Ask Babe: More questions for the Babe

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Dear Babe: I recently began collecting autographs from baseball players. What would you suggest has the most value signed: a baseball, a bat or a flat item? If I am looking to add value to my collection, what should I be getting signed? -- Woody Van Treek, Alpharetta, Ga.It's all a matter of personal taste, what a collector has room to display and what one can afford."I would recommend collecting signed baseballs,'' said Mike Heffner, president of www.lelands.com auction house in South Dennis, Mass. "Bats are tougher to display and cost more to have signed and are harder to find. Photos are nice but you need a lot of wall space to display them. Balls are pretty easy to display (stacked in ball holders or on shelves), will always be desirable to collect, are fairly easy to find and affordable to buy.""As far as autographs, it is whatever one prefers, but the bats do take up more display room. Most collectors go after a little of each -- balls, photos and bats,'' said David Kohler, president of www.SCPauctions.com in Mission Viejo, Calif. Dear Babe: I have some autographed posters that were about to go in the trash. They are 20-x-30 inches and say "Lincoln-Mercury Sports Panel Member'' on each. I have posters of Arnold Palmer, Gordie Howe, Jesse Owens, Bart Starr, Byron Nelson and Dave DeBusschere. -- Sam Wright Jr., Moreno Valley, Calif."Make sure that they are actually signed and not facsimile signatures,'' said Mike Heffner, president of www.lelands.com auction house in South Dennis, Mass. If real sigs, Owens is worth $300, Howe is $200, DeBusschere is $150, Nelson is $350, and Palmer is $250. If are not really signed, they're worth at least $25 each, Heffner said.Dear Babe: I have an older model glove dating back to the 1920s. It is a Rawlings Bill Doak "floating heel'' model. The other is a Wilson A2220 Ron Santo glove. -- Joseph Bodkin, Rome, Ga.I found a Doak glove listed in a 1922 Rawlings catalog entry in the Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Source Book. Actually, the glove may be from as early as the 1920s or possibly from the early 1930s, said Joe Phillips, who publishes The Glove Collector newsletter out of Dallas, as well as the Source Book. Those usually fall into $35 (very good) to $120 (near mint) range for a righty glove, Phillips said. Doak was a big league pitcher from 1912-29. The Santo glove is probably in the $30-$90 range.Dear Babe: I have four TV Guide magazines for the week of Oct. 2-8, 1999. If memory serves me correctly, this was the very first time that TV Guide came out with multiple covers. These covers have pictures of Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, David Cone and Orlando Hernandez. It is a collector's Signature Series. -- Dawn Starr, Duluth, Ga."A generic price for any modern publication is $5,'' said Phil Regli, owner of P&R Publications in Irvine, Calif. and a long-time magazine dealer. "If someone framed it -- it is art -- name your price. There is nothing rare about them to my knowledge.''That view was backed up by a recent auction result that offered all four TV Guide magazines framed for $5 plus $10 S&H. It closed with no bids. In this case, the framing was pretty basic, so it wasn't a factor in the pricing. While the magazines feature Yankees, the only one that might be of general interest would Jeter's. I'd say $5-$15 for the set.BABE NOTE: Fans of Jerry Rice, Jerome Bettis and Joe Theismann have a chance to "win'' cards autographed by one of the former stars in several brands of snacks produced under the Kellogg's umbrella. Each former player signed 3,000 cards for the Kellogg's Fall Tailgating promotion. The odds of pulling a card are long with "Instant Winnergame pieces found in one of every 6,667 packages. For a full list of the products with the cards, visit my blog at www.scrippsnews.com/waxpak. (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)