Ask Babe: More questions for the Babe

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Dear Babe: Back in the summer of 1963, my family was visiting Boston on the way up to Maine for summer vacation. We stayed in the same hotel as our hometown heroes, the Yankees, who were visiting the Red Sox. We came down to breakfast and found several of them eating. I, all of 11 years at the time, obtained autographs on a page from my mothers notepad of Mickey Mantle, Bill "Moose" Skowron, Roger Maris, John Blanchard and Dale Long. Separately, I received an autographed B&W 8x10 photo of Whitey Ford from the same timeframe. -- Jim Reider, Grand Island, Neb.In the best of all worlds you'd just have Mantle and Maris, but how was an 11-year-old to know that back them. "They detract from just having the 'dynamic duo.' I would say $600-800," said Mike Gutierrez, consignment director for Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com) in Dallas. If by chance Mantle and Maris signed in a way that you could matte just those two signatures with a nice picture of the M&M Boys, the value would probably increase. Tuff Stuff lists a photo signed by Ford at $60.Dear Babe: I have a collection of old pictures of baseball players (and stage actresses) from packages of Old Mill cigarettes. I believe they are made of silk. My Grandmother collected them and sewed them on a sheet of muslin. Some of the names of the baseball players are Jake Danbert, Wm. Bergen, Thos. Downey and Arthur Devlin among others. -- David Kinney, Hiawassee, Ga.The silks were premiums from Old Mill, Turkey Red, Helmar and on rare occasions Red Sun cigarettes. They date from 1911 and were probably produced in more than one year. Beckett's Almanac of Baseball Cards and The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards from the editors of Sports Collectors Digest list commons at $100-$150. All the players you mentioned fall into the category. The silks came with a variety of backgrounds. Those that are white carry a 25 percent premium. Silks with the paper still ached to the backs are worth double their catalog values. Ty Cobb is the most valuable at $1,200-$2000. Your silks probably won't command top dollar, because they'll have the holes from being sewn into a blanket.Dear Babe: I have a Mother's Cookies card of Mike Piazza and Tim Salmon shaking hands. It is No. 3 of 4 from 1994. -- Norm Satterfield, Sun City, Calif.Collectors ate a lot of Mother's Cookies from the mid 1980s until the late 1990s. In 1994, the cookie folks issued three four-card sets featuring the previous season's Rookie of the Year winners - Piazza from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tim Salmon from the Anaheim Angels. That's when common sense prevailed before the Halos became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Naming history aside, there was a set for Piazza, a set for Salmon and a set that featured both young stars. Beckett's Almanac of Baseball Cards lists your card at $1.50, while The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards from the editors of Sports Collectors Digest has it at 50 cents. There's also a foil version (blue or red) that the Standard catalog has at $9.Dear Babe: I have hockey stick and signed team picture of Val James when he played for the Erie Blades back in the 1979-1982. Val later went on to be the first African American to play in the NHL. -- Dean Urraro, Powder Springs, Ga."Val James' career basically amounted to a footnote in NHL history," said Mike Breeden, an autograph expert and editor of Tuff Stuff's autograph guide."He wasn't the first black player, which is the only tag that would carry any significance. His NHL career lasted an unimpressive two years. I don't know what used sticks go for, but the photo is worth about $10 at the most. He holds no significance with the average collector."For the record, the first black player in the NHL was Willie O'Ree, who made his debut a half-century ago for the Boston Bruins.Dear Babe: I recently found a Babe Ruth 100th anniversary baseball - 1985-1995. -- Robert Jiggetts, Lithonia, Ga.It looks to me as if these are more like novelties than collectibles. There was a lot of merchandise marketed when the 100th anniversary of Ruth's birth rolled around 1991. I only saw a couple of similar baseballs that sold in eBay auctions and they went for just 99 cents plus $5 S&H. That puts the baseballs in the $5-$10 range.Babe Waxpak is written by Bill Wagner and is a feature of the Record Searchlight (www.redding.com) in Redding, Calif. If you have a question for Babe Waxpak, include your full name and hometown, the card number, year and manufacturer or send a photocopy. Please do not send cards. The address is: Babe Waxpak, Box 492397, Redding CA 96049-2397 or e-mail babewaxpak(at)charter.net.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)