Dear Babe: I have an All Time Greats Cap Anson card No. 39 (photo enclosed). – Ken Doughty, Cottonwood, Calif.



Dear Babe: I have a set of Topps All-Time Greats baseball cards. They are gold foil on cardboard backing that came on my dad's Prince Albert tobacco. I think they are from 1947. The set includes Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby and many others pre-WWII stars. – N. S., Manson, N.C.

Topps didn't start making cards until 1951. I don't know about tobacco cans, but it sounds to me as if you both have some 1963 Bazooka All-Time Greats. The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards from the editors of Sports Collectors Digest lists the entire 41-card set at $675, and Beckett’s Almanac of Baseball Cards has it at $350. Ruth is the most valuable at $65-$80 with Lou Gehrig and Cobb at $50-$60. The value for commons is the cause of the big difference in the pricing of the set. The Standard Catalog has them at $13.50, and the Almanac lists them at $6 each. There also are some cards with silver trim. The guides agree those are worth twice as much as their gold counterparts. As for the Anson card, both guides list it as a common. However, based on the photocopy, it looks like the card is damaged with a major crease though his image and off-center. It might be worth a dollar or two to someone working on a low grade set.



Dear Babe: In 1937 or 1938 (my memory fails me), I attended a baseball game in Reading, Pa. The two teams playing were the Philadelphia Athletics and the Reading Chicks. I have a baseball autographed by Connie Mack, the manager/owner of the Athletics. This baseball also has the autographs of Chubby Dean, Pat Robin, Sam Chapman, Dick Seibert, Benny McCoy and a few more autographs that I can’t recognize. – Sylvester Smith, San Jacinto, Calif.

You're forgiven for having trouble recalling the exact date. Actually, I think it was signed in 1940 or 1941. At least, that's when McCoy played for the A's, coming to Philadelphia in the offseason in late 1939 from the Detroit Tigers. According to the Baseball Encyclopedia, Detroit tried to trade McCoy to the A's, but commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis nullified the trade and declared McCoy a free agent. So he simply signed with the A's for a $10,000 bonus. If it is an A's team-signed ball from those years, it's worth $250-$350, said Mike Gutierrez, consignment director for Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com) in Dallas.



Dear Babe: Enclosed is a picture of a St. Louis Cardinals pen and pencil set shaped like bats. I think they are about 65 years old. – Arthur Allison, Antrim, N.H.

When it comes to bats, even pen and pencil sets shaped like them, Dave Bushing, an authenticator for www.mearsonline.com, is the man to call. Your Cardinals set is indeed from the 1940s. Bushing said it's a common gift set worth as much as $50 for ones in mint condition still in the box. It's hard to determine condition from the photocopy you enclosed, but it doesn't look like there is a box, so the value will drop, possibly by as much as 50 percent or more.



Dear Babe: I have the book Gretzky: An Autobiography by Wayne Gretzky with Rick Reilly, copyright 1990, first edition. It was signed by Gretzky at a bookstore event shortly after the book's release. – Leo Rodriguez, Riverside, Calif.

"I would think that the book, being a first edition and with an early vintage Gretzky signature, low end would be $150 and high end $250," said Bill Campbell, of Selkirk, Manitoba, a hockey memorabilia consultant.



Dear Babe: I have two Spalding NBA basketballs. One is signed by Michael Jordan, and the other one has the signature of every member of the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls championship team. It has everybody except Scottie Pippen. – Bill Black, Lawrenceville, Ga.

The big factor with Jordan basketballs is proving that he signed it. If the signature is authentic, the Jordan ball is worth $500-$1,000, said Brian Marren, vice president of acquisitions for www.MastroAuctions.com auctions in Chicago, and Mike Heffner, president of www.lelands.com auction house in New York. They agreed that the team-signed ball would in the $1,000-$1,500 range. Not having Pippen hurts.



Send card or memorabilia questions to Babe Waxpak, P.O. Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 or e-mail babewaxpak@redding.com. Please give your full name and hometown and, if possible, include card number, year, brand or any other distinguishing information or a photocopy. Please do not send cards or memorabilia.