Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for March 02, 2025

For those who thought this was the day when pigs would finally fly . . . false alarm.

Those prices can’t be right…I know it’s expensive, but it’s not the NFL!

He should have bought his nephew a dozen eggs.

That’s not that bad. He still has his arms and his legs.

Baseball been berry, berry good to … the owners!” – Chico Escuela

Too bad pig is not a business — he could write off all that as a business expense.

If you have to ask how much beer and peanuts go for at a ball game, you can’t afford it.

Pig took out a loan to go there!

Uncle George has a unibrow!

We don’t have Baseball here in the UK (mostly) – no soda, no hot dogs, no T-shirts. Can I go home now, please?

My Granddad used to take me to baseball games. That was years ago and they were minor league games, so not as expensive

I was thinking of getting tickets to a concert this summer. Going to the site selling tickets showed a minimum of $250 dollars each and you’re way in the back. Compare that to a spot closest to the stage…$800. VIP treatment, including meet and greet plus backstage access…in the thousands of dollars range.

In 2007, when I saw the same band playing upstate and got tickets, it only cost me $100 and I was fairly close to the front. And I got a free meet and greet afterwards.

What? No Crackerjacks?

We are in that cultural stage where more and more things that were once common, are now priced beyond the budget of the working class.

Luxury inflation is wild.

Back in the day, if I left the house with $20.00 in my pocket I felt like a big shot. Today I could spend $1,000.00 and not get the best seats at a show. [I could, but I’m d#mned if I’ll spend $1,000.00 for a show]

More George by the piece

(I hate my iPhone, whenever it “decides” to, it REFRESHES my screen, making me have to type this comment for the fiftieth(50th) time before I can post it….when it lets me the screen, that is!!!!!!!!!)(Now for the comment…)PIG’S UNCLE GEORGE may have spent less on the ballpark, but the “difference” is made up by the “sentimental” value alone, but, tell that to PIG’S UNNAMED NEPHEW, who has proof he can show his friends with PIG’S credit card bill and the ballpark receipts from that trip that PROVES just how much, in cold, hard cash, PIG loves his NEPHEW, and that’s all this NEW GENERATION cares about, see?! But, the odd thing is that EVERY GENERATION of kids that age HAS ALWAYS enjoyed, including me(when I was younger…), getting your “love” in dollar amounts, after all, numbers don’t lie!!!!!! Dan aka…ps “sentimental” value don’t pay no bills, I need money, that’s what I want, money, that’s what I want…

Concessions are an effective monopoly. You can’t leave, and there’s ONE choice if you want to eat or drink something. So they charge like a monopoly.

Well, it is better than spinning in your grave.

Weeknight games are a bargain compared to any other sport.

Dont worry, it will trickle down one day

Ugh… Is that how his uncle died in the first place?

So much for a ‘cost of living crisis’. People still have money to burn.

Once again, Stephen Pastis, you nailed it right on the head!! (2 exclamation points); and while you’re here, look above at the “Peanuts” re-run, it one of the great Snoopy/Woodstock strips!

Professional sports. It’s all about the money.

Then he went to Hell…

I guess they’re athletes, baseball players. They look bored, though, through most of the game. Going to the games is still fun. It’s about the crowd.. the other people who are there in the stadium along with the bored players. Most of those in the stands are by no means bored. They are by-and-large drunk. Yelling and fighting. A few even urinating on the floor in front of their seats. Puking up their fifty dollar meals and beer. It’s a scream. Gotta stay alert, though. You might miss one of the baseball players out there running for a few seconds, or swinging the bat, or yelling and frothing at an umpire.

How can you die more than once?

It’s a good thing Pig doesn’t drive or he’d have to add $50 for parking.

Many, many, many eons ago (about 40 years) I was given free tickets to a Montreal Expos game. I decided to take my daughter, who was 10 at the time. By the time we had dinner, paid for parking, bought a couple of souvenirs (one for her and one for my brother to keep my mother from pitching a fit), a beer for me, hot dogs and ice cream, the free evening cost me over $150.00. So, I can believe Pig’s story about the costs.

One could always go to a minor league game, before MLB gets rid of all the lower league teams…

That is why I now go to MiLB games. More Affordable

You’ve got to pay through the nose to watch baseball except for a very few regular season games and the world series. NFL games are free to watch on over the antenna television every weekend of the season.

Yeah, prices these days have gone up a tad bit.

Makes me wish I was able to see a game with my granddad… Watching Ozzie Smith do backflips must’ve been awesome.

Good thing he didn’t mention the egg salad.

I have to assume those prices are correct. The last time I attended a MLB game Nolan Ryan was pitching against the Detroit Tigers in Detroit.

I have not been to a baseball game for over 20 years. I stopped watching it on TV as well.

I’ve never been to any live sporting event, high school, college, or professional. But somehow I can believe those prices.

No but you didnt mention Uncle George was a very frugal pig, either!

Awwwwww

As long as they were all-beef hot dogs.

Stephan Pastis says something about inflation. Don’t think they sat in the nose bleed section.

I remember walking to Shea Stadium to watch the Mets lose again from the $1.05 seats. Or we could take the long subway ride to the south Bronx and watch the Yanks. IIRC, bleacher seats were thirty-five cents.

Uncle wasn’t dressed either, he forgot his halo, and no one can handle the self-fulfilling-prophecy of inflation and leaving work production for extra pay.

Must be a Blue Jay follower. Shapiro loves to talk all the time about the fan experience. Too bad the team sucks and the majority of the pitching staff should be collecting their pensions instead of still playing. :)

God I miss those weekend double headers with the Dodgers vs the Padres… Steve Garvey was my hero

A few years back I went to a game at Yankee Stadium. About the sixth inning I decided that I should be traditional and have a hot dog.

Some time later, after spending $17 for a hot dog and a Pepsi, I decided that next time I would be less traditional.

Used to do that with my nephews, but it was HOCKEY! Not only was it more fun, but parking was cheaper.

That reminds me of when my Aunt used to take me to WWWF wrestling. Our ringside seats cost $5, a soda was about a dollar, they had 8×10s of the wrestlers for fifty cents.

The local baseball stadium doesn’t accept cash inside. They will sell a debit/gift card to you at the entrance if you don’t have one. An industry insider I know says people on average spend > 40% more than with cash. Don’t realize how much you’re blowing, unlike when you run out of currency and the wallet echoes hollowly.

I am so glad I have no interest in ritual combat, much less enough to pay a significant portion of my income to watch it happening.

I remember going to a AA baseball game with my dad and he pointed out all the ads on the outfield wall, and told me that MLB “doesn’t need that kind of billboard money” because they were sponsored by major corporations.

Oh, how times have changed…. and not for the better….

We gave a minor league team in my city. I’ve never been, but the fireworks are annoying.

Part of why I’m not that interested in sportsball.

As long as people keep going and paying those prices they will never go down

In 1988, (senior year of high school), my friend and I would often drive from just north of NYC to Yankee Stadium to watch them play weekday afternoon games. We would get decent seats a little above the third base line. We were busboys in local restaurants and it didn’t “break the bank” to go watch the games. I should see if I have ticket stubs to look at the price.

Go to a minor league game or a spring training game. They’re a lot more reasonable.

I’d laugh if those stadium prices, though embellished here, weren’t so close to accurate.

Last time we went to a Tigers game (which I admit was a couple of years ago) they were still selling grounds tickets for $5. Now you’d think that even at this price, on a 1pm weekday game, the owners would still be the winners as they’d get the profit from any food bought. But the usher in charge of the expensive seats saw us, and given that the stadium was almost empty and there was light rain coming down called us over and said “under the circumstances I don’t think Mr Ilitch will mind if you take a seat” (he was talking about the father of the present owner). So we sat in the padded comfy armchairs and he served us a couple of beers and we caught a couple of innings of JV and the gang. It was awesome.

Wow! Pig must’ve gone on “Discount Day”! Nuff said.

This is an important comic. It signifies the day where things that would normally not happen will happen. Yes, the day pigs fly.

right?

Big money is ruining major-league baseball almost as badly as it’s ruining politics. The National Football League has the right idea, which is why it’s the most popular sport in America. There are upper and lower limits on what each team is allowed to spend on its players. Baseball is now just a spending derby, not an actual team sport.

Fortunately I find baseball b-o-r-i-n-g or else I’d be peeved at the expense.

PS: The cheap seats around here are FREE. Though there are a couple of negatives:

1: They’re not seats, they’re a high spot behind 3rd base

2: The players have to pay the city when they join a team, which pays for the rent on the ballpark (the ump gets in free, though)… and they make them have an injury waiver too (with proof of insurance). Oh, and they won’t let you play after you turn 75

How about the illegal alien who went to the baseball game and was given a seat at the top of the flag pole. He was very flattered before the game began and everyone was so concerned about his view they all sang “Jose, can you see?”

to be fair, the multimillionaire prima donnas gotta get paid somehow….

Sounds about right to me. Left out the parking fee, ticket service fee and tip for the usher to seat you.

And that’s why I haven’t been to a major league park in quite a few years. Minor league games for the win!