Durwood Merrill LOA

[sylbry]

I once questioned the LOA's provided by Durwood Merrill.

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...hlight=merrill

Another Durwood Merrill ball appeared on ebay. This one is way too hard to believe. Compare the faded Nolan Ryan signature with what looks like a freshly written inscription. Remember Durwood died in 2003.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=024

And like the other Merrill balls, Durwood was no where near the game as he was working a game in Oakland that day.

[David]

I have no opinion on the authenticity of the item, but it appears that Merrill was a collector like many of us. I was reading a different Merrill LOA and he said he got a ball from a fellow umpire and did not make claim that he was in person at the event. I don't believe Merrill, if he were alive, would claim everything in his collection was obtained directly by him at a specific event, but that it was gathered by an umpire who was around the game a long time and knew lots of MLB people.

[David]

I'm curious if umpires used to trade items-- game used balls, etc. If an ump had 10 balls from one game, if he would trade a couple with an umpire who had balls from a different game. Presumably, umpires are clubby and know each other well, and I would not be surprised if trading or selling between umpires was common.

[mattmueller]

As former umpire great Ron Luciano said in one of his books, people will do weird things for balls used in an official MLB game, or at least bouced on the cement floor of an official MLB umpire's locker room.....

[byergo]

The item and LOA look great to me. It's obvious there were two different pens used with different inks which would explain the different resulting look. These Merrill LOA's pop up pretty infrequently as well, first one I've seen in a long time, and I'm only aware of a few period. Not like some of the comonly forged LOA's we all know about. Thinking that Merrill had to ump the game for every item in his collection is absurd.

[sylbry]

One more.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NOLAN-RYAN-GAME-...QQcmdZViewItem

[byergo]

That makes a grand total of 5 items I've ever seen with Durwood's LOA. His collection was quite large, so there must be many more items out there. They must be in the hands of strong collections that don't sell very often.

[sylbry]

They must be in the hands of strong collections that don't sell very often.

That's one assumption. Sort of like assuming an LOA from someone is authentication for a ball that happened at a completely different game. Relying solely on the fact that he was employed by MLB as reason why he "could" have ended up with an item, nevermind the fact he didn't see it in use, being collected, or not knowing how many times it exchanged hands prior to said ball coming to rest in his collection.

I mean it is said to be a game used ball, the easiest thing in the world to fake. And the faded signature with the seemingly freshly written inscription on a ball said to have come from a collection of a guy that died 5 years ago is quite a red flag.

[vintagebb]

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...

[dcgreg25]

Looks like the Nolan Ryan ball has resurfaced in the Vintage Authentics Auction.

http://www.vintageauthentics.com/cgi...unbr=100386405

Anybody know what it sold for on ebay earlier this year? It should be interesting to see what it goes for this time.