Over the last few years, the popularity of collecting ticket stubs has continued to grow. As the use of digital ticketing takes over, the days of physical tickets being distributed to fans becomes more and more a thing of the past. As years go by, the nostalgia associated with these paper artifacts will continue to be tangible reminders of shared experiences. This overlooked and often discarded piece of history can be a direct connection to our favorite heroes. There may not be a better example of turning trash into treasure in the sports memorabilia hobby!

Tickets?

I recently picked up a collection which had a bunch of old ticket stubs. When I was growing up, I used to keep the stubs from games I attended with friends and family, but I really hadn’t given them much of a thought. As I started looking through some of the stubs in this collection, some were labeled with a note and some were not. The significance of a few of these games started to sink in, and it made me curious about what happened in the others. Who played in the game, was there a milestone? What the heck were the Philadelphia Athletics playing in 1978?

In this post, I’m going to share some of the tickets found in this collection along with the stories I uncovered and I researched the event.

I hope you enjoy!

Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavs Playoff Game - 5/19/1992

This is my favorite ticket of the collection, and it is one I plan to keep. Since the ticket itself is only labeled as “Game G” I had to do some searching to find which game it actually represented.

I was able to determine the game was played on May 19th, 1992 against the Cleveland Cavs. Mark Price and Brad Daugherty led the way for Cleveland with 21 and 23 points respectively, and Michael Jordan put up 33 points in the Bulls 103-89 victory. The Bulls went on to repeat as NBA champions.

Outside of Jordan, Mark Price was one of my favorite players, so I can remember watching this series and enjoying every minute!

Philadelphia 76ers vs. Seattle Supersonics - 12/3/1976

I don’t remember ever watching Dr. J. play on TV when I was growing up. What I do remember is playing hours and hours of One on One:Dr. J. vs Larry Bird on my friends Commodore 64. So even though I didn’t see any game action, I did have an appreciation for him!

This piece of history comes from a game where he scored 19 points in 38 minutes. He was actually outscored by both Doug Collins and George McGinnis. Seattle won this game 121 - 112 and were led in scoring by Fred Brown with 29 points.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New York Jets - 10/21/1973

The Steelers won this game 26-14, and when I looked up the box score it reminded me that quarterback debates had their place throughout football history.

Terry Bradshaw was 8-18 passing for a total of 119 yards. He had no touchdowns and one interception. I could see how some people would question how good a QB Bradshaw really was based on this game, but at the end of the day he won the game. It seems very similar to the debates we see today with some “game managers” that figure out ways to win!

It looks like Franco Harris had a solid day with 102 rushing yards and a touchdown. Roy Gerela kicked four field goals!

I also enjoy seeing the prices of some of these tickets. $9 for a field level box seat? I ran that through an inflation calculator and it looks like it would be about $55 in today’s dollars.

I’d love to sit in great seats at a Bears game for $55!

Chicago White Sox vs. LA Angels - 9/16/2007

This is the first of a couple tickets from milestone games!

The White Sox won this game 9 - 7 in front of 29,000 fans. What made this a milestone game? I’m glad you asked. In the bottom of the 9th, the game was tied 7-7 and Jim Thome stepped to the plate. He went on to hit a walk off two run homer to win the game. It was the 500th home run of his career!

Thome grew up about 30 miles away from me and is a local legend. I’m not sure I appreciated him to the level I should have during his career, but over the years since he retired my interest in him has grown. What a great way to remember an outstanding achievement!

Minnesota Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles - April 15th, 2000

Cal Ripken Jr. entered this game with 2,997 career hits. He ended the game with 3,000! At the time he became the 24th player in history to reach the milestone and went on to end his career with 3,184.

Harold Baines, B.J. Surhoff, Mike Bordick, and Brady Anderson also had multiple hits in this game for the Orioles in their 6-4 victory.

$4 was all it took to see this Hall of Fame worthy event! Here is a link to other ticket stubs from this game on eBay.

Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros - 9/26/1979

Joe Niekro and Phil Niekro faced off against each other nine times in their big league careers, and Phil’s team won four of those games.

One of those meetings was on September 26th, 1979 where Phil beat his brother to notch his 20th win of the season. The Astros used seven different pitchers in the loss, while Phil pitched a complete game.

One of the most interesting things to me about this game was that only 2,248 fans were in attendance on this late season, Wednesday night game to witness the feat! Also, it only took $5 to get a field level seat.

I was never an avid collector of the Niekros, but when I looked at their cards in the 80s I was always amazed that they were big league pitchers and looked like they were my grandpa’s age!

Seattle Mariners vs. Texas Rangers - 9/22/1993

These tickets are from Nolan Ryan’s last game. Or are they?

I’m not really sure what to make of these tickets. Note they don’t have a seat assignment or a cost associated with them, so I don’t think they were tickets that were actually purchased with the intent of attending the game.

I remember seeing an eBay listing for these tickets with a letter from the Mariners indicating that they were authentic tickets. I’ve attached a snapshot of the letter. My theory is they made all the “unsold” tickets available at a later date, so they are kind of a hybrid of a commemorative ticket and an authentic ticket.

If anyone has more info on the story behind these $0 W-Type tickets, I’d love to learn more!

1978 Philadelphia Athletics

Wait what? Philadelphia Athletics in 1978? Who the heck is Rochester?

These stubs puzzled me at first. I started using the Google machine to find out what the heck was going on.

Did you know there was an American Slow-Pitch Softball League? Neither did I until I got these stubs? The league existed several years in the late 70s and early 80s and the Philadelphia team used the old Athletics name! Whitey Ford was actually the first league commissioner.

The Athletics played the 1978 season in Veterans Stadium which had a capacity of 60,000 people. The highest attendance at one of the softball games was approximately 4,700 so as you can imagine, this didn’t end well from a financial perspective.

I had no idea this even existed before getting these stubs in the collection. It’s yet another reason I love this hobby. There are never ending opportunities to learn more about the history of sports in America!

There were a few other tickets in the collection. A couple spring training tickets. A Phillies/Mets tickets from a Tom Seaver win in 1969. A Phillies/Cardinals game in 1977 where both Lou Brock and Mike Schmidt played. I had so much fun researching what actually happened in these games that it game me a whole new appreciation for ticket stubs.

I can see how collecting tickets will only continue to grow in popularity as digital ticketing becomes more and more of the norm.

Do you have any stubs in your collection? Let me know in the comments below!