Not the oldest packed I've opened, but it had the best hit: I bought some '75 mini packs to have graded a year or so ago. My sister was over at my house with her kids and I walked into my office to find my 2-year-old nephew messing with one of the packs. He'd already peeled the back of the pack open, so I figured I might as well go ahead and open it, since there wasn't any use getting it graded. I'd bought 5 packs...the one he forced me to open had a nice Brett RC.

Bought off ebay and opened 16 packs of '78-79 Topps basketball. Cards were NM to mint except for the card next to the gum. Almost put together one complete set.

And as others have already said don't try the gum.

About 8 years ago I was going thru some packs I'd bought at the National to send off for grading.
As I grabbed the '62 pack it slipped out of my hands, and in making a quick grab I ripped the back flap.
Figuring it was toast, I went ahead and opened the pack (bunch of commons, not great centering). Curiosity got the best of me and I popped the gum in my mouth.
It disintegrated instantly, and left the 2nd worst taste I've ever had in my mouth (you don't want to try homemade millet beer in West Africa either, trust me).
I brushed my teeth, gargled, and then started drinking single malt to kill the gum taste. No avail. More single malt, and then some more. At this point I didn't care about the foul taste that much, and the '63 Fleer pack started looking like it needed to be opened as well.
I hesitated for a moment, looked at the pack, the now half full bottle of Macallan, and decided to head to bed.
Gum taste stayed with me for 2 days.

Steve is a great guy with an incredible inventory of graded and ungraded packs but isn't he the guy who grades packs for PSA?

Greg, from what I've been told, he doesn't grade them, he authenticates them & the graders assign the numerical grade.

Good laugh.........
 

Thanks for the good laugh Anthony.........very funny.

Unopened can
 

I don't know if it counts, I have an unopened can of hockey cards with Gretzky on the outside of the can :D 1997-1998 Pinnacle.... I often wonder what's on the inside. I bought it because at the time, I hadn't seen "cards in a can" before. Did they do this with baseball cards as well?

Sincerely, Clayton

Here is the continuation:
At the end of July on my 50th birthday, I did open the 50 year old 1962 Topps pack. A little dissapointing as I got no Hall of Famers or star cards. I did get a Santo sticker but as you can see, the gum got to it first.

how was the gum?

1951 Topps Red Pack..... I think two commons were in it.

I also opened a pack of Polar Bear tobacco thinking I would find a T206 in it. Nothing but loose tobacco. Later I found out (here I believe) that the pack was most likely from around 1920.

I opened a 1951 red back pack once. It had a nice Hodges and a Zernial. I owned a 1959 unopened 1 cent pack for a while. I sold it once I figured out Ray Narleski was the card inside after shining the brightest light I could find on it. Glad I didn't open that one.

Yes. Baseball did the Pinnacle Inside (cards in a can) as well in 97 and 98.

Thanks Andy :)

I'll probably never open this can. It keeps me wondering :D

Sincerely, Clayton

My grandfather grew up in the depression and always kept a tight handle on finances. He was also a man of strong ethics.
At about age 10, in the late 80s, he took me to a card shop out in the country.
He said I could buy any pack I wanted.
Well my grandfather didn't see the old 1980 Topps packs behind the counter which contained the then-ultra-in-demand Rickey Henderson rookie.
Not being shy I said "I'll take one of those please" I'm cracking up just thinking about it.
The owner said, "that'll be $8".
A range of confusion, anger, and a desire to mask both, filled my grandfather's face. He inquired why the pack was so much.
"Aren't packs 25 cents?"
After the owner explained about the Rickey Henderson, my grandfather understood quickly, I was using his money to gamble!
Despite this expenditure conflicting with everything he believed in, he had already promised his grandson any pack he wanted. He bought me the pack.
I got the Henderson.
I still have it.

Peter, thx for showing your 62T pack.

BTW, how come that checklist has a cease?

Deleted
 

Deleted

That's outstanding. I wonder if Topps has any more of those redemption pennants in their vault? :)

This is a great thread, btw. I remember buying some unopened 78 cello packs in the mid-80s at a LCS when I was trying to complete my first set. Recently, I unearthed some 90 Upper Deck "Find the Reggie" boxes from my closet and busted them open. Did not find the Reggie, sadly.

wowsers.. awesome.

Wow that's awesome, good thing you kept them.

The best pack open in history:

http://www.bmwcards.com/SGCcardslarge/1887alcott.jpg

Did you open the pack? Still an amazing card.

I wish! It's #27 on this list: http://www.bmwcards.com/top30.htm

I opened three packs of 1955 Bowman about 20 years ago. I got this:

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/Novocent/55Gum.jpg

-Al

You know...I think there's a small gum stain on the front.:p

Great corners, though. Pack fresh. :)

-Al

Al - thats a great 55 Bowman Mickey Mantle.

might as well be, no? or any other card you might like in the set.

I'm thinking it's an umpire Joe.
BTW, nice article of yours on the MLB Blog today.

I think the back gives away what card it is... unless you want to say it is a wrong back error card :D

Awesome Ted!!!

Ted,

Thx for sharing. This is the first time I heard someone pulled a Mantle from a 52T pack. I believe those cards had better corners before right? Or they had corner wear even "pack fresh"?

Nice Ted, my fathers 52T Mantle was picked by him from a pack in 53', he was 9 or 10, small town Listowel Ontario. Great stories everyone.

Thanks guys........
 

Jim Ross

Fresh out of the 5-cent waxpack, these 5 cards were MINT. The Hal Jeffcoat & Billy Herman cards were hardly touched ; and therefore, still pretty sharp looking.
The Ben Chapman (actually the picture is that of Sam Chapman) card was handled often. I traded the George Spencer card to my NY Giants buddy; and, later, I
recovered it from him.

And, the Mantle card was "loved", therefore quite worn. The diagonal line down from his left ear is a surface scratch (not a crease). I have a TRIVIA ? regarding
this card's number "311"....what is the significance of this number ?

I recovered all the sports and non-sports cards from my youthful collection (1947 - 1952) in 1977.


TED Z

1951 Topps Red Back pack. Although I've never opened it I've thought about it many times. It's the only unopened pack I've got and I think it's pretty neat. Relatively inexpensive too.

Haha...well this thread just cost me about 15 bucks. I collected cards alot as a kid but havent messed with them much since late 90s. I just bought 3 packs of 1982 topps off ebay on an impulse. I just saw them and knew the Ripken RC is in the set. Anyone tell me if 15 bucks shipped is a bad deal for these (assuming they are authentic)?

1983 Topps Wax Box
 

Last night I opened a wax box of 1983 Topps. I was hoping for the Gwynn, Boggs and Sandberg RCs.

About halfway through, I opened a pack and the Sandberg was the card facing the wax - and contained wax residue. Then I flipped the cards over and the Gwynn was on the other side - with a stick of gum firmly stuck to the back. Damnit.

I did get a Boggs - very OC unfortunately - and another Gwynn - OC as well. Didn't get another Sandberg, but plenty of other HOFs.

Fun stuff opening old wax. Last week I opened a box of 89 Topps and 12 packs of 90 Donruss. Even though these cards aren't 'worth' anything, they were the ones I collected as a kid. So the nostalgia was worth it.

Have a box of 1984 Topps wax and a 1982 Topps cello box sitting on my table calling my name...

Great Thread
 

What a great read this was!

1975 Topps regular mini's are about as far back as I can go. I have pulled anything all that out of the ordinary, but enjoy busting the 80's wax to this day.

nice! I love it.

It is a Mantle with a rare wrong back error.

The card just got better!

I bought a 70 Topps pack a few years back. Complete junk, possibly had been tampered with. At the same time I bought a 75 Topps mini pack and got a way off center Winfield.

1983 Topps
 

Jason:

Your story brought back memories.

My son was born in 1983 and we did a baseball card birth announcement. I bought boxes of 1983 Topps wax packs, opened them, and stuck in our son's card and resealed them to give out. I got multiples of Gwynn, Boggs and Sandberg, but didn't keep any of them. The fun was giving the packs to people (gum included) and watching them open them because they had no idea our son's card was inside!

Kevin

Kevin - Great story!

Jason

When I was really into sending cards to PSA around 2000-02 I ripped a few dozen old packs over that two year span including 1961 Fleer FB, 1962 Topps FB, 1968 Topps FB, 1971 and 1972 Topps HKY and 1972/73/74/75 BKB packs. I now kick myself in the a$$ every time I think about doing that!

The oldest (legit) packs I've opened were '75 Topps and I've opened quite a few of them. I opened a rack pack last year (from BBC) and in just one sleeve, got Aaron, Blyleven, Gibson, and the Yount RC. Sent the Yount to PSA and got a 9.

Opened some '81 football recently and got a Montana RC in the first pack. I've gotten two Ozzie RCs in '79 Topps. I have a pack of '73 Topps but it's staying sealed because it has Killebrew on the back. Gotten lots of Ripkens in '82 Topps (one got a 9) and the trifecta in '83 Topps.

Is it just me or should Jarrod be the designated pack opener for the board? NIce scores!

1970 Toopps Packs

this year, i bought a 1953 Xmas rack pack.
But i remeber i opened one of those 5 cent packs, having 1 card, forgot the year.

about 6-8 months ago i was at a local card shop and he had a box of 1979 o-pee-chee for around $5-$6 a pack and said what the heck and bought a couple hopeing to pull one of my childhood favorites the wizard ozzie smith and by a stroke of luck i pulled a ozzie smith rc in his padre uniform and its not worth much but man was i happy and walked out with a smile.

Ted, what is the significance of the 311?

Thanks,

Jonathan

start of high series?

Area code for the town in Mexico where Mickey got "the clap"?

Just spitballin here.

In 1984 I made a 1951 Topps Red Back set out of packs. There was a find and they were pretty cheap. I also opened 1954 and 1955 Bowman and 1955 Topps packs out of the Paris, TN find and 1961 Fleer basketball which were plentiful in the late 80s.