Ripken in the Minors

In 2001, Beckett Grading Services revealed information on how to spot a 1981 WTF Rochester Red Wings card #1 of Cal Ripken, Jr. In the article, Beckett revealed how to spot a genuine WTF Ripken issue from a fraud on their website at http://www.beckett.com.

The genuine card is printed on an off-white card stock, nearly yellowed, or ‘dirty-white,’ whereas the fake/reprint is on vivid bright white stock

The original weighs much more than the fake (1.73 grams compared to 1.49 grams on the fake) although both cards feel fairly thin to the touch.

The dot pattern is a mild giveaway, but it is very close to the original. Primarily, the fake will have more specks of white scattered about the front photo, and will have more areas of lightly broken text on the back.

The key area to examine is over Ripken's right shoulder, atop the roof. There should be a box shape -- a flag-like image or something similar -- on the very edge of the card. On the fake, most of this box has been obliterated.

Such early detection of this counterfeit by one of the big three third party grading services certainly provided collectors with a sense of security. In fact, in a February 2, 2007, article written by Doug Koztoski for Sports Collectors Digest, I stated that collectors should purchase copies of Cal’s minor league cards that have been graded by the most reputable professional card grading companies.

I’m sorry. In an auction that ended on May 1, 2007, I won an auction for a PSA 9 (cert 31796188) 1981 WTF Rochester Red Wings Cal Ripken, Jr (Ebay 220106272908). Considering that a PSA 9 copy had sold for $1,924.00 on March 18, 2007 (Ebay 110102273191), I was especially thrilled.

Then the card arrived. It was a counterfeit.

Unfortunately I had not taken some of my other advice offered on my website, www.ripkenintheminors.com, when I suggested that collectors only purchase Ripken minor league issues when they came with the rest of the set. In addition, I did not ask for a larger scan of the card during the duration of the auction. I simply trusted in the PSA slab saying the card was authentic.  Bill Haelig is the owner of the most comprehensive Cal Ripken, Jr. card & memorabilia collection as well as the Authenticity Coordinator at Ironclad Authentics, Cal's own memorabilia company. Bill is not surprised that a fake was slabbed. “I'm not surprised that PSA graded these cards as authentic. My reasoning is that they couldn't have handled enough of them relative to their ‘normal’ influx of cards to have any real expertise. Again, out of all the WTF cards they have graded, how many were of Cal vs. how many were of Bob Bonner, Drungo Hazewood, etc. The majority of what they saw was Cal obviously. This particular manufacturer was a ‘one issue’ one that they had little to compare it to. To back up his point, the current population report reflects 115 graded 1981 WTF cards, with card #1 of Cal making up 77.4% of the total. The checklist card #20 that includes Ripken ranks second with 20%. Only three other non-Ripken WTF cards (Brooks Carey, Drungo Hazewood, Steve Luebber) have ever been submitted and were certified in the spring of 2007, making the non-Ripken population under 3%. Haelig is less than impressed. So 97% of EVERY WTF card was either Cal or the checklist card (with Cal)? How could they establish any kind of expertise in this issue? Did they garner knowledge in the 1955 Bowman set by examining the Mickey Mantle cards or the Billy Loes cards of the world? Did they obtain expertise in the 1975 set by examining George Brett or Enos Cabell? It reeks of provincial incompetence if you ask me; I wouldn't consider changing my opinion until they initiate a public recall of the cards they graded.

PSA did issue a reimbursement for the final sale price of the WTF counterfeit card plus the amount for shipping and insurance once they confirmed it was a fake. However, the refund does not erase the disappointment of not upgrading my PSA 8 to a PSA 9. The reimbursement also does not ease any concerns about a possible market impact on a market already plagued with counterfeits. Haelig added the following: I think there is great impact on this, particularly for those card sets that weren't manufactured by the ‘big boys’ (Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck, Bowman, Goudey, etc). Look at all the regional sets (which the majority of minor league sets are). I now look at all of those with a jaded eye. How do we know there aren't any PSA graded bogus Charlotte cards out there? Of course the TCMA card remains a possibility as well.

It wasn’t long after receiving the counterfeit that I warned fellow collectors with a warning about the slabbed WTF counterfeit while giving PSA time to evaluate and confirm that my card was a fake. It was at this time that I received a note of concern from Trevor Dovey, a fellow Ripken minor league card collector, about the authenticity of his PSA 9 (cert 03427907) 1981 WTF Cal Ripken, Jr. After looking at scans of the Dovey PSA 9 WTF Ripken I determined it was also a fake. Once again, PSA offered a full refund for the card once they determined it to be a counterfeit.

Here is Trevor’s recollection on how he received the card:

I bought my WTF PSA 9 for $185.00 Buy It Now off EBay. I bought it on August 13, 2006. I was very excited when I bought it because I hit the By It Now 5 minutes into the auction. I thought I got an amazing deal on a so called authentic PSA 9 Ripken. When I got home later that night I checked completed listings just to see if any PSA 9’s had sold recently and one had sold a few days before I bought mine.  It sold for $900.00. I am not sure if it was real or not.

The good news is that PSA is now fully aware of the counterfeit WTF issues. However, how much damage has been done? After all, we do know that it’s been 6 years since someone found out that BGS would not certify a counterfeit. We also know that as late as the spring of 2007 that PSA certified a counterfeit WTF issue. As of May 1, 2007, the population report stated there were 90 1981 WTF cards of Cal graded, with 23 PSA 9’s and 1 PSA 10. Although it’s a small sample size, we do know that 8.6% of that total PSA 9 population report as of May 1, 2007, was counterfeit. It is important to note that since purchasing the fake, PSA has deleted 1 PSA 9 from the registry. Under cert 03427907, www.psacard.com now lists the grade of what was once a PSA 9 as Not Holdered, Questionable Authentication.

Where do we go from here? Trevor Dovey suggested the following: I would like to see PSA try to track down the rest of the 90 graded WTF copies. I think they should let it be known that there are fake cards in PSA slabs (have an article in magazines and also on online forums). Hopefully they can buy back all the fakes and reconstruct the population report. This way people will know how rare this card actually is. Bill Haelig also feels that serious steps should be taken by PSA. If PSA was serious about this, they would offer a public ‘recall’ of any WTF Ripken they graded for another inspection.

The minor league cards of Cal Ripken, Jr, provide an often unseen glimpse of one of the great players and individuals of our generation. As collectors, it is our responsibility to uphold the integrity of our great hobby, especially on a market with so many knowingly taking advantage of others. The bad news is that this is a reminder of what is bad with our hobby. The good news is that the opportunity is here to do something about it.

To view a gallery of images of the PSA slabbed counterfeit 1981 WTF issues, please visit the following: http://www.ripkenintheminors.net/psawtfcounterfeitgallery.htm