As she sat in the upper deck Tuesday night, Sue Schwerin kept her most prized possession protected in a plastic sheet dangling from a string around her neck--one thin ticket stub, or as she liked to view it, proof.

"Everybody always claims, `I was there, I was there,'" Schwerin, 46, of Naperville said. "Anybody can buy a T-shirt, but you can only have a ticket if you were here."

In a world of $150 replica jerseys, $10 programs and overpriced sodas in novelty cups, for many fans the only memento that really matters is the humble ticket stub.

And for many at Wrigley Field Tuesday night, none was bigger than the stub returned at the turnstile as they entered for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

"This is just super, super special," said Kevin Mimms, 46, of Chicago, as he clutched his tickets outside the stadium. "We're going to seal them and keep them in plastic for a long time."

Some will keep them in their wallets, folded in half and stowed away, just in case someone challenges them when they say they were at the game. Others will stash them in a box or their dresser drawer, bringing them out only on occasion, to help them remember.

Barbara Demma, 59, of Orland Park will put hers on her coffee table for all to see.

Lisle resident Kurt Harz, 50, will place his in a box with hundreds of others he has saved as a season-ticket holder since 1984.

And Tony Militello, 20, will put his on the bedroom door of his Nashville apartment.

Everyone, it seems, has a special place carved out for the red, white and blue ticket bearing a Cubs symbol on the left, the drawing of a pitcher rearing back to throw in the middle and the words "National League Championship Series" across the top.

Julie Lyons, 33, went to the game with friends--leaving her Cubs-fan husband at home in Downers Grove. Her stub would become a present, she said.

"My husband told me to get a program and save the ticket and he'll put them in a frame," Lyons said. "I got him a T-shirt, too, because I'm a good wife."

Some fans have been in this position before and have the stubs to prove it.

John Stachnik, 53, of Palos Hills still has his tickets from Cubs trips to the playoffs in 1984 and 1989. But those, he said, were losing series.

His wife, Mary, has higher hopes for this year's stubs.

"If they get to the [World] Series, they'll be scanned and blown up, poster-size," she said. "It'll be wallpaper in my kitchen."

There were other ways to commemorate the game. Outside the ballpark, hawkers sold blue-and-red baseball-bead necklaces, bumper stickers, pennants, mini-bats and DVDs of Sunday's Division Series win.

One man sold T-shirts depicting a bear cub with a bat in one hand and a bloody marlin in the other and the words "Fillet the Fish!"

Ben Kirshenbaum, 58, of St. Joseph, Mich., bought $125 worth of memorabilia at a souvenir stand near Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue.

He purchased a $5 pennant for himself and $120 worth of hats and shirts for employees at his box company.

But by far the most cherished keepsake was perhaps the simplest. For those lucky enough to pay face value for their tickets, the stub came free with their $35 to $80 cost of admission.

Others paid up to $1,000 through ticket brokers.

Lynn Morgan got her ticket online when they went on sale and was trying to keep the cost of her playoff experience down. Morgan, 52, of Des Plaines, was collecting free National League Central Division Champion placards that she planned to frame with her ticket.

"These will go in my bedroom," she said.

Others will display them more prominently.

"There's going to be 40,000 people in here tonight, and tomorrow there will be 150,000 who'll say they were there," said Randy Granath, 56, of Prospect Heights. "I'll save my stub and challenge anybody."

Some are holding out for even bigger ticket stubs. As he waited outside the ballpark, Mark Sonka, 33, of Lexington, Ky., said he planned to laminate his ticket as soon as he got home.

"It's the most important ticket I've ever bought in my life," he said. "But it's not as important as a World Series ticket."