Collection of Phillies ticket stubs

For today's "Baseball Day"¹ post, it probably won't surprise you to learn that I've kept some of my baseball-ticket stubs from over the years. Clearly, some part of me knew more than 20 years ago that I'd be authoring an ephemera blog at some point in the future.²

So here's the skinny on some of those stubs:

July 18, 1988: Phillies, Braves split doubleheader

This was a twi-night doubleheader (remember those?) between two sad-sack teams that entered the day a combined 39 games under .500.

Game 1 started at 5:37 p.m. and was won by the Braves, 9-8, in 11 innings. The Phillies' starting lineup was 2B Juan Samuel, CF Milt Thompson, LF Phil Bradley, 3B Mike Schmidt, RF Chris James, 1B Greg Gross³, C Darren Daulton, SS Steve Jeltz⁴ and P Shane Rawley.

Jeltz had the Phillies' only extra-base hit, a double. The Braves used 22-year-old Tom Glavine as a pinch-runner.

The Braves got home runs from Andres Thomas, Dale Murphy, Dion James and Ron Gant.

Game 2 started at 9:36 p.m. but was over in a quick two hours and five minutes. (Even Roy Halladay would be hard-pressed to work that fast.)

Former Braves David Palmer (seven innings) and Steve Bedrosian (two innings) combined to shut down Atlanta as the Phillies recorded a 4-1 victory.

According to the boxscore, Jackie Gutierrez was the Phillies' shortstop in Game 2, but I have no memory of him being in Philadelphia, so I guess I'll just have to trust the boxscore.

By the way, the Phillies' manager at this time was Lee Elia.

September 3, 1988: Padres 5, Phillies 2

I had a penthouse ticket for this game. I've never been a fan of watching baseball from a penthouse box. I'd rather been out in the fresh air, among the fans, even if it means I'm in the nosebleed seats. The main thing I remember from this game is that I couldn't hear any sounds of the stadium or crowd⁵ from within the suite.

The starting lineups in this game were interesting, especially in retrospect.

The Padres went with: RF John Kruk, 2B Roberto Alomar, CF Tony Gwynn, LF Carmelo Martinez, 1B Keith Moreland, C Benito Santiago, 3B Tim Flannery, SS Garry Templeton, P Ed Whitson.

The Phillies went with: LF Phil Bradley, CF Milt Thompson, 3B Chris James, 1B Ricky Jordan, RF Ron Jones, 2B Juan Samuel, C Lance Parrish, SS Steve Jeltz, P Kevin Gross.

May 26, 1990: Braves 12, Phillies 3

This was a special night at Veterans Stadium, and the Atlanta Braves ruined it.

My friend Matt Robinson⁶, his father and I were there for Mike Schmidt Night. There was a ceremony in front of 56,789 fans to honor the career of Schmidt, who had retired one year earlier.

Instead, it became "Jeff Treadway Night." He hit THREE home runs⁷ (off Pat Combs, Don Carman and Darrel Akerfelds) as the Braves thumped the Phillies.

The Phillies' starting lineup was: CF Lenny Dykstra, 2B Rod Booker, RF Von Hayes, 1B Ricky Jordan, LF John Kruk, 3B Charlie Hayes, SS Dickie Thon, C Darren Daulton, P Pat Combs.

October 5, 1991: Phillies 1, Mets 0

It was "The Terry Mulholland Show" as the Phillies clinched third place in the National League East. (Yes, those were the kinds of accomplishments we had to cheer for in those days.) Mulholland pitched a complete game in just two hours and one minute.⁸

My ticket was for a $4 general-admission seat. That basically meant anywhere in the famed 700 level of Veterans Stadium (which Matt and I usually had to ourselves).

The game's lone run was driven in by Braulio Robinson Medrano Castillo, who had a career total of nine RBIs in his two partial seasons in the major leagues.

The Phillies' lineup was: 2B Mickey Morandini, SS Dickie Thon, LF Wes Chamberlain, 1B John Kruk, 3B Dave Hollins, RF Dale Murphy, C Darin Fletcher, CF Braulio Castillo, P Terry Mulholland.

So, in two years Dale Murphy went from batting cleanup for the Atlanta Braves to batting sixth for the Philadelphia Phillies. It was quite a sad tumble at the end of his career. The most important part of his August 1990 trade to the Phillies turned out to be the player to be named later that Atlanta sent to Philadelphia -- Tommy Greene.

Greene teamed up with Mulholland, Curt Schilling, Danny Jackson and another former Brave (Ben Rivera) to lead the Phillies' NL pennant-winning pitching staff in 1993.

Footnotes
1. I announced last week that Tuesdays will be "Baseball Day" on Papergreat this summer. I kicked it off with a post on Marty "Slats" Marion.
2. I also remember clipping out Phillies photos, articles and boxscores from the Williamsport Sun-Gazette in the early 1980s. I kept them in a small metal box and used them to create my own homemade baseball cards. Sadly, none of those materials remain.
3. Greg Gross is a York County native who was in his next-to-last season as a Major League Baseball player in 1988. He is now the Phillies' hitting coach.
4. On another "Baseball Day" later this summer, I'll give y'all the rundown on the Steve Jeltz Fan Club, of which I was one of the co-founders.
5. Of course, there were only 16,315 fans in attendance, so there probably wasn't much to hear.
6. Matt is another of the co-founders of the Steve Jeltz Fan Club.
7. This represented 10.7 percent of Treadway's career home runs (28). All in one game. Whatever.
8. 2:01 is now the average length of one inning in a Yankees-Red Sox game.