Is it real?

[jdkmunch]

Hi -  My wife picked this up from her parents today.  It's a signed Babe Ruth photo  - it reads To my friend Al - (my wife's grandfather)

I poked around the web for a bit to see if this was a replica picture but couldn't find it.  The reason I think it a dup is the Top part To my friend Al - looks like it was done in a pen that was running out of ink - then the signature was done with a flare pen or it's printed on the picture itself -  I can't tell either way.

 

[Brianzz]

you can google image search for Babe's autograph and see if the same strokes, color, etc are present

[uniman]

If not real, it's a very good fake!
Here is a photo of his signature;

http://www.goldstandardcollectibles.com/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=GSC1007

[jay]

Take it down to a BB card place. They would authenticate it for you and put a price on it.

[StatFreak]

...is the Top part To my friend Al - looks like it was done in a pen that was running out of ink - then the signature was done with a flare pen or it's printed on the picture itself -  I can't tell either way.

 

Is it possible that your wife's grandfather added the personalization after procuring the signed card? Personalization actually lowers the collector's value of a signed item, and adding it in himself would be even more detrimental, but that doesn't mean that he didn't do it. That could explain the difference in the ink. The Babe's signature looks like it matches the sample in the link that Uniman posted.

<Add> First, I'm no handwriting expert by any means. However, I do have experience comparing handwriting and signatures as I used to deal with forgeries when working in Loss Recovery & Risk Management in Retail Banking. I downloaded the picture and took a good look at it. I don't think that the message is written by the same hand as the signature. Just my less-than-expert humble opinion.