A ticket stub from Mickey Mantle’s major league debut 70 years ago sold for $141,395 early Wednesday morning—the second highest known price ever paid for a baseball ticket.
Classic Auctions of Montreal sold the PSA 3 graded stub that was an unexpected bonus inside a box of memorabilia consigned to the company earlier this year.
“A consignor brought it in a box of old Baseball schedules and tickets and he had no clue this was in the collection,” stated company President Marc Juteau.
The 19-year-old Mantle made the Yankees roster out of spring training and was inserted into the lineup for the Yankees’ April 17, 1951 opener at Yankee Stadium. He also got his first hit that day, an RBI single off Bill Wight in the sixth inning.
The lower box seat ticket cost the original owner $3.
The ticket sold by Classic is one of only 17 to have been authenticated and graded by PSA with only four given numerical grades. Three, including the stub sold by Classic Auctions, are rated VG 3. One of them sold for $101,269 through Lelands in September. In February of last year, one of the Authentic stubs sold for $9,600 through Heritage Auctions.
The growing market for vintage tickets saw a ticket stub from Game 3 of the 1903 World Series sell for $175,000 earlier this month—the highest known selling price for a baseball ticket.
The Classic Auctions sale generated over $1.8 million in sales overall. Other items sold included a game-used Wayne Gretzky stick from his 1979-80 rookie season ($26,0120), Dale Hawerchuk’s 1989-90 Winnipeg Jets game-worn captain’s jersey ($23,644), one of the six PSA 10 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee Guy LaFleur rookie cards ($22,226) and a 1985-86 O-Pee-Chee Hockey unopened box ($20,205).
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