December 2011 Pick-Ups

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

I just found one of my ticket collecting holy grails today.

In 1968 (the year of the pitcher), a very rare occurance happened at historic Candlestick Park in SF. On September 17, 1968 HOF'ers Gaylord Perry and Bob Gibson matched up in a true pitching duel for the ages. On this day Perry was up to the challenge as he bested a pitcher Gibson that was enjoying one of the greatest season's ever (1.12 ERA en route to the pitcher's triple crown. Perry no-hit the World Champion Cardinals 1-0.

Not to be outdone, the Cards' Ray Washburn returned the favor by no-hitting the SF Giants 2-0 less than 16 hours later the following day! A miniscule 4700 fans attended the Washburn no-hitter at "The Stick".

Amazingly, I actually acquired the ticket for the lucky fan that was witness to baseball history in the making. The patron was a die hard SF Giants season ticket holder named Lena Pontier. She became a season ticket holder when the NY Giants relocated to San Franciso in 1958 and attended almost every game through the Bay Bridge World Series in 1989.

Note that Lena had an unbeliveable seat to witness all this baseball history- Section 1, Box 1. Here is a look at her tickets and dated complimentary passes to Perry's and Washburn's back-to-back no-hitters in 1968.

Here is the photo. For some reason it didn't make it on the 1st post! Doh!!