A Phillies fan wanted a souvenir ticket for the All-Star Game. He shared the ‘physical memento’ with other fans, too.
Mike Harkins, a collector of old ticket stubs, printed out a physical ticket stub for the 2026 All-Star Game and printed out 250 more to hand out to fans at the Bank on Tuesday.
Mike Harkins collects old ticket stubs. Harkins estimates he has over 500 physical tickets from events he’s attended in the past, kept in journals, scrapbooks, and in storage.
One of his favorites as a kid was from the 1996 All-Star Game, held at Veterans Stadium. Harkins, who was 11 years old and grew up in South Jersey, attended both the game and the Home Run Derby with his father. It was one of his most special childhood memories, and every time he looks at that stub, it takes him back to that moment.
So, for the 2026 All-Star Game, Harkins decided to print out a physical ticket stub for himself, to remember the moment. He then printed out 250 more, to hand out to fans at the ballpark hoping for that same experience.
“I had the thought, that kids that are going to this game, like when I was 11 in 1996, they’re not going to have that souvenir ticket to bring home,” Harkins said. “Truthfully, kids didn’t really seem that excited about them, but all of their parents were gung-ho when I handed them the ticket stubs.”
» READ MORE: He caught the winning Home Run Derby ball. Then this Phillies fan did what ‘felt natural.’ He threw it back.
Everyone received the same section, row, and seat number, each of which carried a special meaning. Harkins picked Section 126 because “Chase Utley is No. 1 in my book.” The row (20) and seat (08) numbers combine to make 2008, honoring the Phillies’ 2008 World Series title, the first Philly championship Harkins experienced.
On the back of each ticket, he included a message:
“I hope the newer generations of baseball fans can appreciate having a physical memento to remember this night with,” he wrote. “Maybe, thirty years from now, you’ll still have this ticket. I hope you look back on this night as fondly as that 11-year-old from 1996 still does.”
He got the idea after attending a concert in Mexico last month. Harkins met a couple from Denver, who printed out individual tickets of their own to celebrate their trip, and gave him one. As an avid ticket stub collector, he immediately started brainstorming.
Over the last decade-and-a-half, sports teams, concerts, and events have largely turned away from issuing physical tickets, instead relying on mobile tickets and QR codes. The Phillies started the process of turning their season ticket holders toward digital tickets in 2014, eliminating physical tickets entirely in 2020 during the pandemic. Mobile tickets can be more convenient, but don’t make for the same kind of keepsake.
“I’ll see an Eagles game from 2008, where it was blistery, and I can just remember being freezing cold that night against the Carolina Panthers on a Monday,” Harkins said. “It makes me think of the people that I was able to share that experience with and sometimes the result, sometimes good, sometimes bad.”
One of those people at Tuesday’s All-Star Game was Cheryl Spielvogel, the longtime peanut vendor whose call of “Peeeeeanuts!” is a familiar refrain for Citizens Bank Park regulars. Harkins happily told Spielvogel, who has been slinging the ballpark snack for over 50 years, that she helped provide “the soundtrack to my childhood.”
Harkins, who was a member of the famed Wolf Pack (in honor of former Phillies pitcher Randy Wolf) a quarter century ago, said the best ticket in his collection is from the Phillies’ regular season finale in 2007, when they clinched a playoff berth with some help from the Mets. He and his friends listened from the parking lot as Tom Glavine gave up seven runs in the first inning for New York against the Marlins, and were “floating” the rest of the day at Citizens Bank Park.
He even got to meet Dontrelle Willis, who started that game for the Marlins and now works for Fox Sports, at the All-Star red carpet at Independence Mall, and hear the story of that game from his side. Later, at the ballpark, Harkins got to meet the fan known as Marlins Man, a regular behind home plate at big-ticket events around the country. Laurence Leavy, the lawyer behind the orange Miami Marlins jersey, was confused when Harkins first handed him the stub, but was thankful once he realized what he had received.
Harkins considers himself a baseball history fanatic, and said the people who loved physical tickets the most were the ushers at the Bank, many of whom share that same passion for Phillies history.
He hopes the All-Star weekend and the ticket can help spark that in someone else.
Phillies owner John Middleton spent months planning to host the city’s first All-Star Game in 30 years. Now that it’s over, he joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to recap his most memorable moments from the week. He also discussed the upcoming trade deadline and Field of Dreams Game in Iowa, and the future of the top of the Phillies organizational masthead. Watch here. Watch here.
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