Quote:
Originally Posted by nolemmings
And so those games would not have a date-specific ticket, nor a ticket that referred to game number "XX", correct? In which case how could you be add a ticket or stub from such a game to your collection?
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Know what you were looking for in advance.
In the example of the McLain 31st win, I was offered this ticket by a reputable dealer from the Detroit area, that I knew quite well from past dealings, at the Cleveland National quite a few years ago.
The ticket was an Detroit Emergency ticket from 1968. The patron that used the ticket to gain entrance had written info about the Mickey Mantle HR on the back of the ticket. I offered this ticket to another hobby close friend, who was the largest collector of Mickey Mantle HR tickets, but did not own the ticket.
Ironically, he turned me down, opting to wait for a printed date version of this ticket. For several years I did the same, keeping the ticket, but still always looking to upgrade. We would have never found the dated version of the ticket because it was an unscheduled make up game from earlier in the year. It was only once I discovered this upon doing some research that I realized I had the only available type ticket to this historic game. My friend never did find another ticket to fill this hole in his great collection before he passed away a few years ago.
Lesson learned: Do your homework before immediately dismissing tickets with no printed dates.... 
O/T Eventually, I traded this ticket away to another collector that had a no-hitter ticket that I needed for my collection. Eventually I found a second ticket to this game which I used to replace it. One of the keys to knowing that the ticket is legit is to know that the Tigers changed their ticket prices mid-year in 1968. The emergency tickets that were issued for the McLain 31st win game were stamped with the changed price plus the patron on the second ticket notated McLain's 31st win and Mickey Mantle's HR on the back in neat ball point pen. I don't have a photo of this ticket, but I will try to add it later for reference.