Dear Babe: I have a box of golf balls that Phil Mickleson signed at the NEC tourney at Firestone one year. In the box are logo balls of every tourney that was ever played at Firestone CC – from
the Rubber City Open to the current NEC tourney. He signed on the cover of the box. I heard he won’t sign a ball.

– Jan Garrett,
Warren, Pa.

You are right about the golf balls. In 2008, Da Babe did some research into the subject and was told the winner of this year’s Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Ariz., did not sign them. Since the rumors persist that he has at some time signed golf balls, Da Babe decided to check back with T.R. Reiman, media relations director for Lagardere Unlimited.

“I asked Phil about this last week (after the Phoenix Open). He reiterated that he signed a dozen balls for each of his children on the day of their births and locked them away,” Reinman said. “He said he signed some ‘in the 80s.’ I have been with him, either as a golf writer or as the media relations manager for his agency, since he won the 1990 Amateur. It was at least in the early ’90s when I asked him why he didn’t sign balls, and he said it was too hard to sign his name on a ball.

“I have seen him kindly turn down requests from CEOs for years. Every single day at tournaments parents and kids hand us balls along the rope line, and his response is always the same: ‘I don’t sign balls. Do you have something else I can sign?’ ”

As for the box of balls, it isn’t worth as much as you might think.

While Mickelson doesn’t sign golf balls, he, like most other golfers, is accommodating to fans seeking his signature.

“I thought $80 was about right for the autographed box of balls,” said Theo Chen, owner of www.AutographsForSale.com. “Mickelson is not a hard autograph to obtain. I sell Mickelson signed 2006 and 2010 Masters flags for not that much more ($240) and those are much more sought after.”

Babe note

A blast from the past.

Da Babe stopped in at a card show at Greenway High School in Phoenix. It was like stepping back in time to the heyday of weekend card shows in the late 1980 and early ’90s.

There were 20-25 dealers at 50 tables inside the school’s gym. This one featured a little something for all types of collectors, including a healthy variety of older material. It was a refreshing change from today’s shows that too often feature a vast majority of dealers who have just cracked open boxes of the latest releases.

And for good measures a couple of former stars, Denny McLain and Joe Thiesmann, were scheduled to sign autographs, but that they were scheduled to appear after Da Babe left to catch a plane.

Babe Waxpak is written by Bill
Wagner and is a feature of the Record Searchlight (www.redding.com) in Redding, CA. 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 email babewaxpak@
charter.net.

Newsletter