Do you keep your ticket stubs? I do, or at least try to. My main problem is remembering where they are. It’s like there are supply lines all over Asia or something and where they are is a big mystery, much less where any one specific one is.
Last night my wife found a box of mine with a mismatch of old stuff, including an old cigar box that was falling apart. The cigar box itself was fun to find. It was given to me by a friend of my older brother and it had a bunch of his duplicate cards, going back to the late 50s. Now, these were mostly in sad shape but it was the first time possessing those 57s and 58s and 59s. So, it was pretty cool.
The cigar box now had, among other things, Coke caps, buttons, old schedules and ticket stubs. The stubs were particularly fun to find, especially since it had one in particular that was important to me. Check out the green one in the photo – you can click on the photo to enlarge the image. Seemingly a meaningless game in the dark ages of the late 70s. But that was the game where Pete Rose set the NL hitting streak record. It’s always been a goal of mine to get Rose to sign it. Not that a Rose signature is all that rare – just thought it would be a neat collectible.
While confirming that this was indeed the game where Rose set the record, found this game story from Joseph Durso of The New York Times. Here’s the lede of the gamer:
Pete Rose broke one of baseball’s most glamorous records last night in Shea Stadium when he,lined a single to left field in his second time at bat and stretched his hitting streak to 38 pamec. (sic)
Today, a hitting streak doesn’t seem all that glamorous, especially if we’re not talking about Joe DiMaggio’s record. But it was a big deal at the time. It seemed that Rose was going to challenge DiMaggio’s streak but he didn’t even reach 50 games. And if memory serves, Rose was the opposite of gracious when it did end.
The other stub that immediately brought back memories was the big one on the bottom left. Another game against the Reds, although this was in 1985 and it was a good Mets team this time. Anyway, this is the game that – admittedly, a few years later – solidified my belief that you can’t tell anything from watching one game in person.
Bruce Berenyi was the starting pitcher for the Mets that night. Once a heralded prospect of the Reds, Berenyi was done in by the one-two combo of unrealistic expectations and injuries. But on this day, Berenyi was pretty much unhittable. His final line was 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB and 6 Ks and he out-dueled Mario Soto, with the Mets winning, 1-0, with the only run coming thanks to a Gary Carter HR.
It was one of only three games Berenyi pitched that year. I spent a lot of time lamenting his absence and hoping for him to be healthy again. He pitched 14 more games in the majors and finished his career 44-55 with a 4.03 ERA and a 1.478 WHIP. But because of that one game, Berenyi was right up there with Tim Leary in my mind of pitchers that could have been great.
It’s great to know where these stubs actually are now. There were somewhere around 50 tickets in this cache. My goal is to have one central place to keep all of them that have been accumulated throughout the years. There’s no hope of ever finding the stub from my first game in 1970. But it was nice to find the Rose one. Now the top one on my “find” list is the game where John Valentin recorded an unassisted triple play.
one of my biggest disappointments is that technology, ticketmaster, etc. has robbed us of keeping treasured ticket stubs from games and concerns. A screenshot of a digital barcode doesn’t have the same impact
Couldn’t agree more. Just another reason to hate Ticketbastard.
I don’t have any stubs prior to the 1990’s but I decided to start keeping the stubs of games my son, who was born in 1990, has seen. I also attached a box score or other item that gives specifics for that game. Most of the games are Mets and Packers games but there are some notable games such as Carmelo Anthony setting a Knicks scoring record and a LeBron James game in Brooklyn. Perhaps the most memorable two things were Ahman Green’s Packer record setting 98 yard TD run in 2003 and Mike Piazza’s Mets debut in 1998.
I dig it! That’s a great way to remember all of the games you’ve seen.
I had a conversation with a Mets ticket agent a couple of weeks ago and lamented the loss of those little paper tickets with Mr. Met on them. Also, it looks like paper schedules are also going to be more difficult to come by.
Not to mention a printed copy of the 2020 Mets yearbook.
Brian – you probably know this but if you go to Baseball Reference, you can get the boxscores of those games.
Indeed.
Unfortunately, there’s a big gulf between knowing a good idea and actually carrying it out…
A quick story. Nobody was happier than my former boss when Rose broke Tommy Holmes’ record of 37 games (set in 1945). My boss once caught a Holmes’ homer at Ebbetts and waited after the game to ask for his autograph. Turns out both were alumni of Brooklyn Tech HS and Tommy was his favorite player. When he asked, Tommy told him to perform an impossible anatomical feat on himself. He carried that resentment for over 30 years.
In 1981, my boss turned 50 so I called up Shea to speak to Tommy and asked if he would sign a ball with birthday wishes. I didn’t tell him the reason for my boss’ resentment. He agreed so I hopped the #7 train on my lunch break and met Tommy downstairs, outside of Shea. The man could not have been nicer, a true gentleman. Anyway, my boss was delighted in receiving a signed ball that he wanted so many years ago. Hope he still has it.
Thanks for writing this. Yes, I do have a couple of ticket stubs in a scrap book from the early 70’s. Now I have a reason to go back and look at it to check the date and find the box score.
What I marvel at is the price of a good seat at Shea being less than five bucks. That is what allowed the average Joe go to and enjoy a ballgame.
Thanks for the memories. I will post the date of the ticket when I go look at it.
Wow that picture looks almost identical to my ticket collection. At least a couple of shoe boxes in all, not seen for ages and likely gone for ever. Good times, great memories, most of which occurred when the team was really bad.
i am collecting opening day stubs. only need 64, 72, 73, & 76 !