ShareThisDear Babe: My Dad received a ball before I was born. It has Babe Ruth's name printed on it. Our family has believed it to be genuine, because he did. As I have compared it with images from the Internet of Babe Ruth signatures, it appears to be quite different. The ball has the two color stitching (red and black), but I am afraid it's either a bogus signature or a trace. Can you shed some light on this? -- Lawrence Check, Conyers, Ga.
The ball is genuine. The black and red stitching would indicate that it is a Spalding baseball, which the American League used from 1911 through 1933.
"That is far from Babe Ruth's signature, but it does appear to be a vintage baseball (circa 1931) and vintage ink,'' said Mike Heffner, president of Lelands.com auction house in New York. "My guess is as good as yours. Was a fan messing around and wrote his (Ruth's) name on a ball, was it passed into the dugout and another player signed for Ruth, was it a ball hit by Ruth that someone wrote his name on to identify it?"
With the inscription, the vintage ball is worth a couple of hundred dollars, Heffner said. A "mint'' baseball from that era would be worth around $1,000.
Dear Babe: I have a hockey puck autographed by Maxime Talbot of the Pittsburgh Penguins on the day of the Stanley Cup parade after they won earlier this year. I received it as a gift. The one thing that concerns me is that it's not an official NHL puck, it's a Czech puck. I don't know if that would change the value. -- Craig Clawson, Indiana, Pa.
Hockey players don't get a lot of respect from memorabilia collectors -- not even ones that score big goals in Stanley Cup clinching games. As every Penguins fans knows, Talbot, who has been sidelined this season after shoulder surgery, stepped up big-time in Game 7 of the finals last year against the defending cup winning Red Wings. After Sidney Crosby was sidelined with an injury in the second period, Talbot, who is known more as a grinder than a scorer, popped in two-second period goals as the Pittsburgh won its first Stanley Cup since 1992, edging Detroit, 2-1. Talbot ended with eight goals and five assists in Pittsburgh's 24 playoff games.
I don't know if it matters if it is an official puck or not. Heffner and David Kohler, president of SportscardsPlus.com in Laguna Niguel, Calif., put it in the $25-$50 range.
Dear Babe: I have a Chipper Jones Topps rookie card that is signed. Do you think the signature is real or machine signed? -- Richard Rhodes, Atlanta.
Jones' 1991 Topps rookie card (No. 333) does not have a facsimile signature, so the signature was added after the card was produced. I doubt Jones was using an autopen in 1991 when your Topps card was issued. The signature on the photocopy you sent does not look like Jones' signature today. Many athletes' signatures change over time. While it doesn't apply to today's rookies and high school prospects, many older athletes had nice, readable signatures when they first appeared on the national scene.
The question is when Jones allegedly signed your card. If it were supposedly a more recent signature, I'd have my doubts. If it's from 17 years ago anything is possible. That's why there are authenticators out there. However, it's probably not worthwhile to have the signature authenticated. I answered another question on signed Jones rookie cards several months ago, saying they might be worth $15-$25. Usually, cards are not the best choice when it comes to autographs.
(Send card questions to Babe Waxpak, PO Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 or e-mail babewaxpak(at)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.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
