Hank Aaron 1st Hit/Run/Home Game Program Owned By Bob Botz
 

Just acquired this 1954 Milwaukee Braves program from Opening Day, aka Hank Aaron's 2nd career MLB game, 1st home game in Milwaukee, 1st hit, 1st run and 1st extra base hit. After playing one game in Cincinnati (Aaron going 0-5 in his debut), the Braves hosted the Cardinals for only 1 game before the Reds came to town. The lineup pages reflect both teams' mid-April rosters before the Cardinals sold Steve Bilko and the Braves released Sibby Sisti.

Upon further examination of the names written on the front, I discovered this was also the personal copy of an 18 year old Milwaukee native named Bob Botz, who went to the game with his future wife Arlene. Bob would sign with his hometown Braves at the end of the year and bounce around the minors until getting cut by Casey Stengel during the Mets first Spring Training and appeared in 35 relief appearances for the 1962 Angels.

Not planning to sell it anytime soon but any long-time hobbyists know what kind of premium a program of this specific game could command compared to a typical game? There's two pieces of tape on the edges but they look cosmetic, otherwise the program is clean and intact beyond Botz's writing on the front.

Have no idea on value, the coolness factor is off the charts awesome though.

Very, very, very cool. Congrats on an important piece.

Any chance a ticket stub is around from that game? I ask because as s long time program collector I can tell you ticket stubs have far surpassed programs in terms of market value. Especially for significant games such as this one.
When I get a program from a 3000 hit club first game I go right out and pick up a program from his final game which most times is also his final hit. Makes great display.. esp for Hammering Hank..

I agree that tickets in most cases are much more valuable. I would love to find a ticket to this game in a cheap enough manner to afford it. But I think that's part of the appeal I have with being a program collector. Not only are they cool from an art and history perspective, but they are usually reasonably priced compared to most other vintage memorabilia. And because many memorabilia dealers and casual sellers don't do the research on programs like cards, I have found quite a few historic game programs for very reasonable prices. Which sort of fuels the chase...

I couldn't find any tickets for this game, but one seller on eBay is offering a ticket to his first true game in Cincinnati for $1200...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-Ticket...QAAOSwo4pYSXKx

Wow! That's a great piece!! I couldn't find any programs but a ticket stub PSA Authentic sold for $500 last year.

I've been having fun researching more about Bob Botz. Apparently he has some notoriety with original Mets fans. According to several books written about the 1962 Mets he:

• Was hand selected by Casey Stengel as a "Youth Of America"
• Won the very first Spring Training game in Mets history
• Acquired the nickname "Butterball" along the way
• Became one of Casey's first cuts in camp
• When Mets fans at the Polo Grounds early in 1962 realized just how bad the team would be, they took to chanting "Bring Back Butterball Botz!"
• After being returned to Milwaukee, they quickly flipped him to the Angels, where he pitched 63 solid relief innings
• After the 1962 season the Angels flipped him to the Cardinals for another relief pitcher, Bob Duliba. But Botz seemed to have arm troubles and dropped off the baseball map after 4 AAA appearances in 1963.

What a career!

As a Mets fan, i love that info. I didnt know about him!

The Aaron program is solid, first game the home fans got to see him, but the research is the fun part.

Thanks for posting!

The opening day and Aaron firsts are the value of this program. The Bob Botz connection not so much.

The values on scored programs (is this one scored?) tend to be all over the place, leaning towards the cheap end, that's why I have over 6,000 of them.

If you were to put this one up on ebay for $100, I doubt it would sell.

If you were to put it up with a $10 starting bid it might go for over $100, it might go for $10.

I got Pete Rose's major league debut and first scored run game for $11. That one wasn't described very well, thus the deal.

My Aaron first career HR game was $370, while his second career HR set me back $32. Both of those were described perfectly.

Musial's career hits #3001-3002-3003 game was $4, with a so-so description.

As you may have noticed, the description is almost more important than the events. But not always.

It's a cool program, congrats.

Doug


PS - generally speaking, nobody cares about programs when compared to tickets.

Programs vs Tickets
 

Programs get a bum rap. Tough to store tough to display and the older they are the more likely that they might need some sort of professional restoration or protection to prevent deterioration.
On the other hand Ebay has bought fourth an amazing variety and quantity of programs. In the past 2 years I picked up some programs that I would have bet did not exist. They are gems to me but rocks to most of the collecting world.
For early pro baseball 1871 until 1879 I would say there are less than 100 total programs (definitely less than 200). That picks up quickly as 1880's programs can be found almost all the time on Ebay and at most major shows. They were small mostly 2 pages and fit nicely in scrapbooks that were popular at the time. During the 1890's scorecards gave way to programs a few more pages and the size was larger. This led to fewer surviving. Players leauge programs federal leauge programs both very scarce as well as turn of the century programs early American Leauge tough. With most of the examples I have seen from Boston and Philadelphia. The paper Drives during both wars saw many early baseball treasures recycled.
I may never see the day when programs appreciate but that dose not take away one bit how much I appreciate them.

Exactly.

Except they are easy to store. Boards and bags, just like comics, which can be put into binders if you choose, or in boxes, just like comics.

Programs, Yearbooks and Publications have been the major part of my collection since the late 1980's. A conservative estimate of the number of publications in my collection is around 17,500 to 20,000. I love the articles, pictures and historic content.


Well said by Doug and Jon.


Jeff

Hank Aaron 1st hit program
 

So many great responses on this thread!
Doug's advise below is next to gospel, FWIW.

The opening day and Aaron firsts are the value of this program. The Bob Botz connection not so much.

The values on scored programs (is this one scored?) tend to be all over the place, leaning towards the cheap end, that's why I have over 6,000 of them.

If you were to put this one up on ebay for $100, I doubt it would sell.

If you were to put it up with a $10 starting bid it might go for over $100, it might go for $10.

I got Pete Rose's major league debut and first scored run game for $11. That one wasn't described very well, thus the deal.

My Aaron first career HR game was $370, while his second career HR set me back $32. Both of those were described perfectly.

Musial's career hits #3001-3002-3003 game was $4, with a so-so description.

As you may have noticed, the description is almost more important than the events. But not always.

It's a cool program, congrats.

Doug

One point I might argue is that a basebsll program being scored is most times the only way to be sure that a program is from a specific day. This is because scorecards are typically printed just before a visiting team comes to town and if they play 2, 3 or 4 games the preprinted lineup is the same. One clear example is Lou Gehrig's last game vs Washington. Same program for a couple games and scored copies from his last game bring a premium.
I have a Ruth Program from Detroit when he hit his 700th home run but mine is scored and clearly from next day when he hit 701. Would a unscored program be worth more because it could be from 700? That is part of the reason why program prices can be all over the place..

Following Up
 

I loved all of the well-thought out responses in this thread and in my short time collecting programs I echo the variance of "value" that they bring in the market. On one hand I wish the hobby would appreciate these treasures of history/art more compared to the fanatical values that cards bring for their history and art. On the other, because they are under-appreciated for the most part, a "high dollar" item for me on a rare, maybe very rarely ever seen again program is a drop in the bucket for a pre-war card among many in a set that other collectors chase. So for someone with a tight budget and a young family, it feels attainable to acquire vintage memorabilia in this way, and affords a level of research that I get out of placing the program within the context of its game, series, season, culture etc.

Jeff - that sounds like an incredible collection. How do you have it set up?

Are there any resources or collector hubs for programs/scorecard etc collectors out there? I'm part of a little used Facebook group but it seems like outside of tons of personal research on my own and talking to the occasional collector like this on this forum, there's not a ton of central knowledge about this area of collecting.

Last year I lucked into a lot of ten 1971 Pirates scored programs. I was the only bidder. Among them was a beautifully scored September 1, 1971 program which featured the first all minority MLB starting line-up. That game pretty much sums up my love for that team and my collection. I would love to find a stub to that game but have yet to encounter one. I find that odd as there were 11,278 in attendance. I can't imagine that even a third of those in attendance both purchased and scored a program. It would seem that the odds of finding such programs are much less than finding a stub.

See the photos...this is just a part of the collection. Sorted by sport and then team.



Other than Net54 I am not aware of a good place or resource that focuses on Programs or Scorecards.


Jeff

Wow... :eek::cool:

That... is... incredible. :cool: Is your collection all eras including today's game, or is there a particular vintage focus for you? Are they all acquired from hobby pickups or are there sections from games you attended over the years?

For example, I have maybe 300 programs, but most are vintage pre-1970s with a small section for games I go to. My dad however has a whole wall of a thousand+ programs, some he has randomly picked up over the years, but most are from games he's attended as a kid in Detroit in the 60s-70s and as an Arizona Diamondbacks season ticket member. Getting a program to every game of every season he's been to adds up pretty quickly.

But yeah Jeff, if there was ever a way a group of us program aficionados could get together to create a program checklist/database, I'd imagine you would be a primary source!

That's the kind of story I love to hear about program collecting. For every major milestone game from a HOF there is to find, I love researching and finding historic games that are just a small part of the baseball narrative. I picked up a 1968 Indians program a few months ago for $3 that was for Ron Hansen's unassisted triple play game. Is it worth more than $3? Probably not. But it has its place in baseball history and I treasure that.

I collect a little bit of everything but almost everything is pre 1970's for pro teams and pre 1980's for college football. I do save the ticket stub and program from every game I attend, but most have been purchased over the last 30 years at flea markets, shows, eBay, etc. I'd be happy to share my inventory if anyone wants a particular item.


Jeff