Do you recall your first card you got in a pack?

[brian1961]

During the spring of 1961, after a hearty meal at Mary's Cupboard, a favorite restaurant of my family, located in Winnetka, Illinois, I got restless at the table and walked to the checkout counter to look at their candy. What a beautiful bleacher of taste bud delight. I noticed some wax packs of Topps baseball cards, too. The kids had been talking about them in school. At this time I was 6 1/2 years old.

I walked back to the table, and asked my Mom if I could have some of these baseball cards. She bought me three nickel packs.

The cards were all from the first series. I remember Jim Kaat, Lee Walls, the Tigers team card, the AL ERA leaders card, and this guy who played for the Cubs. He looked so young, not much older than my brother. There was this beautiful drawing of a trophy on the card. I especially liked this card---of Ron Santo!

Hence, the name of my Net54 moniker, "brian1961".

Great topic. ---Brian Powell

[7nohitter]

I remember taking up smoking at a young age, my father didn't know it but I would sneak some of his Polar Bear tobacco.

Well, I suppose he knew but he didn't care. One time I went to grab some tobacco and there was a little piece of cardboard with Walter Johnson's picture on it. Still have it, over 100 years later.

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by brian1961

During the spring of 1961, after a hearty meal at Mary's Cupboard, a favorite restaurant of my family, located in Winnetka, Illinois, I got restless at the table and walked to the checkout counter to look at their candy. What a beautiful bleacher of taste bud delight. I noticed some wax packs of Topps baseball cards, too. The kids had been talking about them in school. At this time I was 6 1/2 years old.

I walked back to the table, and asked my Mom if I could have some of these baseball cards. She bought me three nickel packs.

The cards were all from the first series. I remember Jim Kaat, Lee Walls, the Tigers team card, the AL ERA leaders card, and this guy who played for the Cubs. He looked so young, not much older than my brother. There was this beautiful drawing of a trophy on the card. I especially liked this card---of Ron Santo!

Hence, the name of my Net54 moniker, "brian1961".

Great topic. ---Brian Powell

great replies so far. I especially love these kind.
wish we could all be kids again and relive the fun times and be able to change our mistakes

[Northviewcats]

My first pack was in 1961. I was ten years old and I was immediately hooked. For the next few years I used all of my allowance and even searched the empty lots in the neighborhood for glass pop bottles to cash in to feed my baseball card addiction. I don't remember the players in the first pack, but I was a huge Mickey Mantle fan and I would trade ten cards to one to get a Mantle card. I had one box full of Yankee cards, most of them of Maris and Mantle.

Like most kids I didn't take good care of my cards. Scratched off team names and wrote the new team in pencil when a player was traded. Played games with them. Wrapped them with rubber bands. Stored them in a damp room in the basement. Eventually my Dad grew tired of the mess and threw them all away. He said he had to use a shovel to pitch them there were so many cards laying on the basement floor.

I didn't care back then because I discovered girls. What a mistake.

Oh well. If we would have kept and took care of our cards they wouldn't be so valuable today.

Best regards,

Joe

[smellthegum]

Originally Posted by Northviewcats

... and even searched the empty lots in the neighborhood for glass pop bottles to cash in to feed my baseball card addiction.

I remember doing this too. As I mentioned in a previous post my first card/pack was '71 1st series wax, but I didn't get fully into baseball until 1974. Before that I remember all the neighborhood kids -- there were 9 or 10 of us -- scrounging discarded Coke bottles and selling lemonade on the corner to fund bulk purchases of Wacky Packages during the summers of 1973 and 1974. The corner store couldn't restock them fast enough before we'd buy them out. That's what really got us all going and a few kids continued to collect cards for several years after that. I don't collect non-sports but couldn't resist buying a few early series unopened Wacky Packages just recently for the pure nostalgia.

[cardswin53]

The first card I remember getting out of a pack was Stan Musial in the 1961 Topps as a 8 year old living in St. Louis. Still one of my favorite cards. May not have been the very first but it is the one I remember, although I admit it may be a false memory.

[clydepepper]

I believe I have responded to a similar question before and I do not recall exactly what I said then...so I hope I don't contradict myself now:

Mom bought me a few packs of cards at the A&P in 1964.

I seem to recall or believe I remember Gary Kolb, Ron Santo, Bobby Richardson and Orlando Cepeda - but I'm not sure they all came in the first pack.

[JollyElm]

In the spring of 1972 my brothers towed me along with them on the long hike to the local stationery store. I was rewarded with my first pack of baseball cards and quickly learned how to dig through them to find any cards with red borders…because that meant they could be Mets!!!!!!!!!