Programs / scorecards are very affordable and lots of fun, especially when scored, that's why I have so many of them.

Absolutely!
I must admit, that is by far one of the wildest cover art that I've ever seen on a program! :D

Doug, that scored program and ticket combo to Sandy's perfecto is quite an artifact. Awesome! :cool:

I recall that I found my Koufax 382K scorebook in an antique mall that was within walking distance of my condo in Orange, CA in the early 1990's.
The seller had no idea about the significance of the game and I think I paid under $20 for it. It had my name written all over it! :D

Great... how can I get started? What would you experienced collectors advise in terms of what to look for?

- era to explore first?
- cover art matters a lot, I'd assume?
- how do you evaluate condition and reasonable price/value?
- big name player in the score card and/or a specific historic game adds a lot, i'd assume?
- scorecards vs. programs vs. yearbooks... where to focus first?


I still love my cards... but this sounds like a nice, affordable tangent to explore

Thanks all (and if you're selling some cool items, PM me!) I love great cover illustrations

Jeff

Don Larsen Perfect Game

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I think collecting score cards and the like is very personal to the collector. If you're not that familiar with them, my recommendation is that you think about what theme of collecting would appeal to you (team, era, player, event (WS, AS game, etc.)) and jump in. And you don't even need a theme other than what "sparks joy" for you. Also, keep in mind that prices for many of them on eBay can be all over the place for essentially the same item (unless they're WS or AS game programs).

Jeff Collect whatever appeals to you the most. Favorite era , player, Team.. 100% Best advice I ever got or gave is collect what you love. I will share some of my favorite covers.

Always good advice... i think I may start with pre-war scorecards and see how that journey goes!

agree go with what you enjoy

also go vintage and keep an eye out for interesting photos, advertising etc that might catch your eye

1938 Princeton vs Penn. Notice the eyes.. one of the few Programs that I display( because when I got it it was in the frame). And a couple basketball. There are jump shots and then there are Jump Shots.. the least attractive is from the First game the Philadelphia 76ers.

From Stan The Man's five home run doubleheader in 1954 - both scorecards, nicely scored. Plus an original wirephoto from between games. Mr. Musial signed both scorecards for me and hearing him talk about that day was like a religious experience. "I should have had six" he laughed (he pinned Mays against the center field wall in the 3rd inning of the second game). He said he never tried to hit home runs but he wanted one in his last at bat and popped out to first. An incredibly genuine and nice man. I treasure the conversation with him as much as the scorecards.

Beautiful scorecards. Very cool!! :cool:

Those are also some good questions. I think it's like a few have already said: Everyone is gonna be different. For me, this is my "great wide open" of collecting. Generally I buy what strikes my fancy (sometimes I buy for the covers, sometimes for the historic event, sometimes for a player, and always from the games that I go to). But for me, condition and eye appeal don't figure prominently into my decision to buy, even though those factors might figure prominently for my card or even ticket purchases.

I prefer my scorecards to be scored, but I think there are some purists that prefer unscored minty scorecards, though admittedly it's difficult to then track them to specific games unless the dates are printed on the scorecards themselves. One such scorecard with a date listed is shown below. Not very pretty, but one of my faves, because it's from the game in which a future home run king hit his first home run!

Start on ebay where there are thousands of them available, very many of them for very cheap.

Buy what you like. There is no right and no wrong way to collect.

I prefer scored ones, I used to love figuring out the date using the box scores in my Sporting News collection (which I only collected to date my scorecards), now it's so easy for me to figure out the date from Retrosheet that I would like to sell my TSN collection (shameless plug).

I once bought 7 Reds scorecards from the early 1960s on ebay for $20 including postage and in the process of figuring out the dates found that I had bought Pete Rose's ML debut game.

That kind of stuff happens a lot still.

Finally, a scored program to Ryan's 3509K game where he passed Walter Johnson for the All Time ML strikeout record.
Tim Blackwell was 3508 which tied WaJo and Montreal's Brad Mills was K # 3509.
This scored program is signed by both Blackwell and Brad Mills. Pretty cool!
Yes, Guy Bourque, this post is for you! ;)
Love the Stoneman 2nd no-hitter scorebook, Guy![/QUOTE][/B]

Very cool program Scott your collection is amazing!

One of my favorite Expos program in my collection is from Oct. 3rd 1981, after coming real close in both 1979 and 1980 The Expos clinch their 1st...and only post season berth of their history, I remember this game like it was yesterday, we were celebrating my parents 22nd wedding anniversery in a bar and watching the game on TV, when Wallace Johnson (added photo of me and Wallace 40years later) pinched hit a 2 run triple to put the Expos up for good in the top of the 7th every body went crazy in the bar. A moment I will never forget

+!......keep that passion

Hank Aaron's debut in the Braves starting lineup
 

The Green Bay Packers first game in Milwaukee
 

My addition to this thread:

I just received this wonderful and in fantastic shape 1969 Washington Senators Opening Day scorecard. Scored too. Another really cool part of this is that my sister went to this game with her boyfriend at the time.

AND I HAVE THE TICKETS TOO!! She got both of the tickets and the one picture shows the front of one ticket and the back of the other one with her writing of April 7, 1969. The date is also scribed on the front of the score card. Regrettably the Senators lost to the Yanks 8-4 on that day but Hondo smacked career home run #243.

And Little Tavern made the best damned hamburger you ever bit your teeth into. I so miss that place.

WOOT!

Butch

That is super cool Butch

For the Centennial fans in particular!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d4579c2644.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e5cccad3cb.jpg

1964 World Series program signed by each of the starting eight for the Cardinals plus Bob Gibson. I got the Ken Boyer and Bill White autographs at a department store opening when I was ten years old. They were the first signatures I ever received. Didn't get the others until forty years later.

1926 World Series game 4. Three home runs by the Babe.

I don't have anything nearly as vintage as what the majority of you have shared here, but I thought you might like to see this photo I took during the 2015 World Series, inside the merchandise tent outside Citi Field, showing a table with stacks of programs (both national and Mets cover variants), with a fan grabbing a copy as I got the shot.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1621/2...5507481b_c.jpg

We can only wonder if these will be memorabilia items that people will write about 50 or 100 years from now. Hope so!

They will be, but to me they won't be as much fun because pretty much none of them will be scored...

Great scorecards and a better conversation/dialog with a HOFer

Butch, great backstory.......those were the days.....GREAT days

5-Tools and Doug,

Thanks for the comments. I am pretty jazzed with this recent pickup.

Butch

Well you should be because it's f'n great!

Cmon Doug..... post some more..

GARY P love the first year NL ...any scorecard with Spaulding pitching is special.

Couple early ones. Most of the early programs I come across are from Boston so this from Providence was a happy find. Lots of Hall of Famers is nice too.

Old Hoss Radbourne pitching for Providence. Sweet! :D

I was thinking that John's Spring Training Hank Aaron debut scorecard probably trumps my 1st home run scorecard in terms of scarcity!

And then I got to thinking a little more....that if I went to the National for another 20 years, it's unlikely that I'd ever see most of the scorecards and programs that have already been shown in this thread!!

Here's another Spring Training program that probably represents the earliest Fergie Jenkins and Dick Allen sightings I've ever seen. Fergie wouldn't go on to play for the Phils in the regular season until a couple years later (Sept. 1965), while Allen would make his regular season debut for the Phils in Sept. 1963.

Edited for apologies: I have no idea why the photos are posting sideways! Will try to correct at next posting!

Well, since you're twisting my arm, here are a few from Mr. Aaron :

MLB debut game

HR #1

HR #2 (and Musial #260)

HR #300

HR #500

HR #600
Aaron 2-5 2B HR; Mays 4-6 2B.
This was the first game in nearly 43 years where 2 members of the 3000 hit club (since some guys named Cobb, Speaker and Collins did it a bunch of times) had extra base hits.

HR #661 (no cover, just the scoresheet)

HR #714

HR #715

Last career run scored (with thanks to Scott the GrayGhost)

If I'm counting right, I have scored programs / scorecards for 167 of his homers.

Doug

Uh oh, here we go... Look out! ;)
Awesome, Doug! :D

Clemente 1954 Minor League Program
 

1954 Rochester Red Wings Program with Roberto Clemente on the roster of the Montreal Royals (the Brooklyn Dodgers affiliate).

Apologies for the non scorecard but this Ball was signed By Aaron as the Braves played 2 preseason games vs the Red Sox in South Carolina. The Boston Braves had played their Cross town Rivals for 50 years 1901 to 1952 when the Braves left for Milwaukee. They played in 53 in Milwaukee but game lost money so the tradition died. But in spring of 54 they decided to meet up a couple days before the season started. Ball is signed by both Red Sox and Braves. There is a quote from Ted Williams who commented after hearing the sound of Aaron's bat. I belive it was at these games. ( I promise I will get back to scorecards )

I'm working on a run of World Series programs and tickets from 1930 to 1980 (but i also pick up an occasional scorecard or ASG program). This gave me a nice excuse to get them out.

It's Bob Uecker's 89th birthday, so in honor of the event, here's his Sept 30, 1962 first career homerun...

That 1936 World Series program....I mean, I like the NYY version a lot, but....could they have made the image of the Buffalo Nickel any larger, LOL? Also, why the Buffalo Nickel?

It's always nice to go through your collection and stumble upon something you forgot you had. I did just that today, and stumbled on a 1960 Washington Senators opening day program/scorecard, annotated to reflect the thing that distinguishes it from other Senators opening day programs: Ted Williams hit his 493rd home run that day, tying him with Gehrig. The program came with a ticket stub stapled (unfortunately) to the scorecard. But hey, I like Williams and I'd buy it again if I had the chance, without question!

Well the fact that the Ticket is stapled is not the best option but...it is a full opening day ticket that is most likely worth more than the program given the Ted Williams HR. Any way you look at them a great pair of items.

I agree with you John. I do think that one day, scorecards and programs might start to be appreciated for their worth as much as tickets are now. But we aren't there yet IMO. I did think about whether it was a full ticket or stub. From the wording on the raincheck and the coupon, I don't think it's a full ticket. There's also a perforated end on the left side, so unless it came from a season ticket coupon book, that almost always means the ticket had another segment to it. A quick Google search didn't provide anything definitive.

Boy, I hope not.

I like collecting stuff that the investors and the opinion sellers don't generally care about.

Doug 'You call me cheap, I call it more fun' Goodman

1960 World Series GAME 7 program. Scored right up until the Mazeroski HR...

I just got back from a show in Vegas. I picked up this Senators Yearbook to add to the collection along with some other items.

HOF Jim Palmer 200th win scored program
 

This is a pretty cool scored program to HOF Jim Palmer's 200th career win that I recently picked up on eBay.

Not only is it neatly scored, but the patron sent it to Palmer and asked that he sign it, which he did. IMHO, what takes this to the next level is that it also included the fan note requesting the autograph. Apparently he also attended Palmer's no-hitter in 1969 and scored that program as well. :)

Nice one Scott.

Here's his 5th career win...

Here's a scorecard from the "Rick Monday Saves the U.S. Flag" game, with accompanying ticket stub.

Very good, Joe! ;)

Thanks Scott. Ya know, a couple of years ago before I started really getting into tickets, I would have dismissed this as just a regular ticket stapled to just a regular scorecard!

If you collect vintage basketball, give us a hell yeah !!!

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