Here are some of the forged photos and memorabilia you'll see in Operation Bullpen: The Inside Story of the Biggest Forgery Scam in American History, along with descriptions and quotations from the book.
Corruption in a Pretty PackageA framed cut of Ruth with a signed photo sold for $2,900 retail, the same price as a framed photo of the Beatles with cuts of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Whatever the price, what sold these forged pieces every time was presentation. Put a corrupt thing in a pretty package and people will view it more favorably than a genuine thing in a plain package. |
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Abe Lincoln cut
Some of the cuts Greg did, such as any of the dead presidents, did not appear in the catalog
because they were so rare and unusual that to advertise them would be like telling the world,
flat-out, that you were selling frauds and you didn't care who knew it. But if an order came
through for a Jack Kennedy or a Teddy Roosevelt or heck, even an Abraham Lincoln, Greg simply
dashed it off and thought no more about it because something equally preposterous was sure to
follow.
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Babe by the BushelIn his investigations FBI Special Agent Tim Fitzsimmons saw a Ruth ball with a price tag of $10,000. Then there was the Ruth-Roger Maris-Mark McGwire combo-signed ball that Fitzsimmons saw in 1999 after McGwire broke the single-season home run record. Its asking price was $500,000, and it almost certainly was a Greg Marino forgery. |
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