October 22, 1999
Web posted at: 5:02 p.m. EDT (2102 GMT)

In this story: A long wait and nothing to show for it RELATED STORIES, SITES

ATLANTA (CNN) -- They came for love -- of baseball or money. Baseball fans, ticket brokers and scalpers waited in line up to 24 hours. But, in an hour, Atlanta's last remaining World Series tickets were gone. And that left Leslie Willard, and others, out in the cold.

The National League champion Atlanta Braves put all the remaining available World Series tickets on sale at 9 a.m. Friday. By 10 a.m. all 22,000 of them -- about 5,000 for each Atlanta game -- were scooped up.

While some baseball fans did their buying over the Internet and telephone, others waited all night in the cold, standing in a long line outside Turner Field, where the first game of the series will be played on Saturday.

Sunday's second game will also be in Atlanta, as will games six and seven, if necessary, in the best-of-seven series against the New York Yankees.

This man, who waited in line in Atlanta for hours to buy World Series tickets, was concerned he would lose out to those buying tickets via the Internet and telephone ( 181 K/8 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

The woman who was first in line told CNN she got to the stadium about 9 a.m. on Thursday, a full day before the ticket window opened.

"The only way that people can get tickets, without paying huge prices, is to stand in line and get them right from Turner Field," she said.

Another early bird said he was confident there would still be tickets left when it was his turn. But he objected to letting other baseball fans skip the line and buy electronically. "What if only 15 of us (in line) get tickets? There is going to be a riot out here."

A long wait and nothing to show for it

That didn't happen, but Willard was disappointed nonetheless.

After joining the crowd at 2 o'clock in the morning, he was next in line to buy when the announcement came -- no more tickets left. "You could get angry, but it's not going to change anything," he told CNN.

This fan says he just wants to see the Braves play in the World Series

"Life's full of little disappointments. It's not the end of the world. I'll just do the (Tomahawk) Chop in the living room (watching the game on television)."

But if only the real thing will do, catching the game in person is a pricey experience.

Tickets cost anywhere from $25 for standing room only to $125 for a box seat. Reserved upper deck seats are $100.

But scalpers -- who paid people to buy tickets for them -- said they expect to find deep-pocket buyers just as willing to up the ante as they were unwilling to stand in line.

The presence of professional profiteers upset a true fan who told CNN: "Unlike half of the people here who are looking to make money, I want to go see the World Series. I love Atlanta. I love the Braves. I just want to go see it."

So do lots of people.

Sean Callebs contributed to this report, written by Jim Morris

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.