First baseball card ever to be auctioned

"When the baseball card first went up for auction on eBay, it was priced at 99 cents. That may have been a tad low.

The e-mails started coming immediately: someone offering $5,000, someone offering $10,000. The seller, who had found the card in an old photo album he purchased at a yard sale in ­Baileyville, Maine, quickly removed the eBay listing and brought in professional appraisers, who determined that the card was more than rare: It was one of two known examples of the first baseball card ­ever printed.

Now the card — a photo of the 1865 Brooklyn Atlantics amateur baseball club — is going back to auction, with a slightly higher price tag. The Saco River Auction Company in Biddeford, Maine, will host the auction next month for the seller, who has chosen to remain anonymous, and ­expects the card to fetch upward of $100,000. The only other known example of the card is in the ­Library of Congress.

Troy Thibodeau, the auctioneer, said the find is generating huge excitement from those who collect early 19th century baseball memorabilia."

New Mass. law requires fingerprinting teachers

"Teachers, workers at child-care centers, and school bus drivers are among those who will soon be required to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks under a new state law. Governor Deval Patrick signed the bill this week, saying that it closes a loophole in state law and will help protect children. Under the new law, the fingerprints will be submitted to the State Police for a state criminal history check and be forwarded to the FBI for a national background check. All newly hired teachers, bus drivers, and others working at schools will be required to undergo the background checks before the start of the next school year."

Loss of Salem church brings pain, hope

When she was just a teenager, Rita Darisse watched from outside her home in Salem as workers laid the white brick walls of St. Joseph Church on Lafayette Street.

Now 77, Darisse stood outside with a small camera on Friday, again watching, but this time as demolition crews tore down the church.

“I saw it going up; now I’m seeing it going down,” Darisse said ruefully.

"Workers began razing the church building in the Point neighborhood of Salem this week after years of legal wrangling. The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston closed St. Joseph’s in 2004, and redevelopment has been delayed by the appeals of historic preservationists who sought to save the church building, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1949.

The site will soon house a four-story building with 51 apartments, said Lisa B. Alberghini, president of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, a development affiliate of the archdiocese. Commercial and community space will occupy part of the ground floor.

‘I saw it going up; now I’m seeing it going down.’

Alberghini said most apartments will be “workforce housing,” and the maximum income a family of five could have to qualify will be $63,000. Eight apartments will serve tenants who ­receive Section 8 government rental ­assista"

Roxbury boy critical but stable after shooting

"Gabriel Clarke, the 13-year-old Roxbury boy who was shot in the stomach as he walked to church Friday evening, is in critical but stable condition today and is expected to recover, according to police and his pastor.

Shirley Clarke told the Globe Friday that her son was walking from their nearby home to his 7 p.m. choir rehearsal at the Berea Seventh Day Adventist Church on Seaver Street when the incident occurred. Police told her the shot was fired from a vehicle that pulled up next to Clarke as he walked down Humboldt Avenue, she said."

Belichick's fire still burns bright

"No reminder was truly needed because when you coach 38 consecutive years in the National Football League, that pretty much says it all. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has great passion for his work and how it challenges him. We knew that already.

But for those wondering how much that fire still burns in the 60-year-old Belichick, the past few days provided a decisive answer."