One of the holy grail baseball autographs has to be Christy Mathewson and it's an achievement for any auction house to have a Mathewson signature offered. Memory Lane has three in its Dec. 8 auction, which should go live any day now.

First, Mathewson’s 1900 signed rookie contract (player’s copy) will start at $25,000. The four-page document is signed on the third page and is authenticated by PSA/DNA.

Next, there are two items that have been held privately by the family of Ernst K. Powell for 83 years and haven’t been available to the hobby previously. First, there is a typed, Mathewson-signed letter on Boston National League Baseball Company letterhead, dated Jan. 26, 1924. The letter is writtten to a new player (Padgett), is PSA/DNA authenticated and has a minimum bid of $10,000.

Finally, there’s a Mathewson-signed player contract for Padgett and a training camp reporting notice, which is signed by Edwin L. Riley, Mathewson’s secretary. This item also carries a minimum bid of $10,000.

Pretty cool stuff and about as rare as they come. Also, Vintage Authentics ends this week. They’ve got a 1888 Cap Anson game-used bat that is unbelievable. It has great documentation and received the coveted A10* from MEARS, markings its historical significance. It’s already up to $60,500 in bidding and could go quite a bit higher.

So this was supposed to be the best NBA Draft Class in years? Definitely the best since 2003-04 and maybe the best since 1996-97, but it's off to a slow start. Don't worry, most still think this class is loaded and I agree, but it's tough to ignore how little of an impact they've had so far.

First, Greg Oden is out for the year, which puts a damper on the whole thing. Oden might not have been great as a rookie, but he's have enough highlight film blocks to generate a buzz and another year of experience would have helped him.

Kevin Durant is doing his thing in Seattle. He's averaging 22 ppg and five rebounds, but shooting only 41 percent for the winless Sonics. You can see Durant adjust as he goes though there's little doubt he's going to be special.

However, beyond Durant, there's only one rookie even averaging double figures and that's Daequan Cook, who's only played two games during garbage time and averaged 10.5 ppg. He hasn't even played in the close games so realistically, he shouldn't be counted.

If you ignore Cook's two games, Jianlian Yi is second among rookies in scoring, with 9.8 ppg. He's got a great offensive game and is definitely a bright spot. Al Horford won the starting center job in Atlanta an is averaging 7 ppg. Acie Law also earned the starting job a couple games into the season and is getting 8 ppg. Finally, Jeff Green has shown some flashes in Seattle also and is currently getting 7 ppg.

The disturbing part is that Corey Brewer and Mike Conley are barely playing. Brewer didn't crack the starting lineup on the young T-Wolves. Conley is the third string point guard on Memphis, behind Damon Stoudamire and Kyle Lowry. Is it time to worry? No. Both will be solid NBA players and will probably benefit from being brought along slowly.

There are plenty of other talented players from the 2007 Draft that will make impacts down the road too. Al Thornton hasn't gone on a scoring binge yet. Thaddeus Young, Nick Young, Javaris Crittenton, Sean Williams, Joakim Noah, Brandan Wright, Julian Wright and others will have their time in the sun. It's just taking a little longer than the instant impact most people anticipated. My guess is that as each month passes by, several more players will be making an impact and basketball cards will continue to heat up. By March, the 2007-08 basketball card outlook will be very positive.