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

[bigfanNY]

Any chance a ticket stub is around from that game? I ask because as s long time program collector I can tell you ticket stubs have far surpassed programs in terms of market value. Especially for significant games such as this one.
When I get a program from a 3000 hit club first game I go right out and pick up a program from his final game which most times is also his final hit. Makes great display.. esp for Hammering Hank..

[MCyganik]

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

Any chance a ticket stub is around from that game? I ask because as s long time program collector I can tell you ticket stubs have far surpassed programs in terms of market value. Especially for significant games such as this one.
When I get a program from a 3000 hit club first game I go right out and pick up a program from his final game which most times is also his final hit. Makes great display.. esp for Hammering Hank..

I agree that tickets in most cases are much more valuable. I would love to find a ticket to this game in a cheap enough manner to afford it. But I think that's part of the appeal I have with being a program collector. Not only are they cool from an art and history perspective, but they are usually reasonably priced compared to most other vintage memorabilia. And because many memorabilia dealers and casual sellers don't do the research on programs like cards, I have found quite a few historic game programs for very reasonable prices. Which sort of fuels the chase...

I couldn't find any tickets for this game, but one seller on eBay is offering a ticket to his first true game in Cincinnati for $1200...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-Ticket...QAAOSwo4pYSXKx

[pherbener]

Wow! That's a great piece!! I couldn't find any programs but a ticket stub PSA Authentic sold for $500 last year.

[MCyganik]

I've been having fun researching more about Bob Botz. Apparently he has some notoriety with original Mets fans. According to several books written about the 1962 Mets he:

• Was hand selected by Casey Stengel as a "Youth Of America"
• Won the very first Spring Training game in Mets history
• Acquired the nickname "Butterball" along the way
• Became one of Casey's first cuts in camp
• When Mets fans at the Polo Grounds early in 1962 realized just how bad the team would be, they took to chanting "Bring Back Butterball Botz!"
• After being returned to Milwaukee, they quickly flipped him to the Angels, where he pitched 63 solid relief innings
• After the 1962 season the Angels flipped him to the Cardinals for another relief pitcher, Bob Duliba. But Botz seemed to have arm troubles and dropped off the baseball map after 4 AAA appearances in 1963.

What a career!

[WillowGrove]

As a Mets fan, i love that info. I didnt know about him!

The Aaron program is solid, first game the home fans got to see him, but the research is the fun part.

Thanks for posting!

[doug.goodman]

The opening day and Aaron firsts are the value of this program. The Bob Botz connection not so much.

The values on scored programs (is this one scored?) tend to be all over the place, leaning towards the cheap end, that's why I have over 6,000 of them.

If you were to put this one up on ebay for $100, I doubt it would sell.

If you were to put it up with a $10 starting bid it might go for over $100, it might go for $10.

I got Pete Rose's major league debut and first scored run game for $11. That one wasn't described very well, thus the deal.

My Aaron first career HR game was $370, while his second career HR set me back $32. Both of those were described perfectly.

Musial's career hits #3001-3002-3003 game was $4, with a so-so description.

As you may have noticed, the description is almost more important than the events. But not always.

It's a cool program, congrats.

Doug


PS - generally speaking, nobody cares about programs when compared to tickets.

[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.