You probably have some collecting cobwebs in the basement. Or, maybe you use them now as book markers. Full of pinholes and scribbling from your youth days, just what are those old ticket stubs, programs and pennants worth on ebay?

As a child, I collected the stubs and souvenirs from the few big league games my parents were able to take me to. I remember keeping score inside the programs. But I'm not sure why I kept those tiny ticket stubs from College All-star football games. These were the games between the top college players and the world champion NFL team of that year. The NFL players didn't worry about their expensive contracts back then. They played more for pride, as did the college athletes who got their butts kicked year after year.

A few weeks ago I came across the vintage sports memorbilia from the late 1960's. It was packed away in a box with momentos from my childhood days. Inside the box were Boy Scout merit badges, patches and pins from my high school lettermans jacket, a pair of tickets to a College All-star game, and the programs my father had bought me that night at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Back then the .50 cent programs were probably similar in value to the $10 World Series program my son purchased last fall. And the ticket stubs were used, so what value do they hold? If my father found out what I got for those on ebay, he would be laughing in his grave, or asking for a cut.

As a novice ebayer, I had no clue what the memorbilia would bring in. But when I saw the number of watchers on the auctions double every day, I began to wonder. They were the sports collectables dealers, and they were hungry. As with most of my auctions, the Dallas Cowboys pennant, All-stars ticket stubs and programs started out at .99 cents.

As the seven-day auction reached it's final day, the offers were gigantic, at least for my pocket book. And in the final hour of bidding, the numbers doubled. In the end, I had a couple hundred dollars in my pocket for a Cowboys pennant, pair of old programs and a pair of used ticket stubs. Now that's what I call earning interest!

Now I don't recommend running out to buy every Red Sox or Bruins souvenir you can get your hands on. Just be careful what you toss on your way out of the ball park. You never know what it might be worth some day.

-Bob Hammerstrom