Presented is a very scarce, historic scorecard, fully scored, from the first regular season game in the history of the New York Mets. The game took place on Wednesday night, April 11, 1962, in St. Louis, Missouri, at Busch Stadium I. The Mets were an expansion team, and to attract fans, they had loaded their roster with big name players who were past their prime and thus available in the expansion draft or through trades. The Mets' first game was supposed to be a day game at St. Louis on the day before, but that game was rained out. The New York lineup included leadoff man Richie Ashburn, a center fielder and future hall of Famer, and four former Brooklyn Dodgers, Hall of Famer Gil Hodges, Charlie Neal, Don Zimmer, and starting pitcher Roger Craig. A fifth former Brooklyn Dodger, Clem Labine, pitched in this game in relief. The Cardinals defeated the Mets by 11-4, with Larry Jackson getting a complete game win, and Craig taking the loss. 

The scorecard measures 8x11", and it has four pages. The complete game is scored in blue ink. The Cardinals wasted no time, scoring the first run in history against the Mets on a 1st inning single by Hall of Famer Stan Musial. The Mets' first ever run was scored by Ashburn, on a single by Neal in the 4th inning. Gil Hodges hit the Mets' first-ever home run, a bases-empty shot in the 5th inning. The Mets would go on to finish in last place in the National League, with the team's maiden season finishing at 40-120. Even though the Mets lost their first game, for the most part their fervent fans were happy because, win or lose, National League baseball was back in New York City. 

The offered scorecard is made of thin card stock. The cover page reads, "ST. LOUIS CARDINALS/BUSCH STADIUM/SCORECARD 10 c[ents]." The scorecard has darkened, but not to excess, over the ensuing years. The cover page has staple holes and a few small stains. The inside pages show a few staple holes and a few stains, one obvious stain, but not in the scoring area. The back page is solely a beer advertisement - not surprisingly, for, (what else?) Busch Beer. This back page does have significant staining, most likely from glue remnants, and also some small spots of paper loss and staple holes, but no baseball related information is on this back cover. A hand-scored scorecard for the first game in history for any team is very rare, and this offering makes a great addition to the sports collection of any baseball aficionado.