The value of authenticity

The ball Doug Mientkiewicz held onto after the Red Sox clinched their first world championship in 86 years isn't the only contentious souvenir from that World Series.

Todd Patkin, a Foxborough auto parts entrepreneur, is suing a New York sports memorabilia firm, saying it committed fraud in claiming it sold him the pitching rubber from a 2004 World Series game and a rosin bag used in one of the games, as well as the base depicted in photographs of the famous American League playoffs incident in October 2004 when the Yankees Alex Rodriguez knocked the ball out of Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo's hand, sparking a bench-clearing brawl.

The lawsuit claims that Grandstand Sports & Memorabilia Inc. and its principals, Howard Schwartz and Seth Forrest, bilked Patkin out of more than $100,000 over three years by lying about the authenticity of such items and by inflating their value. Patkin paid more than $50,000 for the base, for example, only to learn it was not the one involved the Arroyo-Rodriguez flap so worth much less.

"Fraud is rampant in the sports memorabilia industry, and we allege that he was a victim of that fraud," said Patkin's attorney, Michael N. Sheetz of Boston law firm Nixon Peabody LLP. Patkin was out of town and could not be reached for comment, Sheetz said. He said the full amount that Patkin will seek in the lawsuit is not yet known.

The defendants, through an attorney at the New York law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP, denied the allegations. "They will defend themselves vigorously," said attorney Bruce Kahne. He declined to comment further, saying the lawyer handling the case was out of the country.

The lawsuit provides a window into the world of sports memorabilia collecting, where dealers can demand high prices for items that in many cases must be taken on faith as authentic. Everyday items like baseball bats, balls, or used, sweaty jerseys become big ticket purchases if they are associated with a piece of sports lore.

In Patkin's case, hundreds of items over a period from the summer of 2004 and until this past May held that lure. During that time, he bought memorabilia from Grandstand, even though, as his lawsuit states, he was "wholly unfamiliar with the sports memorabilia industry."

Schwartz and Forrest took advantage of that naivete, the suit claims, selling him goods at jacked-up prices that were based on bogus values.

In August 2005, for example, Patkin bought a bat that he was told was worth $150,000 and had been used in a game by Mel Ott, a slugger for the old New York Giants who played 22 seasons and hit 511 home runs. The bat, the suit says, was worth far less.

In addition to the fraud claims, Patkin is also alleging breach of contract, stemming from an agreement he signed with the defendants in May that stated he wouldn't be charged more than a 20 percent markup on any item he bought from Grandstand.

Whether or not he can prove his case in court, Patkin may have been able to figure out whether some of the items he bought were authentic. In 2001, Major League Baseball began using holograms and serial numbers to authenticate items used in games or otherwise associated with the league. The items are catalogued and buyers can input the serial numbers on MLB.com to determine where they came from.

Items that predate the program can't be accounted for, but a post-2001 baseball souvenir without a hologram should be a red flag to buyers, said Colin Hagen, baseball's vice president of licensing.

"That hologram can't be removed and put on any other item. It will fall apart. Once you take it off the first item, it's basically destroyed," he said.

The authentication program was put in place in response to an FBI sting called Operation Bullpen in the 1990s, which broke up a counterfeit memorabilia ring and found that fraud was rampant in the sports souvenir business. Baseball has authenticated more than 1.5 million items since the plan started, and has authenticators working at every game played in the league and at many autograph sessions.

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.