19th Century Unused Ticket Stub – Questions . . .

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Posted By: Joe_G.

I was able to pick-up a nice item for my Detroit collection today that you don’t see everyday (from fellow collector/dealer). It’s a complete unused ticket stub for “Game 27” of the 1888 season at Detroit’s home, Recreation Park. I’ve attached a scan below showing both front & back together with an Old Judge to put the size into perspective (a hair under 2” x 4”). The condition is excellent with a minor crease. It’s amazing to me that over the last 118 years no one has torn the ticket in two along the inviting perforation, talk about self-control.



The writing (stamp) on back is light but reads as follows:

SEASON BOOK TICKET
NOT EXCHANGEABLE AND GOOD
FOR THIS DAY AND GAME ONLY

So it is apparent that this belonged to someone with a season pass book but failed to use the ticket. I suspect Grand Stand B, seat 98 was perhaps near home plate, the home teams bench, or perhaps an early suite (a good seat).

My questions come about when trying to determine which game this ticket was issued for. After talking to a couple people, the most popular theory seems to be the 27th game played at home which is different that the 27th scheduled home game. The 27th scheduled home game would have been June 27th against Chicago (Detroit won 10-4). However, because 4 home games were canceled/postponed (likely due to weather), the 27th actual played home game wasn’t until July 5th against NY (Detroit won 18-13). The fact that the ticket doesn’t list a date or team further supports the fact that they issued and collected tickets based on actual played games vs scheduled games (I think).

However, to further complicate matters, Detroit played a double header with NY on July 4th which likely required one ticket to attend (my assumption). Was that ticket stamped with game 25 & 26? Then, going back to the canceled or postponed games, did one or more of the games actually begin with tickets accepted at the gates only to be rained out before the game became official? In this case, I bet the next home game would be the next number so as to not exclude the season ticket holders. All these possibilities could point to different games and I realize a little more research will be required to better define the “27th game”. The Detroit Free Press & Detroit News are two excellent sources that may help shed some light (the Detroit Public Library has both papers on microfiche). In the interim, I thought I’d ask the board in case someone has already completed similar research on a similar 19th century ticket(s).

Side Note: While Detroit failed to repeat their 1887 Championship in 1888, they did play very competitive ball for the first half of the season. During the dates suggested for this ticket, Detroit was no more than 2 games back of the League leading Chicago team. But shortly after, several events including Sam Thompson being pulled from the line-up due to a throwing arm injury and Hardy Richdson breaking his ankle sent them on a downward spiral including a 16 game losing streak to barely finish above 0.500. And that would be the end of professional baseball in Detroit until the Tigers started up with the American League in 1901.

I realize the detail of the question may not garner many responses, but feel free to comment at any level. I would love to hear from anyone else that has a 19th century ticket stub to share. I don’t recall seeing any over the last couple years, but then again, I can’t say I was looking.

Best Regards,
Joe Gonsowski

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