Is my Kirk Gibson autographed ball worthless?

It is still a Kirk Gibson signed ball. If you are trying to sell it, that’s a different story, but as memorabilia, you have something nice on your hands. 1988 WS hero.

You might be able to have an expert in handwriting verify that it is his signature, and that could serve as a certificate.

It can be certified if sent for inspection and it will lend professional credence to it and this makes all the difference in value.. I believe that this company is the number one sports certification company but I could be wrong.

If your friend didn’t get the ball signed by Kirk Gibson personally, there’s no way to be sure that ball wasn’t signed by someone else. Most appraisers don’t have the CSI tools to detect forgery and if they did, the cost would likely be prohibitive in comparison to the relative value of the ball. At the end of the day, you just don’t know. Nice keepsake if it’s authentic but if you’re selling it, you might get a few bucks out of it from ebay but it wont be anything substantial.

I’m not sure I even trust the items that come with a certificate. It would be so easy to fake a certificate and there’s no real central authority on authenticity.

It certainly isn’t worthless. I am pretty sure you will never be able to retire on whatever the ball might bring in cash but there is always a market for signed stuff. Autographs are a crap shoot. I would be pretty happy to own a Kirk Gibson ball and would be willing to pay a few bucks with a little provenance.

F*** the Dodgers.

@Captain_Fantasy
It doesn’t matter. If they can reasonably determine that it’s authentic and slap their seal on it then it’s as good as a letter from the president.
They get paid to do so. It’s their business. Personally I can spot fakes and forgeries myself but I’m not a certified appraiser. I sell all kinds of collectibles and the one with the COA is a sure high sale in any category.