The Value of a Game

Following Roy Halladay’s 1-0 Perfect Game in Miami this past Saturday, The Florida Marlins have decided to make a little money from the event.  http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100601&content_id=10674258&vkey=news_fla&fext=.jsp&c_id=fla

How you ask, well simple. Jeffrey Loria is selling unused tickets to the Perfecto at face value. Meaning a ticket that has a face value of $50 can be yours for, yes $50! What a deal! I can buy a ticket to game I never went to and say that either I did or I can use it as a memorabilia piece or sell it on Ebay.

Boy the Marlins are either brilliant or a bunch of pigs! But as the Marlins article states 3,000 tickets have already been sold post game mostly from the Philadelphia area. The fact that there have only been 20 Perfect Games is the big selling potential for these unused tickets. The Sports Rabbi has been lucky to have been to two, David Wells’ and David Cone’s and I have the ticket stub from each.

The truth is I have a similar story. Back in 1999 when Tony Gwynn was chasing his 3000^th hit, my brother, The Doc went down to Olympic Stadium on Friday evening August 6 right before Shabbat. He saw Gwynn hit number 3,000, bought another unused bleacher ticket and bolted home before the start of Shabbat. Gwynn ended up going 4 for 5, my brother saw baseball history and I was the proud recipient of the unused ticket.

After reading the Halladay story I went online to Ebay to check out how much my Gwynn ticket stub would be selling and if there were any.  Well as of today there are 17 tickets on Ebay selling for around $20 a pop.

On the other hand the Halladay tickets on Ebay are ranging from $12.50 to well over $100! David Wells chimes in at $50-$280 buckaroos and David Cone at $279! Boy I didn’t know these tickets had gone up so much in value.

Ok a few more games, how about some Yankees World Series tickets. 1998 vs. the Padres begins at $79 (I have games 1 & 2 both Yankees wins, Yanks coming back in game 1 thanks to Chuck Knoblauch and Tino Martinez, game 2 was an El Duque special), 1999 vs. the Braves at $50 (I have games 3 where Chad Curtis hit the game winning walk off homerun in extra innings & the clincher game 4-which I was not at while attending the birth of my first born son), 2000 vs. the Mets begins at over $100 (I have games 2, the infamous Clemens broken bat throw at Piazza & the clincher game 5 at Shea)  & 2001 vs. Arizona at $50+ (I have games 3, George Bush throwing out first pitch, 4, Tino Martinez hitting a game tying 9^th inning homer, followed by the game winner in extra innings by Derek Jeter & 5, Scott Brosius repeated the 9^th inning heroics with a game tying homer).

Wow, that took me for a surprise! You know those games were a hell of a lot of fun to be at. Would I sell my ticket stubs. NO!

I have at my home over 1000 ticket stubs from many sporting events from baseball to hockey to basketball to boxing to NASCAR to soccer. Each has a memory. Some more exciting than others, but each has its own unique story. Who played, where, when, with whom did I see the game with, was it a regular season game or a playoff tilt. Was it a blow out, was it close, was there a famous moment or was it a game that will just be forgotten as soon as it ends.

Looking through my stubs this past week I pulled out a few basketball favorites. My first Bulls vs. Knicks game, March 10, 1996 where I had the opportunity to see Michael Jordan get blown out 102-74, though his Airness had 32pts. In 1997 another Knicks win 97-93 with Jordan putting in 36pts and 1998 a Bulls victory 102-89 with Jordan pouring in 42pts wearing an original pair of Nike Air Jordans!

For me looking back on all those ticket stubs brought back many great memories and those as the Mastercard commercial are priceless.

I want to leave you with the story of 2 more ticket stubs. In February of 1981 I went to my first hockey game with my Dad, sitting in row A of the old Montreal Forum right behind the visiting Winnipeg Jets bench as they prepared to take on the Montreal Canadiens and get handed a 7-3 defeat. I couldn’t believe my eyes at home close I was to the bench, the ice the players! It was AMAZING. I also got to meet legendary Canadiens broadcaster Dick Irvin, Lucien Deblois and Dale Hawerchuk and they all signed my ticket stub!

The other game was a Montreal Expos game in June of 1986. Old Timers Day to be exact. The Expos won the game 2-1 beating the Pittsburgh Pirates with Joe Hesketh picking up the win and Jeff Reardon the save-He actually struck out Barry Bonds pinch hitting to win the game! But what was the best part of the game?

It was meeting Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller and having him sign my ticket stub. Not only was I at the game with my Dad, but my grandfather and my brother. Three generations of baseball fans. You can’t get any better than that. It’s the memories and the fun and the ticket stubs that all share a story that will live for ever and ever.

Thoughts from the Pulpit

1)      Robin Soderling defeated Roger Federer and eliminated him from Grand Slam semi final action for the 1^st time in 23 grand slams. That is some record. Soderling is also the player that Federer beat in last year’s French Open Final.

2)      Javier Vazquez is back after pitching 7 innings of 4 hit, 1 run and 7K ball for the Yankees. Good job for the former Expo.

3)      Tough luck for Giuessppe Rossi and Thjeo Walcott for not making their respective National Teams World Cup rosters. Those that remember Rossi, he is from New Jersey and could have played for the US National Team but decided to play for Italy in the 2006 WC and now is left out. Too bad.