Collector chronicles his six-year search for a ticket stub to Cleveland’s infamous 1974 Ten Cent Beer Night, one of fewer than 10 known copies.
Chicago, IL (PRUnderground) October 12th, 2026
Dave Buys Ticket Stubs, the vintage ticket stub buyer led by founder and Ticket Historian Dave Youhanaie, has acquired a particularly difficult baseball ticket stub. A lifelong ticket collector detailed in an online essay published September 29 how he spent six years searching for a ticket to Cleveland’s infamous Ten Cent Beer Night, held on June 4, 1974. Fewer than 10 copies were known to exist, according to the collector, and none had previously sold at public auction. He contacted Youhanaie shortly before this summer’s National Sports Collectors Convention, and the purchase was completed with a one-word reply: “Deal.”
Ten Cent Beer Night remains one of the most talked-about promotions in baseball history. The Cleveland Indians, now the Guardians, drew 25,134 fans that night, about triple their usual numbers. Fans could buy up to six beers at a time, with no limit on return trips to the concession stand. Cleveland tied the game against the Texas Rangers in the bottom of the ninth inning before fans rushed the field, prompting the umpires to order a forfeit. The team hosted a second Ten Cent Beer Night on July 18 with a two-beer limit and 200 additional police and security personnel. Nearly 42,000 fans attended that game without incident.
The ticket is particularly scarce because so few copies survived the 1974 game. As far as anyone knows, only six copies had been authenticated and graded by PSA, the Professional Sports Authenticator grading service. Youhanaie, who buys large collections of ticket stubs, leads a team of ticket historians that checks vintage baseball ticket stubs against their database of more than 300,000 logged stubs, with the earliest dating to roughly 1909. Baseball is the largest sports category in the database. The company says a stub’s value often comes from the story attached to the date rather than the prestige of the event.
The collector’s essay also describes a broader approach to ticket collecting. He focuses on teams, athletes, and memories that mean the most to him, with other infamous promotional events such as Disco Demolition Night in 1979 and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Ball Night in 1995 among the stubs he may pursue. For collectors, the appeal can come as much from the history attached to an ordinary-looking ticket as from the game or event itself.
“A ticket to Ten Cent Beer Night is a ticket to a night nobody planned on remembering,” said Dave Youhanaie, founder and Ticket Historian of Dave Buys Ticket Stubs. “Nobody in those stands knew the night would still be talked about decades later. They showed up and let history unveil itself. The few who kept their stubs are holding a piece of that history.” Youhanaie added that stubs from games with a bit of chaos attached often carry the most character. “A stub that shows its age can tell that story better than a pristine one. That’s why we buy ticket stubs in any condition, from torn corners to beer stains.”
Dave Buys Ticket Stubs acquires vintage sports and concert ticket stubs from sellers across the United States. The company accepts vintage sports and concert ticket stubs from sellers across the United States, including tickets that are torn, stained, or written on. Sellers can submit photos of their collections for a no-obligation cash offer in as little as 10 minutes during business hours. Youhanaie encourages collectors to check shoeboxes, scrapbooks, and other storage spots at home before forgotten ticket stubs are discarded. For more information, visit DaveBuysTicketStubs.com.
