President of SCP Auctions has hissy fit when questioned about authenticating Ruth jersey

[Jules9]

I believe the president of SCP Auctions was on with sports radio host Mike Francesa in NY and was questioned about how the Babe Ruth jersey they just sold through their auction house was authenticated. The president said it was authenticated by Mears so Francesa asked him what the process was to authenticate it and then how do you know it's real. SCP said it's a little late to be asking these questions and then eventually hangs up on the radio host



A portion of the interview is below:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/59422056/mike%20auction.mp3 (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/59422056/mike%20auction.mp3)

[commando]

I believe the president of SCP Auctions was on with sports radio host Mike Francesa in NY and was questioned about how the Babe Ruth jersey they just sold through their auction house was authenticated. The president said it was authenticated by Mears so Francesa asked him what the process was to authenticate it and then how do you know it's real. SCP said it's a little late to be asking these questions and then eventually hangs up on the radio host



A portion of the interview is below:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/59422056/mike%20auction.mp3 (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/59422056/mike%20auction.mp3)



I'm not going to waste my time listening to that douchebag Francesa... But based on what you're saying, why doesn't Francesa call MEARS if he really wants answers?

Let's say I take my car to a mechanic to be fixed, then when I get back to work my boss starts grilling me on how the car was fixed, and how can I prove it for sure. What? I'm not the expert.... I TOOK IT TO an expert, and I have the paperwork from the expert. How in the world am I going to answer a ton of questions about the specific details of what the mechanic did?

[Dewey2007]

On the flip side, your auction house just sold a Babe Ruth jersey for the most money a game used item has ever sold for so you better know every detail of how this item was authenticated. He shouldn't have to defer to Mears. It wasn't Mears that sold the jersey it was SCP Auctions. Remember Mears just gives an opinion. This is information he should know and should not be getting upset and hanging up on radio hosts who ask, what I think is a reasonable question. You think it would be a great story to tell? A lot of listeners are probably not versed in game used items and authentications, so to have it explained makes sense. If I just spent 4.4 million on this jersey SCP's actions would not sit well with me.


I'm not going to waste my time listening to that douchebag Francesa... But based on what you're saying, why doesn't Francesa call MEARS if he really wants answers?

Let's say I take my car to a mechanic to be fixed, then when I get back to work my boss starts grilling me on how the car was fixed, and how can I prove it for sure. What? I'm not the expert.... I TOOK IT TO an expert, and I have the paperwork from the expert. How in the world am I going to answer a ton of questions about the specific details of what the mechanic did?

[sctizzle]

I'm not going to waste my time listening to that douchebag Francesa... But based on what you're saying, why doesn't Francesa call MEARS if he really wants answers?

Let's say I take my car to a mechanic to be fixed, then when I get back to work my boss starts grilling me on how the car was fixed, and how can I prove it for sure. What? I'm not the expert.... I TOOK IT TO an expert, and I have the paperwork from the expert. How in the world am I going to answer a ton of questions about the specific details of what the mechanic did?

Mike did call MEARS and Dave Grob did come on the show and talk with Mike for some time...

[slats7]

Francesa was being ridiculously rude and aggressive, as if SCP was engaging in fraud or something. Um, Mike? When you want to know the condition of a baseball card, you send it away to be graded. When you want to know if Abe Lincoln's signature on a document is real, you consult a handwriting expert. Similarly, when you want to know if Babe Ruth's jersey is legit, you outsource it to an independent, highly-respected outfit like Mears. Not that difficult to comprehend. Instead, Francesa insinuates that SCP half-assed it or didn't do their homework.

[Dewey2007]

Good to know. I had no idea how Francesca was acting but I still think the SCP guy has to handle the situation better especially when speaking to someone outside the hobby who has no clue. That's nice that Dave Grob got on air to speak with him about the jersey too.


Francesa was being ridiculously rude and aggressive, as if SCP was engaging in fraud or something. Um, Mike? When you want to know the condition of a baseball card, you send it away to be graded. When you want to know if Abe Lincoln's signature on a document is real, you consult a handwriting expert. Similarly, when you want to know if Babe Ruth's jersey is legit, you outsource it to an independent, highly-respected outfit like Mears. Not that difficult to comprehend. Instead, Francesa insinuates that SCP half-assed it or didn't do their homework.

[GameUsedGR61]

I actually caught a part of this on WFAN and I think he was trying to be tongue & cheek just to poke fun. I think his main point was that he had trouble believing Ruth wore if it didnt come from himself personally. His main doubts were that the jersey popped out of nowhere and it was found somewhere in Baltimore. Then he went on a long rant about if it was possible to DNA match the jersey to Babe Ruth by checking the DNA of one of his grandchildren. I remember him also saying that he didnt like how the jersey was advertised because it stated that the jersey was definitely worn by Ruth

Overall, I think all of this started because he was shocked about how much someone would pay for that jersey. He has even admitted that he hates the sports memorabilia business all together. I think the person he did speak to regarding the authenticity of the jersey admitted that he too can even be fooled. Personally I expect attitudes like that who arent familiar with the hobby. I think his main point though was that if Babe Ruth didnt hand you the jersey personally then there will be doubts

[gingi79]

Francesa is a pot stirrer and without the Mad Dog's inane babbling to offset Mike's heavily opinionated and crass commentary, he is being seen for what he is: A fat loud idiot.

He is also part of a large group of people who are against game used material and the fans who own it. But it's not that just that, it's anything a group of sports fans like or collect that he sees as beneath him (an amazing concept in and of it self. A rather unintelligent sports commentator taking pot shots on sports fans. He's like a NY Sports Rush Limbaugh)

Some examples: People wearing Starter jackets in the 90's, people who collect Air Jordans and basically everyone who buys a jersey with a players name on back. Some people just have to rain on other peoples parades and diminish things other people like. It's a cancer or self promotion, as if he's the high school dbag who has to be "So over the popular trend". I'm leery of anyone who is too self righteous and rude to use any of the following comments:

"How do you KNOW it's real?"
"Why would you even want that?"
"Why would you pay money for that?"
"Aren't you too old for these childish collectibles?"
"I'm sure it's fake, he never used that."
"Don't you know the FBI thinks ALL these so called collectibles are fakes?"

Wouldn't it be nice if people just grew up and left high school behind. *Sigh, I can dream.....

[David]

The guy talks about sports on the radio for a living, and he's calling what other people doe as childish? That's rich. Most people who collect sports memorabilia have real adult jobs.

[trsent]

Francesa was being ridiculously rude and aggressive, as if SCP was engaging in fraud or something. Um, Mike? When you want to know the condition of a baseball card, you send it away to be graded. When you want to know if Abe Lincoln's signature on a document is real, you consult a handwriting expert. Similarly, when you want to know if Babe Ruth's jersey is legit, you outsource it to an independent, highly-respected outfit like Mears. Not that difficult to comprehend. Instead, Francesa insinuates that SCP half-assed it or didn't do their homework.

Perfect post!

[bobsis24]

I caught this entire segment on 'FAN.

Francesa admits all the time that he's anti-memorabilia collection. He was tweaking the SCP exec about how he could be sure that Ruth wore the jersey. In my opinion, the guy came off very poorly. He stated that Mears did the authentication, but refused to explain anything about the authentication process. Made it seem like he didn't know anything about his own process - can we cue the pointy-eared boss in Dilbert?

WFAN's initial attempt to get Mears on the phone wasn't successful, & so Francesa, now in full rant mode, blustered that they'd never talk to him. Then just a couple of minutes later, Dave Grob called in.

I'm not a jersey guy (though I am a Jersey guy ...), so I'd never heard Dave speak and wasn't too familiar with what was done. He gave what I thought was a comprehensive yet understandable explanation of his authentication procedure, and even responded gracefully when Mike attempted to tweak him in the same way he did the SCP Auctions guy. By the end of the interview, even Francesa had to (grudgingly) give him credit for coming on and explaining his process.

Francesa's basic point was that he wanted a chain-of-custody trail for the jersey all the way back to the Babe in 1920 before he would accept that Ruth wore it in 1920. He couldn't quite seem to grasp that they weren't talking about last month's urine sample, physical evidence from a crime scene, or the nuclear football (thankfully, not game-used).

Mike did raise what I thought was a feasible idea for performing chemical analysis on the fibers, beyond just the microscopic examination of the weave, etc. that is performed. Dave seemed to agree this was possible at some higher level of cost, but they didn't go any further in pursuing it.

Francesa also was pushing for DNA testing for the Babe's fluids, hair, blood, or who knows what else on the jersey ... good luck with that. Ironically, he didn't seem to recognize that if you don't have a chain-of-custody for the jersey, how in the world are you ever going to have the chain-of-custody for this kind of stuff in or on the jersey?

Bob