ShareThisDear 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. -- Randy Muzio, Red Bluff, Calif.
Da Babe is a huge hockey fan, but you sent me scrambling to find out something about the Fresno Falcons. After many decades, the team folded last December. What I found really intriguing is that the team was part of the ECHL. In days of yore, I guess that stood for East Coast Hockey League. It's anything but East Coast these days. The league is spread out all over North America. Current franchises include the Johnstown Chiefs, Cincinnati Cyclones, Elmira Jackals, Wheeling Nailers, Trenton Devils, Dayton Bombers, Reading Royals, Florida Everblades, South Carolina Stingrays, Charlotte Checkers, Mississippi Sea Wolves, Gwinnett Gladiators, Ontario Reign, Las Vegas Wranglers, Stockton Thunder, Bakersfield Condors, Victoria Salmon Kings, Alaska Aces, Idaho Steelheads, Utah Grizzlies and Phoenix RoadRunners, Now back to our regularly scheduled answer. The only way it might have some value is if there was something special about a puck coming from behind the Iron Curtain. Apparently that's not the case. With no identifying marks, it will have little value.
Dear Babe: I have an Upper Deck print - "Silver Anniversary of the Impossible Dream, May 16, 1992." It is numbered 36,580 of 38,000. It has images of Jim Lonborg, George Scott, Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Conigliaro and Dick Williams on it. -- Don Ryan, Merrimack, N.H.
Upper Deck issued 35 commemorative sheets in conjunction with its Heroes of Baseball road show that made stops at all 26 Major League parks during 1992. Beckett's Almanac of Baseball Cards says all sheets are 8 1/2 x 11 and most feature artist drawings of players from the teams. Each is numbered out of the total number produced. Otherwise they are unnumbered. The Almanac lists most of the 35 sheets issued that year in the $5-$10 range. That includes your Boston sheet, which books at $6. The most valuable is the one celebrating the Opening Camden Yards in Baltimore. It books at $30.
Dear Babe: I have two unused tickets for the 1999 Pepsi 400. -- John Howerey, Decatur, Ga.
Dale Jarrett was the winner that day at the Daytona Speedway. "The tickets are not really old enough to have any substantial value. I would say $10 each," said Mike Heffner, president of www.lelands.com auction house in South Dennis, Mass. David Kohler, president of www.SCPauctions.com in Mission Viejo, Calif., agreed that the tickets have little value. It's doubtful the tickets are worth as much today as their face value of $45.
BABE NOTES: When it comes to retro designs no one can match Topps thanks to its nearly six-decade history. American Heritage Baseball is the latest release to take advantage of classic designs. People and events that shaped our nation's history are featured on a variety of vintage Topps designs. Presidents are presented on 1952 style cards. The base set has 125 cards with another 25 short-printed cards focusing on the 2008 presidential race. There are also autographed and relic cards for a number of all-time great baseball players. There are relic cards for the presidents and even a "one-of-one" cut signature card for Helen Keller. For more information visit www.topps.com.
Upper Deck continues its 20th anniversary celebration by taking advantage of one of its best-known cards - Ken Griffey Jr.'s 1989 rookie card that was No. 1 in UD's first set. Griffey signed 89 of those rookie cards adding the inscription "20 years." The signed cards are random inserts in UD 2009 baseball. Griffey signed the first 13 cards in black ink and the remaining 76 cards in blue ink. For more information visit www.upperdeck.com.
(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)
