Exhibit Shows How Far Memorabilia Collectors Will Go for a Taste of Fame

A Dodger Dog, it ain’t. The Baseball Reliquary’s exhibit on ballpark food at the Pomona Public Library features a remnant of a hot dog said to have been partially eaten by Babe Ruth in 1925.

The now-shriveled hunk, lovingly protected in a glass case, was allegedly abandoned by the Bambino on a train trip and, years later, a Ruth collector donated it to the Reliquary, an eccentric historical group. Keep in mind, however, that the Reliquary likes to spoof memorabilia collectors.

Columnist David Allen of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin commented that this was one missing link that should stay missing.

Still talkin’ baseball: The Reliquary exhibit also declares that Dodger vendor Roger Owens was clocked tossing a bag of peanuts at 60 mph. I can’t verify that one either, but I do know Owens has been pitching food for 45 years at Dodger games, which should be grounds for admission to the Hall of Fame.

As Owens pointed out, “Unlike a lot of pitchers, I never have any relievers come in for me. I pitch the whole game, every day.”

For the birds? Frank Armstrong and Donna Willinsky passed along a story about some feathery fiends that seemed almost too good to be true.

But I checked with the authority on urban folk tales, the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society (snopes.com), and found that the story was indeed true.

It seems Bill Doughtery, of Magic Wand Inc., which installs carwash machines, discovered that machines in Fredericksburg, Va., were coming up hundreds of dollars short.

Suspecting employees, he set up a surveillance camera to catch the thieves and discovered the villains were starlings, working in teams of two (see photo).

One would go inside the machine to jimmy the coins loose, and the others would grab them and fly off. (Visit www.unisolv.

com/images/bird.htm.)

The San Fernando Folklore Society’s research found that starlings “are often attracted to bright, shiny objects and will collect them for nesting or mate-attraction purposes.”

In this case, they sound remarkably like humans.

Such a deal: Gregg Hughes of Northridge found a company offering the chance to listen to a guy’s voice for $9 a month (see above). I dunno. Maybe if it were Sinatra ...

Unreal estate: Amy Shachory spotted an ad for a house whose attributes included “Beautiful Garden in Front and Side Yard. Two-Car Detached Garage. Enclosed Porche!” She pointed out that if the last item was a Porsche, it would be a great deal (even if it wasn’t a convertible).

miscelLAny: Let’s conclude with an episode of “When Inanimate Objects Fight Back”.... USC’s Daily Trojan reported that officers responded to a student injured at a nearby market “when a shopping cart gate swung up and struck him in the forehead after he kicked it.”

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.