In 2017, Panini said that in “an extremely unfortunate situation,” N.F.L. Yet there have been times when companies have recalled autographed cards. Skeptics of the “Lulu” signatures argue that it is unusual for an autograph to become neater and to take longer to write. Many star athletes, including Michael Jordan and Patrick Mahomes, have simplified their autographs, with the different signatures containing underlying consistencies, such as the relative heights and widths of letters. “I don’t even know how people can say things like this,” she said, adding, “He’s probably changing his writing - I don’t know. His mother, Mirjam Poterbin, said the idea that she had signed any of his cards was a crazy rumor. There is zero evidence for that specific theory, which has become a pervasive inside joke in the industry, but the larger skepticism surrounding the “Lulu” autographs has persuaded some people to purge those versions of the cards from their collections.ĭoncic declined to comment, a Mavericks spokeswoman said.

Yet that has not stopped some collectors from speculating that Doncic’s mother is responsible for the “Lulu” signatures, which they describe as more feminine. It is practically impossible to prove who signed a particular card without video proof, not even a “Sasquatch” signature could be unequivocally discredited. Bolstered by stay-at-home orders and stimulus funds, the frenzy shared the get-rich-quick impulses that propelled cryptocurrency and meme stocks. Speculators stripped Target and Walmart shelves of lucrative boxes, flipping them for fivefold prices. When live sports went silent last year, some people discovered the drama of watching others rip open expensive packs of cards on YouTube. Like the signature seen on many of his other highly coveted trading cards, the blue script is not the tilting scribble Doncic used during his teenage years.Īlthough player autographs evolve and handwriting analysis is subjective, the conjecture has become a powder keg for the sports card industry, which has thrived during the coronavirus pandemic. Many collectors believe that an elegant signature of Doncic’s name on the lone copy of a basketball card that sold for $4.6 million this year was written not by him, but by his mother. But cybersleuths have been flummoxed by the inconsistency he displays during a more pedestrian task: writing his name. fans to long-distance floaters, nutmeg passes and playoff fireworks. Luka Doncic can appear to lack no superpower on the basketball court, where the 22-year-old Slovene star regularly treats N.B.A.

This sign has sharp edges