15 is revealed as scammer-abilia king nypost.com 2011 24, July Sunday, Post, York New watch them from a two- Halper’s claim of having Tests showed the White way mirror to see whether played for Jimmie Foxx at Sox logo contained they stole anything. the University of Miami acrylic dye that was cre- ‘Legends’ of the diamond Sports Illustrated turned out to be fiction: ated in 1941, and the fi- crowned him “The Sultan Halper never took the bers used to affix it to the Discredited items from Barry Halper’s baseball memorabilia collection. of Swap.” field for the Hurricanes, jersey were made of a In September 1999, after and Foxx was no longer polyester not introduced Major League Baseball the coach when Halper until the 1950s. All of Babe Ruth’s 1914 purchased part of the col- arrived at the school in which made Halper’s tale rookie Red Sox jersey lection for $7.5 million 1957. The signatures of of acquiring it directly ■ Price: About $1 million and donated most of it to Foxx and Ruth appear from Jackson’s widow at ■ What gave it away: Halper Cooperstown, the Hall of forged. her home in the 1950s im- says he got it from the daughter Fame unveiled the “Barry His alleged 1846 Knick- possible. Halper Gallery.” Said erbocker baseball may be Since last fall, Halper’s of a former Red Sox player — Commissioner Selig, a phony; experts say it’s collection has been scru- who never had any children. “This important baseball the wrong size for the pe- tinized closely, only to re- Wrong manufacturer. Jersey is collection belongs in veal more items that from Spalding, not the firm that the Hall of Fame, and were inauthentic, made Boston’s uniforms. that is where it will fraudulent or stolen. be for all time.” In all, about 10 per- Lou Gehrig’s “last cent of the items sold UT soon after through Sotheby’s ! glove” of his final the sale, doubts are presumed fake. game on April 30, B about its legiti- The question now: 1939, ending his consecutive- macy cropped up at a Should Halper’s games streak at 2,130 collectors conven- name still be a part tion, where the Hall of the Hall of Fame? ■ Price: $387,500, reportedly showed off its acqui- Absolutely not, paid by Penny Marshall sition. “I was abso- said Ron Cobb. ■ What gave it away: Halper’s lutely floored at how “Through this de- tale of getting it from Gehrig’s much of it was fake,” ceit he enriched his said auctioneer Josh reputation, his wallet replacement doesn’t stand up, Pilling Rich Evans. “There were and his own ego,” he an expert found. Rival glove several early jerseys said. “There is no in Cooperstown from the Iron I saw, and all of them place for someone Horse’s mom matches photos were no good.” with a flaw like this and descriptions of mitt. Meanwhile, the in the Hall of Fame.” shrine had launched Ex-Commissioner an internal investiga- Fay Vincent agreed: Paper with autographs ! " tion, asking a textile DUDS: Rickey Henderson, George Stein- “I do not think he de- " of all 15 major leaguers expert to examine brenner and Yogi Berra don “vintage” pieces serves the honor.” with 500 or more career the fabric of some of on a 1985 Sporting News. Rich Pilling Jason Halper, Bar- the 19th-century un- ry’s son, says his fa- home runs as of 1999, started iforms and concluding riod. What’s clear is that ther had a reputation for when Halper purportedly that not all were kosher. the letter that accompa- honesty and integrity that snagged the signatures of Babe Curators ultimately de- nied it in the Sotheby’s was “second to none.” Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott cided to not exhibit some sale — the two items to- “He assembled the items and returned them gether fetched $139,000 greatest private collec- ■ Price: $51,000, sold in 1999 to Halper. — was stolen from archi- tion of baseball memora- ■ What gave it away: The Ruth But it didn’t stop there. ves in Hawaii. bilia in the world — a col- and Foxx autographs are forgeries, The autograph Halper Mantle’s 1951 rookie jer- lection that literally experts say. Halper claimed he got said he got from The sey, which MLB bought included over a million Foxx to sign when he played for the # Babe in 1948 was deemed from Halper for the Hall items. With so many slugger at the University of Miami, a forgery. The same went of Fame, was at some items . . . it would be sur- for Ruth’s letter authenti- point quietly returned to but he was never on the team. Foxx prising if there wasn’t an had left the school by the time cating his alleged lock of the collector because it authenticity issue here or hair. (The hair itself was was not real — the font there over the years.” Halper arrived in 1957. bogus, too, Ruth’s grand- for the number was off, Collector Chris Sullivan daughter claims.) and the jersey’s buttons considers himself a Mickey Mantle’s In 2007, autograph ex- were in the wrong spot. Halper victim after he pert Ron Keurajian This despite Mantle 1960 glove bought a purported 1907 # alerted the Hall to con- having signed the jersey ■ Price: $239,000, paid by cerns regarding Halper’s on camera and scrawling jersey of Boston third baseman Jimmy Collins Billy Crystal Ty Cobb diary. The a note to Halper that ■ What gave it away: Rawlings said the mitt was shrine reached out to the read: “To Barry, This is for $31,000 in 1999. He FBI, which put its own my rookie uniform. I now knows it’s a fake — made in 1964 at the earliest and probably used in the analyst on the case and in wore No. 6 for the first it’s not even the right 1966 season. It might have been Mantle’s, but not 2009 concluded that the half of the season.” color. during the famed 1960 season. Mantle did autograph diary was most likely One of the most valu- Sullivan, a Red Sox fan the mitt, along with a photo that said, “To Barry, tell written by Stump, the able pieces, Ruth’s rookie fleeced by a Yankee me you didn’t steal my glove, Mickey Mantle.” biographer. Red Sox jersey — by it- owner, is considering Ron Cobb, a board self worth more than suing Halper’s estate. member at the Ty Cobb $1 million — was exposed “It seems like Barry “Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s 1919 Museum in Royston, Ga., as a fake, as the manufac- Halper was the Madoff of $ “Black Sox” jersey and author of an exposé turer was wrong. memorabilia,” he said. ■ Author Peter Nash writes Price: About $1 million on Harper’s collection, But perhaps the biggest ■ “Stumped by the Story- blow came in October of for haulsofshame.com and What gave it away: Although Halper claims to have teller,” established that last year, when the Hall is at work on the upcoming bought the White Sox jersey from Jackson’s widow for Ty Cobb’s mother shot made a shocking an- “Hauls of Shame: The Coo- $150, dye in the team logo was not created until the his father with a pistol, nouncement: Halper’s perstown Conspiracy and 1940s and stitching not till the 1950s. Jersey was made not with the shotgun “Shoeless” Joe Jackson the Madoff of Memora- by Spalding; Chicago’s uniform maker was Wilson. $ Halper owned. jersey was also a phony. bilia.”