Ticket Collectors

[Scott Garner]

I am absolutely not a fan of slabbing baseball tickets.
I prefer to keep them raw, but do store them in a ticket top loader that I label with my own game info, as I have my own system that I started years ago.

What's the point in authenticating that a ticket is to a particular date when the information is already printed on the ticket? It's beyond me due to the cost of doing this, FWIW... I would prefer to spend the money on other cool tickets or memorabilia.

My experience is that the majority of die hard ticket collectors do not slab them, but cross over collectors that are accustomed to slabbing cards are definitely into slabbing tickets as well. To each is own.

That's the great thing about collecting. The hobby offers a little something for everyone.

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

I am absolutely not a fan of slabbing baseball tickets.
I prefer to keep them raw, but do store them in a ticket top loader that I label with my own game info, as I have my own system that I started years ago.

That's the great thing about collecting. The hobby offers a little something for everyone.

I prefer raw, but I like what Scott is doing; very cool!

[Exhibitman]

I think they look nice sometimes in slabs and the protection is great for klutzy collectors like me. I had three rather delicate tickets that I needed in nice stable holders so I sent them in on the PSA March special. I hope to have them back in time to take to the National . Same with all sorts of paper ephemera. Like this die-cut Benny Leonard that is now in an SGC case:



No way was I leaving that one raw in my hands!

Buying is less of an issue for me because the ones I collect [boxing, mostly] are not valuable enough that there has been a counterfeiting problem. Still, a slab does help me feel safer to purchase from a random venue like eBay.

As for resale, I think it depends. When it comes to resale through auctioneers, slabbing may save some money in the long run. Most AH's will give me a 0% commission deal on slabbed items but will hit me for 5%-10% on raw items [value and rarity dependent, of course]. A $100 ticket may not be slabworthy but a $300 one might make sense. I also tend to think that the slab will attract impulse purchasers. For example, a while ago I purchased a rare ticket that I stumbled across at a show. I was able to handle it and verify the security features and stock, so I knew it was 100% legit. I would probably have passed on it had I seen it on eBay raw at the same price.

[RTK]

I'm hardly a ticket collector although I have picked up a few over the years along with the ones I've saved from the many events I've attended. I actually like the creases and wear on vintage tickets, they help tell a story. Someone handed the ticket to an usher, excited to be going to a game, not knowing it would become historic. The ticket was stuffed in a pocket, thrown in a drawer along with a handful of change. Maybe weeks later used as a book mark, to be forgotten in the book, years later sold at a garage sale. I always wonder who used the ticket, a little boy, a grandpa, a war vet in uniform. I enjoy handling them, it's like touching history. If I slabbed any, I think I'd only slab ones from truly historic games; perfect games, no hitters, etc...

[Gary Dunaier]

Back in the days when tickets were torn, I would always pre-fold my ticket ahead of time so that it got a neat tear along the dotted line.

Now that tickets are scanned, when I go to games I put them in a hard plastic holder and leave them there. They can still be scanned through the plastic, and the ticket remains in mint condition.


(Photo taken July 16, 2013. © Gary Dunaier. Link to upload on Flickr.com: here.)