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

[bigfanNY]

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.