By BABE WAXPAK, Scripps Howard News Service

Dear Babe: I was wondering if you could help me out with some history of a hockey puck. It is solid black with no logos. Around the outside ring it says "OFFICIAL" and on the opposite side it says "MADE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA." It was given to me by a friend about 30 years ago in Fresno, so I think it might have something to do with the Falcons, since he said it was game used.

Dear Babe: I have two new Dale Earnhardt Sr. pit crew jerseys from the 1983 and '84 seasons. I may be off by one year, but I have one from each of the two years. This was when Earnhardt Sr. drove for Wrangler. These are the jerseys that the pit crew actually wore, as opposed to officially licensed merchandise. I made the jerseys for two years and kept one each year.

Dear Babe: I have a kid's baseball glove signed by former Boston Red Sox player Jim Rice. The glove was signed in 1978 when I was 11 years old, and I have a picture to prove it. Now that Rice has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame how much has the glove increased in value? -- April Peavey, Hollis, N.H.

]Dear Babe: I have a Boston Red Sox baseball that I believe is from 1950 or '51. It is signed by Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Clyde Vollmer, Buddy Rosar, Bill Evans, Mel Parnell. Fred Hatfield and Dom DiMaggio among others. -- Charlie Sullivan, Danvers, Mass.
It looks like the Red Sox ball is from 1950. That was Evans second and last season in the Majors and the only year he was in Boston.

Dear Babe: What would an authentic Bobby Brown baseball with a COA and hologram from STAT Authentic be worth? It is signed by the following 500 HR Club members: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, William McCovey, Ted Williams, Ernie Banks and Eddie Matthews. -- T.J., Chicago.

Dear Babe: My brother, Ken, was at the dump the other day getting rid of some construction debris from a house he is working on in Shreveport, La. As he was dumping his trailer out he noticed some other debris there that had some very old wood in it. He started poking around and found some newspaper pieces in perfect condition and one piece in particular caught his attention.

Dear Babe: Last summer I bought a paperbound baseball rule book titled "1877 Constitution And Playing Rules of the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs,'' published in Chicago by A.G. Spalding. -- Tom Pohrt, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Dear Babe: My mother recently passed away and among her things I found an 8 x 10 picture that belonged to my father. It is a black and white of the 1952 Los Angeles Angels. Each player signed their name on the front of their shirts. The players include Chuck Connors, Bob Talbot, Dave Flores and Bob Usher among others. -- B. Hines, Calimesa, Calif.

It took 20 years, but it appears as if the mystery surrounding Billy Ripken's infamous 1989 Fleer error card has been solved -- thanks to the perpetrator himself.

The economy didn't have to take a nosedive for card shops to feel the pinch. The current state of affairs just seems to be adding insult to injury.
Internet sales already had taken a huge bite out of the hobby store business.