Ticket Collectors Guide
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Collecting Tips...and Hobby Insights

Keep informed and you'll be a smarter collector and likely have more fun too!

 Collecting Sports Legends, by Joe Orlando
Over 1,000 color illustrations and 376 pages, published by Zyrus Press, 2009.

Available from major bookstores and Amazon.com at $34.95. -- SPECIAL: Save $5 when you
order your copy from ChicagoTix.com for $29.95 + get FREE Shipping. Offer valid while supply lasts.
 Call 314-960-6595 to order or to request your copy via email Click Here.

Below, you'll also find: Ticket Collecting Tips, by Joe Hunt

-- Plus, "Top Tickets in the Hobby Lists" from Joe. --
 



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 Own a piece of sports history. Collect tickets!
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Tickets are …In The News!
           By Joe Hunt ... ChicagoTix.com
       

Tickets have been in the news of late and "the buzz" is positive and growing!

How often do Tuff Stuff magazine, Sports Market Report, the major auction houses and top hobby reference books like Collecting Sports Legends all agree on anything? Well, all recently highlighted Tickets as important collectibles that are both significant and attractively priced.

To quote Tuff Stuff, “Ever since PSA started slabbing tickets (eight  years ago) these cardboard relics have been gaining popularity at a tremendous rate.”  Better yet, as Tuff Stuff notes, “You can still pick up stubs from significant sporting events at fairly reasonable prices.”

Collecting Sports Legends, a hefty 376 page hardcover released in 2009 puts it this way, "During the past few years, collectors have become increasingly exposed to and interested in sports tickets." The book, which includes an illustrated Top Sports Tickets In the Hobby List, goes on to note, " As a collectible, tickets are not just for the hardcore ticket collector. Tickets...make great complimentary pieces to an existing collection."

And one of the big boys in the Auction biz recently called Tickets, along with vintage sports photos, "...two undervalued areas of memorabilia that have until recently been largely overlooked by collectors."

You'll be able to locate Tickets from a wide range of pro and amateur sports going back over 100 years, so here's a hobby offers something for everyone. Plus, participation gives the collector an opportunity to own a true "piece of the game." Think of each Ticket as a Time Machine that can transport you back to the excitement of being in the stadium or ballpark at the event itself.

As you begin to collect or continue to acquire Tickets keep in mind the following. Ticket value depends largely on four factors: 1.) Significance of the event associated the the Ticket; 2.) Condition or grade; 3.) Scarcity, and; 4.) Demand. Of course the first and last points, "Event Significance" and "Demand" are closely related. -- Perhaps, best of all, you as fan and collector are the final judge on these issues! How do you rate the milestone or record achieved, or other key factors present on the day of the event that make a given Ticket noteworthy? It's your answer to this question, along with how other collectors answers it, that ultimately determines the value of each Ticket.

The best place to start collecting is likely in the areas of sports that most interest you. Are you most interested in Pro or NCAA sports? Current players and teams or vintage? Pick whatever interests you most! Once you decide on a theme or era or team or a given player that you want to collect, you'll locate not just tickets but friends with similar interests. You'll also likely be surprised and pleased to discover that a wide array of Tickets of interest to you are still very affordable.

 Sports Tickets offer an exciting avenue for collectors whose primary focus has been collecting Cards, Bats or Autographs. Who wouldn't enjoy adding a "Key Game Ticket" or a "Team Accomplishment" Ticket that relates to a sports collection presently underway? Think of the possibilities with Tickets that relate to particular players or teams or eras that interest you. Own a Bat from a favorite player? Wouldn't it be great to have Tickets from games where that player had a hit or home run? How about matching Tickets to the Autographs in your collection?

Most pre-21st century Tickets of course were torn by the gatekeeper on admission. With the advent of bar codes many gate attendants simply scan a Ticket upon admittance to sporting events, rather than tearing off the Audit Stub as was customary before.  What this means for the novice Ticket collector is: more full Tickets, often in better condition, at more affordable prices. So again, you decide what fits your collecting interests and budget, and go forward from there. 

With a little looking you'll find that plenty of great older Tickets and Stubs are available for you to discover too. Tickets, depending on the event and the desirability of the particular ticket, will range in price from a dollar, to thousands, so there is an opportunity for all sports enthusiasts to participate.

Do you have questions about getting started in Ticket collecting, or finding Tickets from your favorite players or teams or related to a particular theme? Great! -- At ChicagoTIX.com we’re always happy to “talk tickets” most any time.

You can contact us at 314-960-6595 in Chicago days, eves or weekends or email us at ChicagoTix@aol.com .

Happy Collecting,
 Joe                        
PS -- If you are already a Ticket collector we invite you to join the 1,200 repeat clients who have called on us as they continue to build their collections.  

Here are a Dozen of our Favorite Tickets and Event Passes.
You can "Click" on any image to see a LARGER picture.

 1    2     3
1. Super Bowl VII. Lots of great players and teams in almost 100 years of pro football, but still just one Perfect Season in NFL history.

2. National League 1970 All-Parks Pass # 68, PSA 10. Valid for entry to Arron & Mays 500th Home Runs and Banks 3000th Hit. -- Note that text verso uses the words "pass," "license" and "ticket" interchangeably.

3. Season Ticket # 2824, PSA 9, Valid for Clemente 3000th hit. The Pirates used this type of "punch season ticket" in the 1970s for many of their general admission season tickets.

4   5  
4. 1927 All MLB Parks Pass # 57. Issued to reporter Francis Powers who worked for papers in New York, Chicago and Cleveland during his career. Valid for Babe Ruth's 60th Home Run and the 110 win season of the NY Yankee's "Murderer's Row."

5. Ticket Stub and Program from the first Derby that produced a Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby is the longest continuous running sporting event in the USA. The winner, Gallant Fox, is the only T.C. winner to have ever sired another T.C. winner! Did you know that 1930 was the first year the now famous three race sweep was promoted as "The Triple Crown?"

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6. American League All-Parks Pass # 28 valid for Ted Williams 500th Home Run. Mint PSA 9. "Teddy Baseball." What more really need be said?

7. Super Bowl I Ticket Stub in the highest PSA grade ever awarded. Imagine the dramatic backdrop to this Ticket. Only three weeks existed between the date that the AFL and NFL brass signed off on the first Championship...and the contest's kick-off. It's remarkable that THE international mega-sports phenomena we know today as the Super Bowl grew from such humble (and hurried) beginnings.

8. First year Daytona 500 Ticket Stub. A once semi-private gathering of drivers, auto-techies and a few friends, was catapulted into the national spotlight with this now bigger than life race and multi-day mega event.

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9. Cal Ripken Jr. with 2,131 straight starts, joins Lou Gehrig in MLB's "Iron-Man" immortality. It took him just over 13 years to pass Gehrig's 2130 record. Ripken was urged by teammates to take a "victory lap" around the ballpark and was congratulated along the way by many in the visitors' dugout, President Clinton and VP Gore, his wife and kids and Joe DiMaggio. After 23 minutes of cheers the game resumed and Ripken added a 6th inning home run, for good measure, in the win over the Angels.

10. The College All Stars vs. Broadway Joe Namath in his first game after Super Bowl III. The score at the end of the game was 26-24 in favor of the Jets, but many in the crowd of 74,000 and others today debate this Namath victory. Why? An on-field misinterpretation of the "dead ball rule" late in the game deprived the All-Stars of a legitimate touchdown and a win. This ticket from Row 1 / Seat 1, obtained in person from the game's official scorekeeper. -- Also of note is that most of the College All Stars vs. NFL Champs games drew 70,000 to 100,000+ fans in the annual contests that were played from 1939 to 1976. 

11. Badge from Tiger Woods first Pro event. The 16 year old would go on to change the golf world, and the definition of a sports super star, forever.

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12. Ticket from the 1950 "homecoming" of MLB's All Star Game. Sure, it would be great to have a full Ticket from the first All Star Game (also at White Sox park). It would be great to have a tough-to-find stub from the second ASG. But, given that those ducats have proved elusive, here's a rarely seen 1950 full Ticket. Ralph Kiner sent the game into extra inning in the 9th with a home run. The contest was decided with a Red Schoendienst home run in the 14 inning. -- At least as dramatic and noteworthy was the broken elbow suffered by Ted Williams resulting from his 1st inning crash into the left field wall. Williams after a successful surgery returned to the Boston lineup on Sept. 15th.