Memorabilia

When he and his staff moved back into their offices in the Carroll Building last year after a renovation, Howard County State's Attorney Dario Broccolino noticed how bare the walls were and how lifeless the place seemed. It had been a while since the office was filled with the paintings of one of his predecessors, Bill Hymes, whose Norman Rockwell knockoffs had been sold. "It all looked so barren," Broccolino said recently. Not anymore. Autographed memorabilia that once belonged to legendary athletes, actors and musicians now fill the hallways, giving the county's prosecutors a set of conversation pieces that help "break the ice" with crime victims and witnesses.

The price tags came in different shapes and sizes - plain and colorful, stuck on items and hanging off, bigger for sums surpassing $4 million and small enough for a few bucks - and they were everywhere. They were stuck to baseball cards, hung off used jerseys and sat in front of championship rings. One announced the price of the Olympics Torch from Atlanta. Another, Hulk Hogan's championship belt. Some price tags were on the Internet. For $300, you could buy a ticket to have Ricky Henderson sign your artwork or jersey.

ABC will enter the cable-dominated TV terrain of such shows as "Pawn Stars" starting March 24 with the debut of "Ball Boys," a 12-episode, Saturday-afternoon, reality TV series set in Baltimore County at Robbie's 1st Base. ABC announced the show on its portion of the TCA press tour in Los Angeles. Here's an account from "Channel Guide" magazine: Ball Boys comes from the producers of Pawn Stars and will follow the action at Robbie's 1st Base in Baltimore, and the family-like relationships of the sports fanatics who work there, Robbie Sr. and Junior, Sweet Lou and Shaggy.

The new ABC reality TV series "Ball Boys" opens with the motto: "Every great moment in sports leaves something behind. " This network series set in a Baltimore sports memorabilia shop tells the stories of what happens to some of the stuff left behind. That's not a bad premise. Think of it as a jock lover's version of "History Detectives. " But that's not all that's happening in the series, which takes viewers inside Robbie's First Base in Lutherville, where they will meet owners Robbie Davis Sr. and Robbie Davis Jr., as well as workers Lou "Sweet Lou" Brown and Robbie "Shaggy" Reier.

Carroll County prosecutors moved to drop theft charges against an Eldersburg man known as "Mr. Memorabilia," based upon psychiatric evaluations, but vowed to revive the case if they find sports collectibles he took on consignment.Dozens of theft charges against Robert G. Urban have been placed on the inactive docket in Carroll County District Court, said Assistant State's Attorney Jerome Joyce, noting that the defendant has been evaluated as not criminally responsible by three psychiatrists, most recently in December.

The brew pub and restaurants planned for Westminster's century-old Main Street firehouse will include the area's first sports bar -- showcasing memorabilia from the extensive collection of local broadcaster Ted Patterson.Grading began last week on John Street for construction of the new station for the Westminster Fire Engine and Hose Company No. 1, which is expected to move next fall.After the move, restoration of the vacated firehouse at 66 E. Main St. should be a matter of months, because the work will be almost entirely cosmetic, said Dr. Kenneth Crawford, a retired physician who heads C&C Restaurant Group of Bel Air.He said the beer-brewing equipment will take up one of the three bays, while the other two will become a more formal restaurant.

It took more than an hour of waiting for Jeff Skaggs to receive his limited edition Stephen Strasburg Topps Heritage rookie card at the National Sports Collectors Convention on Friday afternoon. The card is one of 999 being given out during the five-day convention and is selling for more than $100 on ebay.com. One day it could be worth far more, making the wait bearable for Skaggs, an Indiana native. "I think he's going to be a great player," he said. "They knew coming out of college he was a great player and he's really brought a lot of excitement back to the hobby.

Phil Curry plucked a handful of the evergreen shrubbery that decorates Memorial Stadium and held it over his head."Five dollars, a real bargain!" shouted Curry, 35, a sales manager from Easton, as hundreds of fans ignored him near the stadium's front gate just before yesterday's game.From real estate to an elaborate $240 embroidered portrait of the stadium, memorabilia of 38 years of baseball on 33rd Street moved quickly, as eager collectors opened their wallets. Security guards were posted everywhere to protect souvenirs that were not for sale, such as the seats and the turf.

The lengthy list of pilfered items from storage rooms at Camden Yards reads like an inventory from a baseball memorabilia collector's garage: A Melvin Mora bobblehead doll: $3. Six Orioles warm-up jackets: $360. Numerous Orioles autograph cards: $1,000. Baltimore police officers assigned to investigate the crime had trouble listing values for most of the stolen merchandise. They wrote "value unknown" for the 1969 Giants media guide, for 50 Brian Roberts bookmarks, for 26 used lineup cards and a dugout's worth other items, including two bases used in one of the last games of Cal Ripken Jr.'s final season in 2001.

The holy grail of Cal Ripken memorabilia is a 2 1/2 -by-3 1/2 -inch piece of 14-year-old cardboard. It features a bland picture of the 19-year-old "infielder" when he played for the minor-league Charlotte Orioles.And Bill Haelig of Reading, Pa., the Indiana Jones of Ripken collectors, has hunted one down. The man who bills himself as Cal Ripken's biggest fan -- and backs it up with what is apparently the largest collection of Ripken memorabilia -- recently rejected $4,000 for his card.The quest for the elusive card -- Mr. Haelig says probably fewer than 100 exist -- separates the really serious collectors from the thousands of seemingly normal adults who covet anything associated with the Oriole shortstop.

Another Gino's Maryland's second Gino's Burgers & Chicken opened Monday in the Honeygo Shopping Center in Perry Hall. Former Gino's executive Tom Romano engineered the current Gino's revival. A company-owned store opened in King of Prussia, Pa., in October 2010, and the first franchise operation opened in August 2011 in Towson. Another store is operating in Bensalem, Pa. Gino's was founded in Baltimore, but the company relocated its headquarters to King of Prussia before it was acquired by Marriott Corp.

Heads up: Entering Bahoukas Antiques Mall and BrewMania MuZeum in Havre de Grace may cause a bit of sensory overload. The 10,000-square-foot shop is jam packed from floor to ceiling with various antiques, toys, collectables and more. “We have a lot of cool, funky stuff that you won't find in other stores,” says Barbara Wagner, who owns and operates Bahoukas with her husband, George. The couple met four years ago and married a year later in a Cinderella-themed wedding because George is an avid collector of Cinderella memorabilia.

ABC will enter the cable-dominated TV terrain of such shows as "Pawn Stars" starting March 24 with the debut of "Ball Boys," a 12-episode, Saturday-afternoon, reality TV series set in Baltimore County at Robbie's 1st Base. ABC announced the show on its portion of the TCA press tour in Los Angeles. Here's an account from "Channel Guide" magazine: Ball Boys comes from the producers of Pawn Stars and will follow the action at Robbie's 1st Base in Baltimore, and the family-like relationships of the sports fanatics who work there, Robbie Sr. and Junior, Sweet Lou and Shaggy.

They are auctioning Elizabeth Taylor's jewels at Christie's in New York in December, and they expect the finest of them — about 260 pieces — to bring in some $30 million. But that's just a tiny part of what she left behind. In October, the estate of John Wayne — responding to fan requests that remain strong since his death more than 30 years ago — is auctioning off some of the large collection of movie memorabilia it holds. Everything from his Golden Globe for "True Grit" to the eye patch he wore in the movie.

When he and his staff moved back into their offices in the Carroll Building last year after a renovation, Howard County State's Attorney Dario Broccolino noticed how bare the walls were and how lifeless the place seemed. It had been a while since the office was filled with the paintings of one of his predecessors, Bill Hymes, whose Norman Rockwell knockoffs had been sold. "It all looked so barren," Broccolino said recently. Not anymore. Autographed memorabilia that once belonged to legendary athletes, actors and musicians now fill the hallways, giving the county's prosecutors a set of conversation pieces that help "break the ice" with crime victims and witnesses.

In recent weeks, at least one local television station has referred to Barry H. Landau, the New York man arrested with an accomplice and charged with stealing documents from the Maryland Historical Society, as a "presidential historian. " The TV station, WJZ-Channel 13, had it wrong. Mr. Landau is not a "historian"; he is a professional collector of presidential memorabilia, and has befriended several former chief executives in the process. As a professional historian who was trained within the academic field and has taught history at the college level for 20 years, I can sadly say that the terms "historian" and "history" have been, particularly in recent years, distorted, unduly inflated, and diminished.

Heads up: Entering Bahoukas Antiques Mall and BrewMania MuZeum in Havre de Grace may cause a bit of sensory overload. The 10,000-square-foot shop is jam packed from floor to ceiling with various antiques, toys, collectables and more. “We have a lot of cool, funky stuff that you won't find in other stores,” says Barbara Wagner, who owns and operates Bahoukas with her husband, George. The couple met four years ago and married a year later in a Cinderella-themed wedding because George is an avid collector of Cinderella memorabilia.

Collectors seem to be turning their attention toward memorabilia. Dealers say most of their business remains in trading cards but that memorabilia sales are increasing.Dealers who noticed the trend during the Christmas buying period say it has continued, going beyond gifts to a new direction for many collectors.Joe Bosley, who has always had an extensive memorabilia selection at The Old Ball Game in Reisterstown, says sales are picking up. His customers are looking for "anything old, particularly baseball," he says, even "things that people probably threw away."

Federal authorities searched the Manhattan apartment Wednesday of a collector and author charged with stealing documents from the Maryland Historical Society, according to a source familiar with the investigation. Barry H. Landau, 63, and another man continue to sit in the Baltimore City Detention Center, held on no bond. Landau's attorney formally filed a petition for a bail hearing in Baltimore Circuit Court and is awaiting a date. Landau and 24-year-old Jason Savedoff were arrested Saturday at the Maryland Historical Society after police say the pair tried to steal documents, including one signed by Abraham Lincoln.

When Earl Weaver cleans out his garage, he doesn't hold a yard sale. He has a headline-grabbing event sure to make collectors drool. The bidding on his baseball memorabilia could net the Orioles' Hall of Fame manager as much as $150,000, said David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions, who is peddling a number of Weaver's keepsakes Saturday in Chicago. A 1966 Orioles World Series championship ring and Weaver's Baseball Hall of Fame induction ring are on the block, along with 45 other items bestowed on Weaver during his 17 years as the Orioles' winningest manager, between 1968 and 1986.