Nolan Ryan signed baseball

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Odo

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I was going through some of my dad's old stuff (he passed away 3 years ago) and I found a baseball inside of a spherical case signed by nolan ryan mounted on a plaque, on the plaque was also a baseball card of Nolan Ryan, in its own case. The baseball is an official ball of the american league.
Im not a baseball fan and it has no sentimental value, so I'm thinking about selling it, do any baseball fans out there know how much it might be worth?

Nolan ryan ball.jpg
 
You would probably have to check with a sports memorabilia dealer (or more likely a couple) to get a realistic idea. If it has a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) it is probably somewhat more valuable. If not, probably not.

On eBay there are 675 results for "Nolan Ryan signed baseball" so it does not appear to be terrifically rare. Looks like baseballs without a COA are going for $10-$20.

Official MLB game-quality baseballs list for about $12 so I wouldn't sell it for much less than that -- even if a kid didn't care at all about the autograph and just wanted to play with it, a mint-quality brand new baseball ought be be worth $10.
 
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I was going through some of my dad's old stuff (he passed away 3 years ago) and I found a baseball inside of a spherical case signed by nolan ryan mounted on a plaque, on the plaque was also a baseball card of Nolan Ryan, in its own case. The baseball is an official ball of the american league.
Im not a baseball fan and it has no sentimental value, so I'm thinking about selling it, do any baseball fans out there know how much it might be worth?

View attachment 143563

When you find out how much you want let me know, depending on the price I might buy it. That would look good in my office.
 
Forged baseball signatures have been very common in the past.
Both by people outside of baseball and MLB employees (among others, clubhouse staff).

I agree with others: if you intend to sell, maintain your own reputation by trying to get the signature authenticated.
 
If Odo doesn't have a COA already, I see no likelihood he could ever get one (at least without spending way more money than the ball would be worth if proven legit).

Incidentally, another fun fact about the sports memorabilia industry is that a lot of the COA's themselves are bogus. Caveat emptor.
 
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Nolan Ryan as much as anyone had a reputation for signing prolifically. I sent him a baseball card as a kid with a request to sign it. It took about six months, but the card came back to me with a signed photo and a letter explaining that he tries to honor every request for a signature, but couldn't keep up with all the individual items, so he sent everyone signed pictures because he could do that when he had some time anywhere.

I would imagine that he signed quite few things person too. This would make it unsurprising if there is no COA, and I think make it more likely than not the signature is real. Why forge an abundant signature when you could forge a rarer one.
 
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