Anyone see the small article in the new Sports Ilustrated (Daytona 500 cover) about the dispute over Dwight Clark's "The Catch" football from the 1982 NFC Championship game? Dwight Clark has stated that he has owned this historic ball himself for 22 years, but a wealthy contractor also states that he bought "the ball" from one of the side-line ball guys a few years ago for $50,000. Interesting debate......Unlike a 1941 DiMaggio streak bat, only ONE ball is the real one (I'm with Clark).

Always looking for unique items related to the careers of Cal Ripken Jr., Sr. & Billy.

If Dwight Clark was unaware of the "other" ball, then wouldn't the current owner just continue on, oblivious to having been sold a fake?

I almost bought a 1910's no-hitter ball, purchased from the pitcher's estate, had been in the family "forever". There are so many scenarios where this ball could not be what it's claimed to be, and the descendants of the pitcher could be unaware - the player might have given it to his son and told him it was the no-hitter ball, thinking it couldn't do any harm. Or maybe someone in the family found it among the pitcher's MLB items, and figured it "might" me, so why not just believe it? Or maybe it was just a ball that the player or family member wrote the no-hitter info on, since they couldn't find a real one from the game. Who knows?

I'm not trying to be negative, but there has been a lot of discussion about authenticity of game-used/worn items, and the only way you can be certain is if the player actually gave you the item (and you believe him), or if you can validate through photographs, like someone did recently with a Beltran bat. It's simply the nature of this hobby - a lot of "faith" is involved.

I happen to know the sideline person in question that owned this ball. He was the person that passed balls in and out of the game. According to him, the ball was spiked or dropped (I forget which, I have seent eh guy in almost 15 years) after the touched down. He got the ball, stashed it away and gave back another ball that was to be marked as The Catch ball. Knowing this person, I have no doubts that he would have done something like this. It's been ages since I've seen the full play from catch to commercial, but I seem to recall seeing the ball leave Clark's hands.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

I should also add that this person also used to brag about the fact that he had swapped out the balls and that Clark thought he had the real ball, but that he really did.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

I know someone who used to work for the Dolphins and is a collector as well.. He was especially proud of claiming that he kept the shirt that Shula wore when he broke the NFL coaching victories record and sent the NFL HOF a substitute when they requested the shirt. I think that these swaps are not unusual...I'd bet that a fair percentage of HOF stuff is questionable....