A few columns ago I wrote about being present at Yankee Stadium the day Derek Jeter got his 3000th hit. That historic blast was a moment in time that I will never forget. 

My paper ticket that was scanned allowing me to enter that sunny afternoon was a treasured keepsake. A few days later I went online and bought a framed replica of the front page of the NY Post with the headline, “Jeter Makes Hitstory With Home Run.”  I slipped my ticket from that game in an envelope and carefully affixed it to the back of the frame. I was happy it was secured and planned to bequeath it to someone in my will.

But as you might recall from that column, the ticket and its protective envelope disappeared when I checked for it a month later. I was devastated. Since the only person who had been in my room was the housekeeper, she was a suspect. 

For the next week, I looked in every cranny and nook of my apartment. Eventually I accepted the fact that the ticket was gone. Now I am not an etymologist but those who have heard the phrase “nook and cranny” might have noticed that I flipped it two sentences ago. The reality is that both words describe a crevice or corner. However, for many of us, hearing “nook and cranny” makes us think about Thomas’ English Muffins.

Sadly, the days of keeping your ticket as a souvenir have slowly been eradicated by technology. In most cases today when you purchase a ticket to concerts, sporting events or even museums you gain entry by having the venue send you a QR code for your cell phone. 

The use of a QR or bar code is the result of the internet and cell phones. The shift to using images to identify items began in 1974 when the Universal Product Code or UPC was first used in a supermarket in Ohio. Its inventor, Joe Woodland, first drew his idea of a bar code in the sand of Miami Beach. Its design of parallel lines of varied thickness and length appears on almost everything we purchase.

The Quick-response code or QR is a two-dimensional matrix barcode. Invented in 1994 by a Japanese company it was first used for identifying automobile parts. The square two-dimensional image contains information that can only be seen when scanned. The easiest way to scan is to hold the camera of your cell phone on the image. No need to take a picture. Instead, a small window will open revealing the company or product in question.

Invented in Japan the design in the black and white square was modeled after the black and white pieces of the Asian game called GO. It can contain many usages at once eliminating the use of several bar codes.

Unfortunately for me, the QR code also eliminated the use of printed tickets that I liked to collect. In my desk drawer, I still keep some fond memories on actual tickets. I have a ticket that allowed me to see my first Billy Joel concert at a New Year’s Eve concert at Madison Square Garden. Another keepsake is my ticket from a lecture given at NYU by one of my favorite authors, Hunter Thompson.

It is difficult to reminisce when all you have to keep is a QR code. So here is my suggestion of how to keep memories alive. A company should design and sell commemorative paper tickets for concerts, sporting events and other special places we would like to remember. 

You would simply send them a copy of your QR code showing you paid for a ticket. They would convert that into a ticket detailing the event including the date and your seat number. Of course, it would only be available after the event to prevent fraud. 

So, if anyone likes my idea, feel free to develop it. All I ask is to have free use of the service and a small percentage of the profits. 

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.