sports columns

Dear Babe: I have a collection of signed LPGA golf balls. Within that collection are all of the LPGA player Hall of Fame members with the exception of Babe Zaharias and Dinah Shore. I also have the next member to go in (Lorena Ochoa). Additionally, I have the one player who should be in (but is not) Jane Blalock. -- Tim Ward, Jackson, Tenn.

What with the World Series going on, this seems like a good time to ask the simple sports question: What is America's "National Pastime?"

If you answered "baseball," you're hopelessly out of touch. Or Bud Selig. Which, come to think of it, are synonymous.

Dear Babe: We have several baseball cards of the St. Louis Cardinals from around 1954. -- Phyllis Allen Lawrenceville, Ga.

Mark Cuban indulged in a delightful fantasy this week, saying that he'd favor allowing steroid use by athletes if they took the drugs safely while under a doctor's supervision and if the hormonal enhancements could be perfected so they don't cause long-term health damage.

Dear Babe: My husband has a very unusual collectible. It is an uncut sheet of Canada Dry Ginger Ale cans that commemorate the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies' World Series win with Tug McGraw and Mike Schmidt. It was originally given to his grandfather, who owned a bar in the Philly area, by a Canada Dry rep.

Dear Babe: I have a 1939 Heisman Trophy Award Banquet Program autographed to my uncle from Nile Kinnick. He signed his picture inside the program. I also have an 8-x-10 group photo of Kinnick and his fraternity brothers from 1939. Both items are in excellent condition. -- Scott Threlkeld, Rochester, Minn.

Dear Babe: I have a 2008 All-Star baseball autographed by Brian Wilson on the sweet spot. -- Randy Muzio, Red Bluff, Calif.

If only Serena Williams were a NASCAR driver.

I mean, imagine how it would have been received if after a controversial NASCAR ruling, say another bogus debris caution, a driver said over the radio "You tell that NASCAR official that if I can even find that (expletive) piece of debris, I will shove it up their (expletive) and then I'm going to (expletive) kill them."

Dear Babe: We have a lot of 49rs memorabilia such as signed jerseys (Rice & Montana), signed footballs and framed newspaper articles ("The Catch"). How do we sell this stuff without putting it up piece by piece on e-Bay? -- Dave Becker, Redding, Calif.

Dear Babe: My sister and brother-in-law have a Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig signed baseball that has been authenticated by PSA/DNA. It was originally Dorothy Dougher, who received the ball, and her name is on it also. Gehrig has signed near the Spalding information on a side panel and Ruth apparently had a habit of signing in the "sweet spot'' as on this ball. It was signed around 1923.