Minneapolis Millers Programs

Yesterday I received a couple of Minneapolis Millers programs I bought on eBay. You can click on the images below to see larger versions.


The first one is from 1956, and has some wear and water damage, but it's still very readable. 1956 was the first year the Millers played in Metropolitan Stadium.The Miller's roster is full of players that went on to play in the majors. The ones I recognized from memory include Ozzie Virgil, Joe Amalfitano, Ed Bressoud, Gail Harris, Pete Burnside, Gil Coan, Curt Barclay and Willie Kirkland.

This particular program was for a game against Denver. Another roster full of eventual major leaguers such as Bobby Richardson, Jack Urban, Norm Siebern, Wally Burnette, Marv Throneberry, Tony Kubek and Ralph Terry.

The 1957 Program was for a game against Milwaukee. This one is in really nice shape. It's hard to believe anyone could have bought it at a game and taken it home while keeping it this nice.

The Millers roster is quite a bit different, and contains Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda. The Milwaukee roster contains quite the lineup, including Warren Spahn and some guy named Henry Aaron. Including Ed Mathews, the roster has 3 Hall of Famers on it.


The programs are full of advertisements for bars, cigarettes, beer, and local businesses. It's pretty interesting to page through. There are also interesting articles on players scattered throughout.

The concessions prices seem pretty reasonable: 25 cent hot dogs, 10 cent candy bars, and 30 cents for a bottle of beer or 15 cents for pop. Odd things at the concessions stand include milk, and a cheese sandwich. Hmmm.

Tickets range from 35 cents for Ladies on Ladies' Night (Tuesdays) for a set in the Grandstand, to $1.75 for adults for a box seat. So, a decent seat, hot dog, chips, and a beer would cost $2.45.

The souvenir's were also reasonable (at least compared to today's prices). Baesball caps were $1.00. Kid's T-Shirts were $1.00, Adults were $1.25. Pennants were 50 cents, and bincoulars were 75 cents. I wonder what those binoculars looked like!

I don't think I'll send this to be signed, even though there are plenty of players on the rosters that wouldn't be difficult to get. I think I'll just leave these as they are.

Yesterday I also received a couple of cards signed by Bud Daley. He signed his 1958 and 1960 Topps for me. The 58 is an upgrade to the one already in my collection.

I'll be out of town until Thursday, so I probably won't post another update until Friday.