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.
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