So, Can You Get Me Tickets?? // Baseball FAQs

I thought it would be fun to start a new series that addresses common questions about various aspects of baseball life. There are a few things that often come up as topics of conversation amongst the baseball world, and one of them is the assumption that players get unlimited free tickets to games. The reality is... Ehhh, sort of.

In the minor leagues, players are allotted 4 spots on the "player pass list" per game. So each day when Cy gets to the field, he has to go to put my name on the pass list before it gets taken to the ticketing office a little before game time. Then when I get to the game, I go to the will-call window and they have my tickets waiting. It is super simple and easy. When we have family/friends in town, we gladly can get y'all tickets this way! Home teams are usually more flexible if Cy needs to leave more than 4 tickets, but when we are on the road if we have more than 4 people coming, he usually can ask another player to use their pass list spots if they aren't using them that day. So if we are in town and you want to come see Cy play (or just come sit and chat with me... duh!) we are so so happy to get you tickets!

However, it is a completely different story when you get to the big leagues. Similarly to how it works for us in MiLB, big league players are allotted a small amount of specific seats in the designated "family"(players wives, kids, etc.) section (I believe 4) and a few in the "friends" section (I believe 2, I've heard these seats are generally kinda crappy). That is where the similarities end. First, it isn't so simple as writing names on the list, the player has to go through the team to coordinate the tickets. Second.... The tickets that players request to have are NOT free for them. If, for example, a player requests to have tickets left for his wife and kids, the value of those tickets are then considered "income" which the player is then taxed on out of his paycheck. Generally the player ends up paying around 40% of face value. A friend in Houston said that for them, it ends up about $30 per ticket. So by the end of the season, this can really add up!! I've heard stories of people not knowing this and then having to pay several THOUSANDS of of dollars in taxes for the tickets they gave out during the season. Crazy.

So moral of the story, big league players often don't/can't coordinate tickets for more than immediate family. Many people say that it is usually a lot better to just buy your own tickets on stub hub or whatever, because you can find good seats for much less than it costs the players to get them. Minor league games, however, are free and easy for us to get you to-  so come see us! ;)

Thanks for reading!
xo, Hannah


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