Tickets to this year’s Super Bowl start at around $2,500 for a rotten seat. You’ll pay at least $4,000 to get a good look at the two teams. Worth it? Maybe if you’re a big fan of either team with a lot of money to burn. But vintage sports ticket stubs offer a little better long term investment. Besides, they’re way more cool. We tracked the top ten stub sales on eBay over the last 90 days and found the category oozing with scarcity and sports history.
You’ll have no problem finding a Joe DiMaggio rookie card online. It’ll cost you a good sized chunk of change if it’s in good condition, but they’re readily available.
Can you say the same about a ticket stub to Joltin’ Joe’s first-ever big league game? Not likely.
That’s probably why a rare example of a stub from the day Joe D. first trotted out to center field sold for more money than any other stub offered on eBay over the last 90 days. The stub, authenticated by PSA and carrying only a small crease to detract from its place in history, sold via Henry Yee Auctions for $3,383 on December 11. The rare stub from the May 3, 1936 contest against the Cleveland Browns marked DiMaggio’s debut since he had missed the first 17 games of the season with an injury.
DiMaggio, by the way, went 3 for 6 in the game.
A more modern stub from the beginning of another historic run was the second highest seller during the time frame we tracked. This one came from the first contest of what would become Cal Ripken’s streak of consecutive games played–May 30, 1982. The simple, general admission stub cost the original buyer $4.25. It sold in November for $2,420 despite not carrying any reference to its historic nature in the title. Only when bidders began offering the seller the chance to end the auction early did he mention it. He did, however, indicate that it was the “40th game of Cal Ripken’s career” and “Jim Gott’s first big league win”.
The bidder who offered the grand sum of $100 didn’t quite get the steal he was hoping for.
The third highest priced stub married college football history past and present. A 1926 Rose Bowl ticket stub, from Alabama’s first championship sold during the same season in which they added to their NCAA football legacy. It brought a winning bid of $2,250.
Stubs representing baseball milestones rounded out the top ten including a 1928 World Series game 4 ($2,200), a 1932 World Series Game 3 from Babe Ruth’s “called shot” ($2,036), a 1973 from Nolan Ryan’s first no-hitter ($1,625), a 1919 World Series game one ($1400), a 1926 World Series Game 4 from Ruth’s 3-homer game ($1,200) and a 1954 World Series Game One representing Willie May’s famous catch ($950).
There are over 4,000 stubs on eBay now. Click here to check them out.
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