Durwood Merrill LOA

[jwasserman]

There was a handful of Durwood baseballs on Ebay not too long ago- a Reggie Jackson and Griffey home run, Dwight Gooden no hitter, and a few others. I posted a thread on them: http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...ghlight=reggie

In my opinion none of them were good. If you read the thread, someone else posted a link to another Nolan Ryan Durwood ball (from his 300th win) that looked nothing like the ones on Ebay. I think that one might be a legit ball from the ump and would make a good point of comparison.

[David Murphy collector]

Hey guys. I just ran across this post and thought I'd chime in. I once liver two streets over from Durwood when he lived in New Boston Texas. He had a restaurant there in town and he had TONS of game used and worn items. There were things in there that would blow your mind! At the time, I was a big Nolan Ryan collector and knowing that Durwood and Nolan were close friends, I asked him if he had any Ryan items he would be willing to sell. Much to my surprise, he said yes and even invited me to his house.
I spent about an there as we talked baseball and he showed me a lot of the items he had from his career. He had so much stuff that the majority of it was thrown in closets and piled to the ceiling! As far as the LOA's judging from the one he gave me and from the things he told me, if he didn't get it directly from a player, he had very reliable people ( mostly other umpires) in which he obtained his items from. I would trust any item associated with him or hat cam from him. As far as re different colored inks on one ball, yes it is very east to forge something and it may look suspicious, but he showed many baseballs and told many storied about them and some of them had different colored inks on them. Some were inscribed by him then later signed by the player or vice versa. Its been my experience that different kinds of inks fade/age differently from others and I don't think he had any reason to lie about any of that.
Unfortunately he passed away just one week before I was to meet with him again to talk baseball and possibly purchase more items. He was a great guy and I'd trust anything with his LOA attached to it.

[nycpropain]

. He was a great guy and I'd trust anything with his LOA attached to it.

And what exactly is stopping someone from reprinting a COA and putting it with an fake item? I dont see anything stopping it so unlke you I wouldnt trust everything with his LOA.

[sox83cubs84]

I pass no judgement on letters and their writers however I was under the impression that Bobby Brown baseballs that do not list a country (either Haiti or Costa Rica) were NOT manufactured until at least 1992...

1992 or 1993...the same goes for Bill White NL baseballs.

Dave Miedema