Waiting To Buy Tickets To The 1928 World Series

Want to Get Good Seats? Be First In Line

Brooklynite Has Food Supply To Wait All Night For World Series
New York: Photo shows Arthur Jones of 913 East 12th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. with a supply of sandwiches, all ready to spend the night outside the Yankee Stadium to wait for the World series to begin. Arthur is the first on line having found his position at nine A.M. the day before the series opens. credit International News, 10-3-1928

Living in New York if you wanted to experience the 1928 World Series live you had only two choices.

One way was to tune in at 1:15 P.M. to one of the four local radio stations covering the game. You could choose to listen to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) New York affiliates; WEAF and WJZ, with announcers Graham McNamee and Phillips Carlin describing the action. Or, you could listen to the  Columbia Broadcast System (CBS)  call of the game with Major James Andrew White on stations WOR and WJZ . White, by the way was the first person ever to broadcast a sporting event on July 2 1921. It was a prize fight between heavyweights Jack Dempsey and Jacques Carpentier.

The other choice was to attend the game in person, like superfan Arthur Jones. Fans who were not season ticket holders who wanted to be at Yankee Stadium could go up to the box office and buy tickets the day of the game. There were no advance sales of tickets.

We make the assumption that someone would hold Arthur Jones’ place, first in line, when he would need to use a bathroom.

There was no television or other electronic device to transmit what was happening to keep fans informed.

The New York Times predicted the opening game at Yankee Stadium would attract a record crowd of 80,000 fans. Neither of the two games at Yankee Stadium were sellouts. Game one’s attendance was 61,425. Game two would draw 60,714.

The 1928 Fall Classic began on October 4. It was concluded on October 9 as the Yankees swept the St. Louis Cardinals.

The 2026 World Series is now practically the Winter Classic and will begin after all the leaves have fallen from the trees on October 23.

50 Years After Arthur Jones

Teams cut back on selling postseason tickets at the ballpark in the 1970s. For many years, teams would primarily sell playoff and World Series tickets in advance by mail, payable only by a certified check or money order.

In 1977 against the Kansas City Royals, Yankees playoff box seats were only $9 and reserve seats cost $7. You had to buy a strip of two tickets; one to each of the two games to be held at the Stadium. There was a limit of four strips per customer.

This seemed like a fair price for an exciting event and I wanted to go. You could still buy playoff tickets at Yankee Stadium in advance on September 24, but the lines would be extremely long. The mail order system was essentially a lottery. Demand was heavy, but somehow I got playoff tickets through the mail. When the 1977 World Series tickets went on sale they were still a relative bargain at  $15 for a box and $10 for a reserved seat

By 1980 the Yankees had ceased selling playoff and World Series tickets by mail or the Stadium box office.

The only way to buy tickets was at the Yankees official ticket outlet, Ticketron. Ticketron was usually located within a record or department store.

So in 1981, I figured I would  arrive on line really early. Not a full day before, like Arthur Jones. I arrived at a small Ticketron agency on Broadway in the Bronx. at 5:00 A.M., four hours before tickets went on sale.

Well, I should have got up earlier. I was about 200th in line .

At 9:00 A.M. Ticketron began selling tickets all over the city. The line moved at a snail’s pace as the nascent computer system could handle only one playoff purchase at a time throughout all the Ticketron outlets. At about 1:30 P.M. I reached the ticket counter and bought my tickets. Less than five minutes later the games were sold out.

My seats were in the 26th row in the upper deck between third base and left field.

If only I had been more like Arthur Jones.