Christopher C. Wuensch, aka CCBigs, is a reformed sports writer and junk wax collector with a particular affinity for 80s baseball. Today he delves into his vast basement collection of cards and other sports memorabilia to punch his ticket into stub collecting.
The first pitches have been thrown on the 2024 World Series, bringing hundreds of thousands of fans flooding into Dodger and Yankee stadiums.
These fans approach the gates, scan their phones and happily enter. All told, if the series stretches a max of seven games, some 363,500 fans will push through the turnstiles.
And a genre of collecting slowly dies with 363,500 incessant beeps.
If autographs are proof that you met a celebrity, then ticket stubs are evidence that you didn’t succumb to your foreboding sense of FOMO. Or crippling TicketMaster fees, for that matter.
With the start of the fall classic and reports of tickets fetching more than four-figures, I decided to delve into the basement stash in search of my collection of ticket stubs. I conveniently store them like everyone else from Generation X – of which stub collecting is specifically contained – in a bulging and yellowing ziploc bag from circa 1997.
Turns out, if you’re like me, you should probably remove your old ticket stubs from the baggie.
Collecting stubs has become big business. Recent ticket stubs have sold for big bucks via eBay, such as ducats for Michael Jordan’s “Comeback” game ($5,000), Jackie Robinson’s Final Game ($1,300) and even a slate of all seven tickets from the Yankees v. Dodgers ($9,999). And there are lots more.
What makes a stub more valuable, ironically, is a complete, un-ripped ticket. Check out the one we found in the basement from Game 7 of the 1996 World Series between the Yankees and Atlanta Braves.
But the rise of technology has once again been the downfall of tickets, rendering them superfluous such as VHS tapes or Vinyl Records.
Do you collect ticket stubs? What’s your best and how do you display them? Tell us in the comments below!
Great post! I wish I had more MLB ticket stubs, most of mine are digital. Thankfully I do have one stub: Tampa Bay Rays vs LA Angels, 7/6/2016 (I saw Albert Pujols when I sat near the 3rd base line!). Most of my stubs are from concerts I’ve been to, such as Curren$y’s Pilot Talk Tour in 2017 and Spyro Gyra’s 50th Anniversary Tour earlier this year. Nowadays, I have to pay a few extra dollars to get the tickets mailed to me, but it’s worth it!
I have the ticket stub for the winning game of the 1993 World Series at the sky dome in Toronto game 6
Hi there great article. I have 2 real physical ticket stubs from the World Series Game 1 Dodgers Yankees in 2024. Wonder what their value is? Can’t find any history of these stubs ever being sold.
Enter your email address if you like to receive notifications of new posts by email.
Email Address
Subscribe
hobbyDB is a participant in Amazon, eBay, Entertainment Earth, LEGO, and other affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to other websites.
We also occasionally accept consideration from Brands, Service Providers, or Retailers (which is then clearly marked as Sponsored Content) all editorial opinions are our own.