Dear Babe: My dad has been cleaning out some memorabilia from his basement and found a 1957 True Magazine Baseball Yearbook with Mickey Mantle on the cover. It is signed by Mantle. -- Donald Gormanly, Floral Park, N.Y.
This is something that would definitely look nice in a frame. It's best to keep the magazine intact. The signed magazine is worth around $500, said Mike Gutierrez, consignment director for Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com).
Dear Babe: I found an Indianapolis Motor Speedway license plate in a box of stuff I purchased at a garage sale. It's black and white on the front and yellow on the back, featuring an older looking racecar. I was hoping you'd know how to research this. -- C. Writer, Sun City, Calif.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, but this is a toughie, because it does not appear to be a licensed product. Based on the image you sent along, it's probably from the 1960s or early '70s before the Indy 500 started cracking down on unlicensed material. I was told that back in the day, vendors set up all over the place near the end of May hawking anything and everything Indy 500 related.
I am not about to swear to a value, but I think it is more of a novelty than a collectible. It's probably worth a few bucks to someone who collects Indy 500 memorabilia or license plates.
Dear Babe: About 25 years ago when I was in property management, I was going through a vacant apartment and kicked a bag that rolled. Inside I found four baseballs. All balls are signed by the following that I can read or make out: No. 1 -- Jeff Burroughs, Jim Bibby, Fergie Jenkins, Mike Hargrove, Alex Johnson, Duke Sims, Stan Thomas, Merrill Combs, Art Fowler, Dan Nelson, Billy Martin, Jim Sunberg; No. 2 -- Frank Howard, Woody Fryman, Aurelio Rodriguez, Billy Martin, Dick McAuliffe, Duke Sims, Willie Horton, Mickey Stanley, Mickey Lolich, Gates Brown, Ed Brinkman, Toney Taylor, Gus Johnson; No.3 -- Rodriguez, Horton, Mickey Stanley, Mickey Lolich, Brown, Gus Johnson, Vern Ruhle, Ralph Houk, Ron Leflore, Nate Colbert, Joe Coleman; No. 4 -- Luis Tiant, Dawson, Alvin Dark, Sam McDowell, Duke Sims, Ray Fosse and Vern Fuller. -- Frank Pefley, Hemet, Calif.
The interesting element is what all these baseballs have in common i.e. why the person had them in the first place. Duke Sims is on three of the baseballs. We'd need a database to see if there was a coach or other player who might have been on all four teams.
Based on the names you supplied, Da Babe thinks you have a 1969 Indians ball, a Tigers baseball from 1973 and 1975 along with a Texas Rangers baseball from 1974.
"None of the teams were very good," said Mike Heffner, president of www.Lelands.com, agreed with Da Babe, putting them all in the $100-$150 range -- if you can find a buyer.
BABE NOTE: Rookies rule the roost in the 2011 Topps Platinum football release. Each hobby box has 20 five-card packs. There's a 100-card base set of veterans along with 50 rookies. Boxes promise two rookie on-card autographed refractors and a refractor path telic. Fifty different rookies signed cards. Some refractors feature dual signatures. There are also hexagraphs, featuring six rookie signatures on a double-sided card that are numbered to 10 only in hobby boxes.
(Send card questions to Babe Waxpak, PO Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 or e-mail babewaxpak@charter.net. If possible, include card number, year and brand or a photocopy. Please do not send cards. For Babe Waxpak's blog, see www.scrippsnews.com/waxpak. Babe Waxpak is a feature of The Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif.)
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