Bar Height Bar Stools

Fans and collectors have flocked to the folding reminders of happy times spent watching sporting events by snapping them up by the thousands. The recent sale of ballpark memorabilia from Yankee Stadium proved that fans can have strong enough emotional attachments to their favorite places to pay significant amounts of money to acquire even small pieces.

Crosley Furniture

Other ballpark seats and memorabilia have been sold from Texas Stadium, Tiger Stadium, Busch Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Shea Stadium, Memorial Auditorium and other venues that have met the wrecking ball. You can go to an outlet store and find a nice comfy chair for 0, but it'll cost you more to buy an old wrought iron/wood chair from a sports venue. Why?

It's a better conversation piece, for one.

Thousands of vintage stadium seats have been sold, but that still means there are thousands of rec rooms, offices and hobby rooms that don't have one. Those who do find visitors instantly drawn to that little piece of sports history. They can't resist taking a seat and imagining themselves back at the venue from where it was taken. Watching games in the lazy days of summer, seeing a special moment unfold before your eyes, a championship game or historic event....all evoke the best of times for fans and collectors while serving as a unique bit of sports decor.

Yankee Stadium seats went for over ,000 when they were sold; other stadiums sold theirs for 0-700 each. Some were refurbished, but others are purchased virtually as is. For some collectors, part of the fun and the charm is doing just a bit of restoration to make it look exactly like it did during a certain era. However, prior to the late 1990s or so, many stadiums simply gave their old seats away to anyone who wanted one or sold them off to minor league stadiums or other facilities that simply needed seating.

Many of those vintage stadium seats from places like the Polo Grounds, Forbes Field, Crosley Field and elsewhere were saved and can be found online. Vintage Ballpark seats have only gotten their mainstream measure of respect in the last several years and those who acquired or saved some of them for many years are reaping the rewards...if they aren't using the seats themselves.

VintageBallparks.com has more information about vintage stadium seats and links to ballpark memorabilia.