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mcavoyI buy alot of old books.
You want to conserve and preserve fragile items like this book, or any paper items such as baseball cards. Obtain some acid-free paper/cardboard materials and construct a book box. Preferably, go to see an archivist, or someone who conserves paper, and find what they recommend as well as the estimated cost. http://www.library.uiuc.edu/preserve/procedures.html
Generally, rebinding a book of this era lowers its value, in my limited experience. However, if the rebinding is of high quality, some might find the change acceptable. But if you must know, some of the books I buy have some scholarly value to them, and I have seen hideous condition original volumes (reading copies) sell for more than finely bound volumes (rebound, usually with the bookplate of some important and well-known person) of the same titles. If the book is important and/or scarce, rebinding the book might be wise, just to preserve it. Rebinding a book tends to associate it with library copies, in my experience, thus severely limiting its desirability and thus its saleability (there are exceptions).
The book does not strike me as scarce (reprints are plenty and cheap, and the original deluxe edition with the sig. is "only" 1000 copies), but the edition and the autograph are important, so preservation is key. I found one copy for sale online, and the sales writeup suggests that not all 1000 copies were bound. If true, you could go to a great book binder and have a fine binding done; again, I'd go all out, and I'd want reassurance the signature or the book would not be materially affected, because in my very limited experience, rebinding will usually involve some paper loss. You should contact baseball book dealers since they know the market - they could tell you what rebiding the book will do to its marketability and its value. Me, I'd construct or have made a book box, and I would not read or show the book, ever. You can buy a reading copy of this title for very little money ($10).