[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Oldtix

The evidence on the tickets isn't in your favor and I agree with all the rationale and research previously offered by posters. The thing that haunts me is that we (I include myself in this judgment) tend to apply modern standards to past practices.

September 1934...the depths of the Depression. The Dodgers drew only 434,000 fans that year (30,000 on Opening Day)...their lowest attendance since 1919 and almost 20% below the 1933 level. That's only 5,639 fans a game in a stadium with a 32,000 capacity. Just for added emphasis...their 1934 attendance was 60% below 1930! And leading up to this game...less than 1,000 Brooklynites attended the Pirates game on 9/18.

The club had to be in dire financial straits and they had to be pinching pennies wherever they could. Could a frugal Brooklyn general manager have encouraged the use of leftover general admission tickets rather than buying new ones? Could he have certainly mandated conservative purchasing of future game tickets from printers? Could a desperate ticket window clerk have sold old tickets and pocketed the cash (no audit trail)? Could a friendly ticket-taker have looked the other way and let the bearers into the game? Pretty tough times...

The club heavily promoted the upcoming Cardinals/Deans doubleheader. Apparently it worked. The New York Times reported attendance at the 9/21 game as 18,000...a huge number in the relative terms of that season. Perhaps they just ran out of general admission tickets!

If the writing is truly contemporary, it's possible that these really are the no-hitter tickets....but unfortunately, you can't prove it. Still...as 1934 first year manager Casey Stengel would later say: "You gotta believe!"

Gosh Rick,
I love the way you thought through this one. In the context of the backdrop of The Great Depression any of your scenarios could be possible. Very good food for thought!