ALL-STAR GAME: THE SCALPER MARKET : Tickets Fetch Hundreds More the 2nd, 3rd Time Around

Sales of tickets to Tuesday’s 60th All-Star baseball game at Anaheim Stadium continues to be brisk, with even greater demand expected as the first pitch nears, according to ticket brokers who have already received up to 10 times the value of the ducats.

The best seats are going for top dollar when they are available, brokers said Saturday. If there is a bargain to be had, it may be for the worst seats in the house, high in the center field stands. But expect to pay nearly twice face value even for those.

“I think you can watch the uphill climb of ticket prices in the next three days,” California Angels spokesman Tim Meade said. “I don’t think anybody likes the resale of tickets. We would frown upon anyone within the Angel family doing it.”

But Meade said it is naive to assume that tickets will not be resold for profit.

The colorful, oversized tickets were sold by the Angels and other major-league franchises for their $40 and $50 face values. But choice field-level box seats have resold for $500 and more.

Not everyone has been able to cash in on the bonanza, however.

Melvin Davis, a purchasing department coordinator in Irvine, originally asked $125 each for two center field seats he bought for $40 apiece. So far, the word-of-mouth sales pitch he relied upon has stirred no interest.

Davis was offering the tickets for $75 each on Friday afternoon.

His tickets were among 15,000 sold by lottery to fans who mailed in postcards for the privilege of buying up to four tickets. Davis wound up with four tickets--two that he sold at cost to a brother-in-law and two that he hopes to peddle at a profit.

The profit will cover what Davis considers his “administrative costs, my time.”

Not for Nothing

“I know it sounds like bull, but why should I go through all that for nothing?” asked Davis, who plans to work rather than attend Tuesday’s game.

Terri Arbaugh of Santa Ana ran newspaper advertisements to unload her excess All-Star tickets, the fruits of her 50-postcard blitz in the lottery.

Arbaugh has only two left to sell, however. Four she sold to friends at face value. Two she and her 3-year-old son, Toby, plan to use. Two more--the seats right next to hers and Toby’s--she sold to her ex-boyfriend, Toby’s father.

The couple split up on Christmas Eve, she said, but she knew that he would want to go to the game, which happens to fall on his 31st birthday. She charged her “ex” $200 for the two seats. She expects him to bring his new girlfriend.

Season-ticket holders, such as Liz Perlich of Fullerton, were allowed to buy one extra ticket for each season ticket they held. Perlich and her husband personally will use the extra tickets for seats in center field.

She first tried to sell her season ticket seats in the club terrace level between home plate and third base for $500 each.

Weren’t Really Serious

“We just thought, ‘What the heck, we’ll see if we can get some money for them,’ ” Perlich said. “We found out that people would call but they weren’t really serious.”

Perlich ended up selling the season ticket seats for $200 to a commercial broker, Murray’s Tickets.

“Murray’s gave us $200 each, but their prices are going way down,” she said. “I guess we’re fortunate we did it when we did. The first time we called (Murray’s) they said $250, and the next time we called they said $200.”

A spokesman at the ticket agency said that as the game nears, the broker will pay less for tickets, in part because there is less time left to resell them and because the ticket holder is willing to take less rather than be stuck with excess tickets.

“We’ve already handled 2,100 (resales), and our biggest days are coming,” said David Adelman, co-owner of Murray’s Tickets, which has bought and sold tickets to sporting and other events for 37 years.

The resale business is doing well, Adelman said, particularly out of state, where All-Star tickets make a nice supplement to a California summer vacation. Demand establishes prices, said Adelman, whose agency has sold All-Star seats for up to $450.

“There’s probably a lot more inexpensive tickets out now, and there’s not too much demand for them,” he said. “The lower prices have dropped a little. We started at $125, and we’re down to $69 now.”

However, at the Ticket Outlet, another resale broker, center field top deck seats are going for $110.

Heating Up a Little

“It’s starting to heat up a little bit,” said Ticket Outlet manager John Bober. “Originally, all the corporate orders started. Those are the ones who want to take care of all their clients. Now it’s getting real crazy. We are getting a lot from out of state now.”

David Bort, who operates the Tyson Tickets brokerage, where field-level seats have been sold out for a week, said he is “almost completely out of seats.”

“When those are gone, if somebody calls, I’ll see if I can buy some,” Bort said, explaining that “there’s a lot more demand for a lower-priced ticket. We had seats for $75, and those sold out quickest. Now our lowest are $97.50 and $110. Those would be outfield seats, view and terrace” levels.

There are still those who hope to hit it big by selling great seats.

Season ticket holders James Shoup and C.L. Jarusak are asking $750 each for their two regular seats, six rows behind the first-base dugout.

“We’re going to use the ones in the outfield,” Shoup said. “Those cost $50.”

Of course, Shoup said, if he is unable to sell the better seats behind the dugout, he and his friend will use them.

“I’ll enjoy (the game) one way or the other, either the good seats or the bad ones.”