At places such as these:
Ed Dolan Jr.'s Baseball Fanatic Super Store. Like at Alice's Restaurant, you can get anything you want - baseball-wise - at the store with the unwieldy name.
Though it sits in an incredibly unprepossessing place - in a small strip center hard by the Interstate 76 ramp onto U.S. 130 in Gloucester City - there is nothing but sheer baseball elegance once you step inside Ed Dolan's.
There are all kinds of signed balls and bats and cards and photos, but that is just the beginning when you peer through Dolan's neat - and that is meant in both senses of the word - cases. Among the memorabilia for sale are:
* A 1950 World Series ticket from Connie Mack Stadium ($8.75 then; $175 now).
* A 1949 Phillies scorecard, with an advertisement offering a 10-day free trial for a Philco TV set ($35).
* A 1916 Philadelphia A's felt pennant ($60).
Dolan started collecting when he was 8, back in 1964, the year of the Phillies' greatest debacle, when they were in first place by 6 1/2 games with only 12 to play and managed to lose the pennant.
``That didn't sway me. I was a kid who was a fan,'' says Dolan. ``I just collected small things, which is what I would tell an 8-year-old, or any person, today. Buy only what you like and you can afford. That way you will always enjoy it.''
On the second Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m., Dolan sponsors a free-admission auction in his back room. He gets a lot of game-used shoes and uniforms from teams, items that often form the auction's base. ``It's not intimidating. You can just come and see the stuff if that's all you want,'' he says. ``Who knows, you may even win a free door prize and start a collection yourself.''
