MLB to Authenticate Memorabilia

MLB to 'Authenticate' Memorabilia

Aims to prevent misappropriation and forgeries

New York, January 20, 2001 -- Major League Baseball will launch a comprehensive memorabilia authentication program that is the first of its kind by any professional sports league. Merchandise branded as genuine under the MLB Authentication Program, is scheduled to debut March 1.

Not surprisingly, the purpose of this venture is ensure the authenticity of all officially licensed MLB memorabilia. Major League Baseball has selected Arthur Andersen to witness and authenticate all autographed and game-used items licensed by MLB as part of this program. Representatives of Arthur Andersen will attend official MLB autograph signing sessions and will witness the removal of all game-used items offered by MLB as part of the program.

Once authenticated, every autographed and game-used item will be marked with an official MLB “authentic'' hologram, featuring the MLB silhouetted batter logo and a serial number unique to the specific item. All items will be cataloged on http://www.MLB.com for easy reference and confirmation of the item's authenticity.

According to Sportsbusinessnews.com, Major League Baseball has selected several outside organizations to make this program as complete and comprehensive as possible, including Arthur Andersen and OpSec U.S., which will create the tamper-proof “authentic'' security holograms. MLB has been joined by its official licensees, including Legends Collectibles, Mounted Memories, Tristar Productions and Upper Deck Authenticated, to ensure that the memorabilia they deliver to fans is officially authenticated by Major League Baseball.

The sports memorabilia industry is one that has little regulation and little protection for collectors seeking to buy such materials. The market first took off in the 1980s, dropped during the early 1990s recession, but again sparked interest toward the end of the decade. With the advent of home shopping networks and the Internet, such memorabilia has been seen and sold to a wide audience, not just sports collectors.

The industry also has been a cash and carry operation for some of the endorsers, who go have gone to one-day card shows and earned sums that could range into the six-figures. Darryl Strawberry and Duke Snider were investigated by the Internal Revenue Service for unreported income from those shows.