Fake Rawlings Glove Tags

BUYER BEWARE! - An extremely rare 1956 Rawlings retail display sign, was used to produce reproduction "fantasy piece" Glove tags. The item that sold in a Robert Edwards auction was signed by Mickey Mantle in blue Sharpie. Scam artist typically make mistakes, as with these 1956 glove tags that are being sold on ebay as authentic. The tags feature a post 1960 Mickey Mantle autograph, and is the exact signature that appears on the retail display sold in a 2012 Robert Edwards Auction. The printing process used to produce these glove tags are also not of the period. It is a modern reproduction.

Pictured at the top as described by Robert Edwards Auctions: The large-format cardboard sign, which measures an impressive 31 x 19.5 inches, features a photo of Mantle in uniform on the right, and an illustration of the glove ("The Finest in the Field") on the left. The illustrated plaque below Mantle's image makes note of his 1956 Triple Crown Season and reads "Mickey Mantle - 'Player of The Year' 1956."

Pictured at the bottom is the falsely described "Rare" 1950's or 1960's, original Rawlings Glove tag, which features the autograph typical to the way Mickey Mantle signed later in his career and after. The facsimile autograph at the bottom was his early style signature as signed around 1956. When ebay sellers are questioned about this they claim that the tag was from the 1960's.... But the Glove pictured is from 1956.

Rawlings would not picture a glove from 1956 on a tag hanging off a glove sold in the 1960's. It's not an opinion, but a marketing fact. They would picture the glove being sold. Pictured to the right is page 10 of the Rawlings Spring & Summer Catalog. It features the MM line of "Mickey Mantle" fielders gloves. The MM8 Professional model, the MM8 Autograph Model, and the MM Personal Model, the glove pictured on the tag.

It is not only the same glove model featured on the tag, but it's the exact illustration used on both the catalog page and the cardboard sign that was sold by Robert Edwards. There is no question about it as I superimposed one over the other. (see side by side below left)

A post 1960's Mickey Mantle facsimile autograph, on a 1956 glove tag. An exact copy of the Mickey Mantle autograph that appears on the Rawlings retail sign, sold by REA. If this is not enough to prove that these glove tags are fake, there is the question of why Rawlings would print a bi-fold glove tag with no literature on the inside? Every Rawlings Glove tag from the period features information on both sides.

All the authentic Rawlings Mickey Mantle glove tags made from 1954-1962 are bi-fold, and all sides are utilized, inside and out. It would be poor marketing not to. All have a short Mickey Mantle career biography on the inside. The outside has a segment on how to care for your Mickey Mantle glove, with an image of Mantle on the opposite side of the fold. The 1954-1957 glove tags (pictured here) provides career information up to 1952. The 1958 tag which is identical in design on the outside has career information that goes up to 1957. The career information on the 1962 tag goes up to 1961.

Because the Mickey Mantle Signed 1956 Rawlings Glove Display in the Robert Edwards auction states "Mickey Mantle - 'Player of The Year' 1956." I believe that it's actually from 1957. However the 1957 Rawlings catalog pictures the same glove illustration. The same glove tags were used from 1954-1957 as the one pictured above. The Rawlings MM gloves issued in 1954 and 1955 differ slightly with the stamping.

There are other Mickey Mantle glove tags in the market that are suspect because they have a blank back, and like the one featured here are poorly reproduced. For every authentic glove tag that hits the market there are at least 10 fakes. Buyer Beware!

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