Dandy collection of Yankee memorabilia

NORTH SALT LAKE — Upon first glance, there seems to be nothing special about the trio of baseballs sitting on Bob Albertelli's coffee table. The exterior of each ball is well-worn with age and bears a brownish hue, and all three are inside a protective casing.

With each baseball, however, it is not the ball itself that is significant as much as what is on its surface. All three baseballs are inscribed with signatures of notable players from a golden era of the sport. One in particular, a ball used in the 1934 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, is dotted with the names of Hall of Fame stars such as Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx.

This is just a small sample of a treasure trove of memorabilia worth thousands of dollars that Albertelli — a transplanted New Yorker now residing in North Salt Lake — houses in his home as an outward expression of his love of baseball and his devotion to the sport's most storied franchise, the New York Yankees.

"I left a lot in New York," Albertelli said. "I left behind everything except my love of the Yankees. I think everybody knows that around here. We got a lot of Yankee fans in this area it seems like."

Any number of Yankee fans — or baseball fans in general — would give anything to get a peek at his decades-old collection of signed baseballs, rare photos, game programs and game tickets.

Ironically, one of Albertelli's most prized possessions was rescued from possibly ending up at a landfill somewhere. One of his relatives noticed a thin book written by Babe Ruth, which instructed children on how to play baseball, among a pile of old books being discarded by the Bear River High School library.

Albertelli's relative purchased the book for 50 cents and gave it to him as a present when he noticed a picture of Albertelli's father, Bruno, on the book's cover. That book is now worth $1,200 today.

Photos of Ruth are the part of his collection that Albertelli cherishes the most because he has more of a personal connection with those pieces than others. Many of the photos contain shots of his father — then a teenager — who worked for Ruth for a couple of years. It was the first job for Albertelli's father when he had to quit school to support his family during the Great Depression.

Ruth remained friends with the Albertelli family for several years afterwards, even coming to their house for dinner a few years before his death.

"I don't remember him at all," Albertelli said. "But he was a good guy to my father, I know that."