Antiquing with Baba Booey: Stern sidekick gets new VH1 Classic show

Gary Dell'Abate's sits in his "man cave" and hugs his Murphy, his dog, in his house, Greenwich, Conn., Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Gary Dell'Abate, the longtime Howard Stern sidekick and Old Greenwich resident, is co-host of a new VH1 Classic show on music and pop culture memorabilia called "For What It's Worth." less Gary Dell'Abate's sits in his "man cave" and hugs his Murphy, his dog, in his house, Greenwich, Conn., Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Gary Dell'Abate, the longtime Howard Stern sidekick and Old Greenwich resident, is ... more Photo: Helen Neafsey Photo: Helen Neafsey Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Antiquing with Baba Booey: Stern sidekick gets new VH1 Classic show 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

Gary Dell'Abate lives in a time capsule.

It's a cross between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Cooperstown, only with two beer taps.

There's an autographed check -- isn't that a redundancy -- from Ralph Kiner, the New York Mets legend and fellow Greenwich resident.

Seats from Shea Stadium. Infield dirt from Yankee Stadium -- the old one.

A Victrola.

And then there is a Rock-Ola Comet 120 jukebox, which the Howard Stern sidekick nicknamed "Baba Booey" bought off a man in Danbury for $2,100.

It didn't come with nickels, dimes or quarters. Doesn't matter, as Dell'Abate demonstrates how to rig it for free songs, the first being "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," followed by the Beatles "Help!"

"Believe it or not, I got it off Craigslist," Dell'Abate said. "That was one of the things I wanted my entire life."

Dell'Abate, 51, is putting his obsession for collecting vinyl records, autographed baseballs, cartoon cells and photos, which fill every nook and cranny of his home, to use in a new television series on VH1 Classic.

"For What It's Worth" will make its debut at 10 p.m. Thursday, with Dell'Abate co-hosting the half-hour show with fellow Stern disciple Jon Hein, himself an avid collector of pop culture memorabilia.

The show is VH1 Classic's answer to "Antiques Roadshow," the popular PBS series in which appraisers travel the country and help collectors determine the value of their antiques.

"The whole point is we're collectors and hoarders," Dell'Abate said.

Dell'Abate, who is married with two sons and serves on the town parks board, taped six episodes of the show last summer while he was on vacation from Stern. He spent part of each show traveling around the country with Hein in search of one-of-a-kind collections of music or pop culture history.

The duo went to a Pittsburgh warehouse to meet with a man who owns 3.75 million records. They visited an arcade game collection in Harrisburg and interviewed White Stripes co-founder Jack White at his Nashville record production facility.

Their tour also took them to a private collector in New Jersey who owns Barbara Eden's genie outfit from "I Dream of Jeannie," Archie Bunker's hat from "All in the Family," and the Fonz's leather jacket from "Happy Days."

"I hope to do a second season," Dell'Abate said. "I hope to get even more of the lunatic collectors coming out of the woodwork."

Much like "Antiques Roadshow," Dell'Abate and Hein spent part of each episode at a Brooklyn, N.Y., warehouse sizing up the memorabilia of collectors, aided by a panel of experts.

Among them is John Reznikoff of University Archives in Westport, a pre-eminent collector and appraiser of artifacts.

"You know, I've done a lot of shows that are, for lack of a better word, the `Antique Roadshows,' but there's something about him and Jon that makes it better than a lot of these shows," Reznikoff said of Dell'Abate. "These guys are professional comedians. Not only are they professional comedians, but they're both very knowledgeable in the world of professional memorabilia."

Dell'Abate and Hein visited Reznikoff's office in Westport during one of the episodes.

"He has an enormous collection of celebrity hair," Dell'Abate said.

Reznikoff's hair-brained obsession includes locks belonging to Abraham Lincoln, Mozart, Beethoven, Paul McCartney, Elvis and Michael Jackson from when the pop star's hair caught on fire filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984.

"When he opens it up, it still smells of burnt hair," Dell'Abate said.

Dell'Abate is more into vinyl than follicles, however.

"I wouldn't know what to do with it" he said.

Reznikoff expects the show will catch on with viewers.

"He's got a good eye," he said of Dell'Abate.

Dell'Abate estimates that he owns 3,000 albums, 3,000 CDs and 500 45 Rpm records. One of the oddball ones is a record shaped like the continent of Africa for the Toto song by the same name.

He owns baseballs autographed by Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, and Pete Rose, to name a few.

There's a set of stamps commemorating the centennial of baseball in 1939 signed by Joe DiMaggio.

In a clear plastic case, Dell'Abate keeps a football with Joe Namath's autograph on one side and Steve Young's on the other.

Behind the bar in Dell'Abate's "man cave" -- think of it as an adult funhouse -- is an autograph of O.J. Simpson.

"I don't discriminate," Dell'Abate said. "I'll put anybody's stupid autograph up."

In his living room, Dell'Abate keeps an antique Philco wooden radio that still works.

"It's weird when WFAN is coming out of it, but it's fun when it's a big band station," he said, referring to the sports talk station.

One of Dell'Abate's most prized possessions is a cartoon cell presented to him by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera from their series, "Quick Draw McGraw," depicting the main character and a Mexican burro named Baba Looey, which Dell'Abate once misidentified on Stern's show as Baba Booey, a moniker that stuck with the shock jock's sidekick ever since.

Barbera and Hanna gave Baba Booey his due.

"They drew me into the cell," he said.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy