Dave Borden, lifelong lover of music and baseball, grew up on Aspinwall Avenue in Brookline, only a short hike to Fenway Park and Braves Field. The biggest baseball names of the day were at his doorstep, or just around the corner, and he still keeps their names close at hand.

Now 78 years old, Borden remembers warm summer nights, with the windows open in the kitchen of the family’s triple-decker, next-door neighbors sipping beers on their front porch, the radio playing the latest episodes of “The Mysterious Traveler,’’ “The Lone Ranger,’’ and “Inner Sanctum.’’

And he remembers crafting his letters. His baseball letters. Addressing them to Mr. Mantle. To Mr. Thomson. Mr. Mays. Mr. DiMaggio. Mr. Williams. Mr. Pesky. Even Mr. Yawkey. It was the early 1950s, baseball was king in America, and Ray and Natalie Borden’s oldest son was exceedingly polite when he wrote each star, with his accompanying art work, requesting their autographs.

“I guess that Mr. stuff looks kind of stupid now,’’ said Borden, musing over a box full of those old letters, and the prized autographs they yielded, some 65 years later at his home in Ithaca, N.Y. “But, anyway . . . ’’

A new baseball season is upon us, and Borden, still an ardent Red Sox fan, said last week he is eager to see the likes of Jackie Bradley Jr., Andrew Benintendi, and Mookie Betts “get going’’ in 2017. Much to his wife’s amazement, and with the aid of an Apple TV, he still keeps close tabs on the Olde Towne Team, the one he first saw firsthand when his father took him to Fenway 70 years ago this summer.

When the Sox finally won the World Series in 2004, it was, recalled Borden, “one of the great releases of my life!’’ He followed that with a hearty laugh, the lingering testament of all Sox fans who believed they would never see the day.

Borden, who retired in 2005 and in his many years at Cornell founded and directed the school’s digital music program, now wonders what to do with his prized baseball collection. He wants to find it a lasting home, careful not to call it an autograph collection, though that’s what it is at its core.

In four years (1950-53) Borden wrote to some 200 of the biggest baseball names of the day, sending each one a handcrafted piece of artwork that he so politely asked each of them to sign. He modeled his design after the drawing of a baseball he saw in a Fenway Park program, then meticulously added the player’s name and team logo.

To better his chances of a response, he included a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Total investment: untold hours at his drafting table, the cost of ink and paper, and the pair of three-cent stamps required for each postage. Over the four years, said Borden, approximately 160 players sent back their autographs, an amazing yield of about 80 percent.

“It wasn’t so much the autograph I wanted,’’ recalled Borden, “but the need to feel connected.’’

The first to write back was Red Sox star Bobby Doerr.

“I was so turned on,’’ recalled Borden, sounding as if Doerr’s letter just arrived on Aspinwall Ave. “I opened it up, and there it was, and I was like, ‘Holy cow, I am talking to the ballplayers!’ ’’

Mickey Mantle, a rookie in 1951, was among Borden’s few disappointments. The up-and-coming Yankees star never responded in the three years Borden wrote to him. Of all the responses, only Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio returned with what were obviously stamped autographs.

“They were sent by secretaries that they must have hired,’’ noted Borden. “The wealthiest of the players didn’t answer their own fan mail.’’

The great Satchel Paige certainly penned his own autograph, and did so with a touch of humor that Borden didn’t detect until he was looking through his collection years later. Paige, the legendary Negro League player who was then with the St. Louis Browns, signed off his response to Borden, “fromm, Satchel Paige.’’

“It had the two m’s in from,’’ recalled Borden. “And I thought, ‘Oh, the poor guy, he never had an education; he’s a great pitcher, but . . . ’ ’’

Then Borden took a closer look at his original request to Paige. He had misspelled the great hurler’s first name, addressing his request to “Satchell’’ Paige. Two l’s deserved an equal number of m’s, figured Paige.

“That was his way of telling me without actually telling me,’’ said Borden, again with a laugh.

Bobby Thomson, the New York Giants third baseman who socked the ninth-inning homer to clinch the 1951 National League pennant, wrote back. So did Ralph Branca, the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who served up the so-called “Shot Heard ’Round the World’’ on Oct 3, 1951.

The most endearing response, said Borden, came from then-Red Sox coach Earle Combs, the former Yankees outfielder who crafted a Hall of Fame career in pinstripes. He hit leadoff for the legendary 1927 Yankees.

Proud of his artwork, the labor of his love, Borden was ecstatic when Combs wrote back, “To a wonderful baseball fan, and a really great artist.’’

“I was, what, 12 or 13 years old?’’ recalled Borden. “To read that, it was just, ‘Wow!’ ’’

Not all the players were prompt in responding. Witness: Tommy Henrich, known as “Old Reliable.’’ He finally wrote back 2½ years after Borden sent out his letter.

“It arrived around Christmas,’’ recalled Borden, “with a little note inside, and all it said was, ‘Surprised?’ ’’

Borden keeps all the letters neatly tucked away in a box, and figures it is getting near time to find them a lasting home. He has no interest in selling them or auctioning them off. One option would be to leave them to Cornell, adding to his musical works already preserved by the school. He’s just not sure.

“I’m not interested in the money,’’ he noted. “I’m just interested in keeping them safe.’’

Not an easy decision. The names are great, the memories rich. Baseball renews us, keeps us young, forever beckons a new season, new hope, another nine innings. But like names and cards stored away for decades, it is a reminder, too, that time passes, base paths fade, and precious memories need to be preserved.

“I really have this warm feeling about them,’’ said Borden. “I can still picture myself as a kid, making them, sending them out . . . waiting for them to come back.’’

Kevin Paul Dupont’s “On Second Thought’’ appears regularly in the Sunday Globe Sports section. He can be reached at dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD.