A SPECIAL REPORT: BASEBALL MEMORABILIA

AND IT’S FREE: Newport Beach developer John Hamilton wants to show you his collection. Just drop by his 5,000-square-foot museum, which debuts tomorrow at 1 p.m. at 620 Newport Center Drive. . . . Called the Newport Sports Collection Foundation, the museum will display such artifacts as famous jerseys, President Dwight Eisenhower’s golf clubs and the collection’s crown jewel: Baseball great Honus Wagner’s 1895 contract, his first. What was Wagner worth then? $35 a month, and he provided his own shoes.

STAR TRADES: Gene Autry, owner of the Angels for 35 years, could qualify as a big-time memorabilia collector. He has the bat Reggie Jackson used to surpass the 500 home-run mark. He has baseballs signed by Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio. . . . But his wife, Jackie, says he doesn’t consider himself a collector. “He is a celebrity in his own right. To him, they are just things his friends have given him.” And it works both ways. Among former Boston Red Sox slugger Carl Yastrzemski’s collection: a six-gun holster from Autry, the Singin’ Cowboy.

SAY WHAT?! Sue Jones, program director of CSP Youth Shelter in Laguna Beach, is from New Zealand, so when a Mr. Hubbell donated a baseball bat and warm-up jacket for her charity auction, it didn’t mean much to her. . . . Others soon clued her in. The bat and jacket belonged to New York Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947. Gifts from his son, Carl Hubbell II of Laguna Niguel, above, they and other donated items go on auction at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Pacific Golf and Country Club, San Clemente.

NEWCOMER: Carl Hubbell was 44 when he got into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Ila Borders, pitcher for Southern California College in Costa Mesa, has made it at age 20--sort of. . . . Last year, she became the first female starting pitcher on a college team, and the Hall of Fame asked for her cap and jersey. Last week a new portion of the hall’s “Women in Baseball” exhibit opened displaying Borders’ artifacts. . . . It notes she won that game, 12-1.