Sunday, July 11, 2010

Showing Off Your Stubbies - Vol. II

Last night/early this morning I posted a quick scan and blurb about a project Bad Wax has asked for some simple help on. Having a bit more time today I have been able to expand my search and pull out a few more special scans from my ticket collection.

Most of my tickets are from Toronto Blue Jays games. Alot of times the tickets get tucked into the game programs and forgotten about. However, this serves to help preserve the ticket and keep them from getting creased. It also serves to easily forget what I have.

I like some of the tickets that feature photos of players or game related moments. The Blue Jays did this for a few seasons, I have one of Roger Clemens.

Any opportunity I get to visit a ballpark when on vacation is a dream. I found this ticket tucked into a program from a White Sox came I attended in 2007.

Being a short three hour drive from Detroit has made for some great trips across the border to catch both the Tigers and the Red Wings. I had the fortune of spending two memorable Opening Days in Tiger Stadium. Little did I know as a Jays fan what 1992 had in store but it started off right with a win. During the Seattle game it was freezing cold and we actually had a mini blizzard during the game.

Hockey in Detroit is as much of a religion as it is in Toronto. I have lost much of the interest in seeing the Leafs live due mostly to their terrible inability to win, but ticket prices and the death of Maple Leaf Gardens has alot to do with it as well. Seeing a game at "The Joe" however, is a MUST for any fan.

I wish I had kept more of my tickets from MLG when I was a kid, thankfully I have one that still reminds me of the tickets of my youth. The other is one from the last game I ever attended at Maple Leaf Gardens.

As I said earlier, most of my tickets come from Toronto Blue Jays games. Being a Blue Jays fan from 1985 to 1993 was the best time in the world. Watching the team get better and better every year and knowing it was only a matter of time before they pulled off the big win was amazing. 1992 and 1993 was when everything came together and Jays fans were on top of the world.


The very first taste of what was to come for Blue Jays fans was in 1985. Those who are old enough to remember will never forget George Bell on his knees, hauling in a flyball and shaking his fists in the air. All that stood between Toronto and the World Series was a team from Kansas City.

Unfortunately, there was a fairly decent guy in Kansas City that all but crushed the Jays hopes in game 6 in Toronto with his 3rd homerun of the series, some guy named Brett.

I also like to collect items that are considered oddball and unique. Although George Brett denied Toronto fans their first taste of World Series action we still had a glimpse of being World Series contenders and I found an used sheet to always remind what might have been.

If 1985 served no other purpose it made Toronto Blue Jays fans comfortable with expecting their team to compete with the rest of the A.L. East and it made losing unacceptable. No more so did this hit home than in the infamous collapse of the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays., perhaps the worst collapse in Major League history.

Toronto was up on second place Detroit by 3 1/2 games with 7 to play. 4 of those last seven were against the Tigers. Simple math right? Win only 2 of their last 7 and they are in the playoffs. Suffice it to say, these were never used.


With all the reminders of both the good and the bad when it comes to the Toronto Blue Jays it should come as no surprise which tickets I have that are my favorites. I was too young to have actually been there when it all began on a snowy day in April, but having two unused tickets is the next best thing in my books.



Thanks to Bad Wax for forcing me to dig through the non-card part of my collection and reacquaint myself with these pieces. I will dig further because I am sure I have a ticket from the Ryder Cup somewhere tucked into a program as well.

If you have any stubs you want to share please do so and link to the post in the comments here. One thing I would love to see is all of you who attend Minor League baseball games post those ticket stubs. I do not get as much of a chance as I would like to travel to cities with minor league teams and see some of their games.

This was a great idea Bad Wax!!!

Cheers,

2 comments:

  1. Very nice! My mother is from Toronto and I had a lot of Blue Jays and Leafs stuff growing up. It's impressive you've been able to hang on to those for so long.

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  2. somewhere in my parents house are 4 unused tickets to Dave Steib's no-hitter...we went to the night game in Cleveland on Saturday and my dad didn't want to go back the next afternoon...i was not a happy little kid that day

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