The final price of an auction Wednesday night was by no means eye-popping. However, for those who collect tickets, the lot featured what is undeniably one of the coolest pairs in existence.
A set of two tickets from Aug. 2, 1982 — the Cubs-Mets game and the Phillies-Expos game — sold for $710 at Hunt Auctions. The grouping commemorates a quirky piece of baseball history.
On that day, outfielder Joel Youngblood became the first player, and still the only player, to play for two different teams and get a hit for each on the same day.
A good defensive outfielder, Youngblood came up playing with the Cincinnati Reds, but gained his most fame with the New York Mets. In 1977, in order to make room for Youngblood, Mets player/manager Joe Torre retired as a player. In 1981, Youngblood was the sole Mets player to make the All-Star team.
Looking to dump salary, the Mets were looking to trade Youngblood, who was making $316,000, fifth-most of the team.
Fast-forward to Aug. 2, 1982.
The Mets were in Chicago to play the Cubs and general manager Frank Cashen was ready to trade Youngblood. But Cashen said there was a phone circuit problem.
"(Mets manager George) Bamberger asked me what to do with Youngblood, and I told him to go ahead and start him, we'd take the chance on his getting hurt," Cashen told the New York Times.
Youngblood got a hit off Cubs pitcher Ferguson Jenkins in the third inning that brought in two runs.
In the bottom of the third, Youngblood was removed from the game and asked to take a phone call. That's when Cashen told him he had been traded to the Expos, who said their roster was thin and really hoped Youngblood could get to their game that night.
The Expos were playing in Philadelphia. Youngblood showered and booked his flight.
He left for the airport, forgetting he had left his glove, which he had used for 14 years, in the dugout. As a result of having to go back, he barely made his plane. The plane landed, he got a cab and arrived at Veteran Stadium.
"It's funny," Youngblood told the Associated Press. "I left Chicago in the third inning and got there in the third inning."
In the sixth inning, he replaced Expos left fielder Jerry White, and in the seventh, he came to the plate for a chance at baseball immortality.
Prior to Youngblood, two other players had played for two teams on one day. Max Flack and Clifton Heathcote were traded for each other in between a doubleheader when the Cardinals were playing the Cubs in Chicago. Both got hits in the second game, but neither in the first.
Youngblood wasn't stepping to the plate against anyone. It was four-time Cy Young winner Steve Carlton. But he ripped a hit up the middle, making history.
It's worth noting both players he got a hit off that day became Hall of Famers — Jenkins in 1991 and Carlton in 1994.
Getting a set of ticket stubs from the two games is exceedingly rare. PSA has only graded five total tickets from the Cubs-Mets game and three total tickets from the Phillies-Expos game.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.