Little Red Riding Hood & Her Babe Ruth Signed 700th Homerun Day Ticket

[thecatspajamas]

From the July 19 issue of The Sporting News. I believe the presence of "circus seats" validates the use of emergency tickets, and the article also elaborates on how the seats were not needed based on actual attendance, but were there anyway just in case. Seems the press had been talking up a sell-out crowd, which had the reverse effect of scaring attendees away.

[slidekellyslide]

Theory confirmed...thanks for doing the research Lance!

[shelly]

Thanks for all the help. I at least found out what was the most important part of the puzzle. Was a generic ticket from that game stamp or no stamp.
It now comes down to if the autograph is authentic or not. That will be up to you to decide.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Theory confirmed...thanks for doing the research Lance!

I agree. Nice job, Lance!

[RichardSimon]

I collect, among other things, old NY Giants memorabilia.
I just checked my 1930's and 40's ticket stubs and they all have lots of printing on the back.
Was it common for Detroit tickets to be blank backed?

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

I collect, among other things, old NY Giants memorabilia.
I just checked my 1930's and 40's ticket stubs and they all have lots of printing on the back.
Was it common for Detroit tickets to be blank backed?

A theory here would be yes for regular printed tickets and no for "circus tickets" which would make a whole lot of sense. Perhaps someone can confirm.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Forever Young

A theory here would be yes for regular printed tickets and no for "circus tickets" which would make a whole lot of sense. Perhaps someone can confirm.

Hi Ben and all,

I have never heard of Emergency tickets being called "circus tickets" FWIW. When I think of circus tickets I think of "raffle" style smaller tickets. The bleacher tickets that Lance showed are somewhat like generic circus tickets. These also had the disclaimer printing on the back. I have quite a few of these from this era.

One additional point to note. Briggs Stadium had PLENTY of capacity to handle large crowds in excess of 26,000 fans in attendance (capacity of the stadium was listed at 36,000). They should not have had to add extra seats, just sell them generic bleacher seats....

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Hi Ben and all,

I have never heard of Emergency tickets being called "circus tickets" FWIW. When I think of circus tickets I think of "raffle" style smaller tickets. The bleacher tickets that Lance showed are somewhat like generic circus tickets. These also had the disclaimer printing on the back. I have quite a few of these from this era.

One additional point to note. Briggs Stadium had PLENTY of capacity to handle large crowds in excess of 26,000 fans in attendance (capacity of the stadium was listed at 36,000). They should not have had to add extra seats....

My understanding in reading the article was that additional seating ("circus seating") was set up in anticipation of a greater-than-capacity crowd. The press talked it up about how the stadium was bound to be filled to capacity, but the reality of game day didn't live up to the hype. The writer also stated that the additional seats likely weren't needed for the game on Sunday (the 15th), but remained in place anyway. The article also laments the effect that the added seating, apparently at ground level on the field itself, had on game play (kids running around on the field, doubles becoming inside the park home runs, etc), so even though the stadium was not filled to capacity, the field-level seats clearly were occupied to some extent.

Also note that the term "circus" was only ever applied to the additional seating in the article, not the tickets themselves. I don't know if this was an official term for that style of seating, or was something unique to this article. The author certainly seems to have thought that the proceedings more closely resembled a circus than a baseball game, which could have led to him coining the term...?

[Deertick]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Hi Ben and all,

I have never heard of Emergency tickets being called "circus tickets" FWIW. When I think of circus tickets I think of "raffle" style smaller tickets. The bleacher tickets that Lance showed are somewhat like generic circus tickets. These also had the disclaimer printing on the back. I have quite a few of these from this era.

One additional point to note. Briggs Stadium had PLENTY of capacity to handle large crowds in excess of 26,000 fans in attendance (capacity of the stadium was listed at 36,000). They should not have had to add extra seats, just sell them generic bleacher seats....

Scott, I believe capacity was 26,000 and was increased to 36,000 the following year.

Good analysis here!

I have a question as to when and why they would issue these emergency tickets. Why were they issued on the 12th (Attendance: 20K) and 13th (22.5K), but not the 14th (Sold Out)? Why would they stamp the date on them? Am I wrong in the assumption they would have A-Z? Wouldn't any ticket taker be told it was an 'A' day?
These may be dumb questions, but I'm sure someone here knows.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

I collect, among other things, old NY Giants memorabilia.
I just checked my 1930's and 40's ticket stubs and they all have lots of printing on the back.
Was it common for Detroit tickets to be blank backed?

Richard,
That's an interesting question.

For the most part, Tigers tickets would have had printing on the back. No advertising, just information mostly regarding the teams right to revoke admission to patrons under certain circumstances. There also would be the brand of the ticket company that manufactured the ticket. During the 1930's and 1940's the Tigers used Ansell-Simplex Ticket Co. of Chicago, IL. This would typically be on the back of all ticket stock.

However, Emergency tickets may not have had the same treatment. Without having the opportunity to examine the back of other Emergency tickets from this era, I wouldn't know if they did or didn't have this printing. In looking through other Tigers tickets that I own, I do see at least one example from the 1950's where I DO NOT see printing on the back. These tickets are season tickets though, not regular box office tickets, thus possibly explaining the difference in printing process.

I hope this helps.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

From the July 19 issue of The Sporting News. I believe the presence of "circus seats" validates the use of emergency tickets, and the article also elaborates on how the seats were not needed based on actual attendance, but were there anyway just in case. Seems the press had been talking up a sell-out crowd, which had the reverse effect of scaring attendees away.

Chris didn't show us anything like this - makes me wonder if he's presenting theories and throwing away facts

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Chris didn't show us anything like this - makes me wonder if he's presenting theories and throwing away facts

Obviously he's in the 98% that know nothing about ticket stubs.