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A Ticket Stub From Jackie Robinson's Majors Debut Sells For A Record-Breaking $480K
American baseball player Jackie Robinson (1919 - 1972) fields a ball at first base while warming up for an exhibition game against the New York Yankees, Ebbets Field, NYC, 1950s.
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Hulton Archive
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Getty Images
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A ticket stub from Jackie Robinson's major-league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 is believed to be the most expensive sporting-event ticket ever sold at auction.
Costing just $1.75 at the time, the ticket stub went for a whopping $480,000 on Sunday, according to Heritage Auctions. And it was the second time the record was broken that day.
Earlier in the auction, a bidder bought a full ticket from Michael Jordan's 1984 NBA debut with the Chicago Bulls for $468,000, ESPN reported.
The previous record was $264,000 for a ticket stub — not a full ticket — from the same game, according to the network.
Interest in collecting trading cards and other sports memorabilia has taken off during the pandemic, along with the prices of some rarer items.
Baseball card sales on eBay were up more than 50% between March and May of 2020 compared to the year before, Marketplace reported.
The Jackie Robinson ticket stub was one of just seven known to be in existence, the auction house said. It comes from the April 15, 1947, game at the former Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, where Robinson became the first Black player to take the field for a major league baseball team in the modern era, ushering in the integration of one of America's most popular sports.
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