Offered here is a ticket issued for Game 7 of the 13 game Ed Lopat U.S. Major League Baseball All Star Tour of Japan. The game was played at Nishinomiya Stadium near Osaka. Interestingly, despite his image on the ticket, Mickey Mantle was not a member of the 1953 Tour party. Japanese fans would have to wait until the 1955 Tour to see Mantle in action. Nevertheless, an exciting contest took place that day, as the Yankees rallied from behind in the late innings to defeat the Hankyu Braves by a score of 7 to 3 in front of 25,000 spectators.
The ticket used for this game is one of three known examples. No Japanese baseball ticket for any other game contains a picture of Mickey Mantle. Despite his participation in the 1955 Japan Tour, Mantle was never depicted on a ticket for that series of games.
This ticket was issued by the Mainichi Newspaper. It is an outfield ticket that was awarded to a lucky reader of the newspaper. As a result, the ticket has no price printed on it.
Size: 4 5/8" x 2 1/8"
Condition: The ticket has a top to bottom vertical fold. However, other than the fold, the corners, borders and surfaces are in nice condition. However, the ticket was torn rather poorly by the ticket taker at the event.