (eBay screenshot)

While fraudulent listings are allegedly taken seriously by eBay, they are incapable of authenticating a seller’s assertions. It is incumbent upon bidders to be educated and to challenge the veracity of sellers’ claims and to not take them at face-value solely because they present a good story. Over the course of the past twelve months, this seller has nearly 40 transactions in which he/she is selling the same faked baseball, presenting it with the auction title, “ORIGINAL WW2 US ARMY SPECIAL SERVICES BASEBALL MUST SEE L@@K !!!” There is not one shred of supporting evidence to validate the seller’s claims:

“Up for bids here today we have a nice original US Army special services baseball. This auction is for one (1) baseball, the gloves are shown for reference only. These balls where found in a cloth army bucket that was 1944 dated along with the gloves shown. One glove is dated 1945 and stamped US Army, and the other glove is stamped “special services US Army”. The special services where greatly different in WW2 than the special forces of today, back then they where in charge of recreation, and other “special items” for the troops. You will receive the ball pictured alone in the pics. All in all a nice little unique item and a must have for all military collectors!!! Don’t forget to check our other auctions for more great military items from giscootterjoe as we gladly combine shipping!!!

Items to be sold as is so see pics and feel free to e-mail with any questions, Buyer to pay shipping and handling, Bid High, Bid Now !!!”

Pay attention to the language this seller uses. He makes not a single reference to the validity of the baseballs, “These balls where found in a cloth army bucket that was 1944 dated along with the gloves shown.” His statement is that because they are shown (in an accompanying photograph) in an olive drab bag that, according to the seller, has a 1944-date, somewhere on the bag. Again, the seller shows no such evidence. What the seller is doing is displaying a glove that bears some stampings that indicates it is a valid WWII Special Services, US Army issue. Conveniently, the glove is not for sale.

In the near 40 transactions, in the past year alone, the seller has generated more than $2,700 in sales. Sadly, this seller has been in the business of misleading buyers for at least five years (since I first noticed him). One area that I’d like to explore a bit more is with the other bidders in these transactions. Another collector has suggested that there is the potential of shill bidders at play with giscootterjoe’s auctions and I will begin diving into some of the bidding history to see if anything stands out.

I sincerely hope that potential bidders find these posts and use them to gain some insights and to save their money. I have no skin in the eBay game. As these buyers are seeking, I too would love to find authentic baseballs to round out my collection.

Buyers beware.