1970 Topps baseball. I bought the pack on a Friday night at an ice cream store in the mall in Mahopac NY. I don't remember who was in it and don't have the cards now, but that was definitely the first. By 1971 I was buying packs with every dime I had. Total addict. My birthday present in 1975 was two full boxes of Topps baseball wax packs. My avatar is me sorting 1975 Topps hockey on the floor of our house in Mahopac. I was ten. Awful/wonderful thing is that when I found the photo in our family albums 45 years later I could still name every card I could see.

It was 1969 Topps at Stella's Delicatessen on my 2nd Grade Lunch Break from Catholic School. My older brother introduced me to buying packs.

He was PISSED when I got Curt Flood and I was absolutely STOKED! Sister Viola confiscated my cards as soon as I returned to class. I tried not to sob the rest of the afternoon...

She returned them to me at the end of the day and told me "Never Again in my classroom!"

I can remember EVERY DETAIL of the event....

For me it was 1988. I was seven years old and my mother had just signed me up for my first season of parks & rec little league. For my birthday she got me a Dave Righetti glove and a pack of 1988 Donruss from the corner Exxon station near our house. I pulled a Mattingly card, can't remember which one, but I think it was the all star card. We lived two states away from the closest MLB team and I didn't know anything about anything, but my grandmother told me that he was the best player on the Yankees. So of course I started collecting him and he became my favorite player. I bought a lot of $0.35 packs from that Exxon over the next couple years. I just got rid of my entire childhood collection earlier this year, except for the 100 or so Mattingly cards, still in the same little box that I always kept them in.

first packs
 

76 baseball and basketball tall boys...

First pack was 1968 Topps from a GEM department store in St. Louis. I was immediately hooked. I couldn't wait for them to arrive each year. I remember reading the classified ads in the back of The Sporting News for the 2 or 3 baseball card dealers that were active back then. Boys Life also had baseball card ads. I was calling the local 7-11 in late March in the early 1970s asking if the new cards had arrived yet, I know I drove them crazy. I think it was 1973 when I actually called Topps to see when they would show up in Wichita, KS, where I was then living. I remember my Dad yelling "who made a long distance call to Brooklyn?" I have collected every year since 1968 without any gaps. Baseball cards have always been part of my life.

First pack was 1955 Topps, most likely from the local 7-11. Can't remember what cards were in the pack. I collected Topps cards through 1960. Sometime in the early-to-mid 1970's, Mom called on day out of the blue to ask if I wanted my cards that she had just come across while cleaning out a storage area, before she tossed them. I retrieved them, thinking that one or more of my rug rats might get interested in collecting cards when they got older, but they never did. I resurrected the collection and began collecting again in the mid-to-late 1980's, and I have thoroughly enjoyed collecting ever since.

Gosh, I think we're in the top 3 youngest in this thread. My first pack was 1991 Topps, I was 5. No clue what cards I got. But I remember enjoying the AS cards in that set. And the Wade Boggs photo is pretty decent.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

First Pack
 

1962 Topps: John DeMerit, Ray Washburn, Don Schwall, Al Schroll and the only man to pinch hit for Ted Williams: Carroll Hardy.

Still have the cards. My dad and I walked one block to the Universal Drugstore.

This forum probably isn't the youngest by age...:cool:
Now, get off of my grass!!
.

No...not at all.....I was excited that I only had 3 more years to go for IHOP to declare me a senior citizen!

The first packs I actually remember opening were 1986 Topps and was always happy to pull a Red Sox player, particularly Clemens or Boggs.

I also had a small grouping of '84 and '85 Topps at the time but I don't recall ever opening packs of those so not sure where they came from unless my father bought them for me.

Same for me. Bought 2 boxes a few years ago and opened them while sitting on the floor watching a baseball game just like my brother and I did back in 1988. Just made a lot more noise getting off of the floor compared to when I was 10 years old is all.

For my 6th birthday, my grandma gave me a 2012 Topps Yankees team set. I dabbled for a few years, and become obsessed after getting a couple thousand cards of various sports from some friends who moved into a house and found them.

I think I'm the youngest on Net54.

The first packs that I consistently purchased were 1985 Topps (age 11). I remember getting out of school and racing on my bike to the local convenience store hoping ... praying, that they still had packs left. When I was a big spender, I'd splurge on the 59 cents Cello pack. At the time we didn't want the Mark McGwire Olympic rookie, we hoped and dreamed for a Dwight Gooden card.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/NZwAA...wIy/s-l400.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/tx0AA...lw/s-l1600.jpg

1961. i was nine living in El Centro
 

I remember seeing a Dentist who was carving the remnant of a tooth to make way for the next generation. Usually at the end of a visit the dentist would offer a sucker but this trip he had a pack of baseball cards in his candy drawer and he said I could have them. I remember the pack was wrapped in clear cello and the top card was a Billy Williams Topps Rookie All Star card. I thought that was cool as hell and did not know who Billy was but he had to be good if Topps said so! Lol!

So it was on. The closest store was the once upon a time New Star market about a mile away up the highway. And I picked up a few ‘ 61 packs before the 1962 rack packs showed. They were a lot of money for a kid with no allowance and lawns to mow were few and far between- it was too hot and the soil was just terrible. So, whenever I got my hands on 29 cents it was a trip to the market in the morning- it would get around 117 in the afternoon, a death walk we would say- and scrounge through the packs to grab one with a Mantle The Switch Hitter Connects...to this day I love the In Action and Leader cards. I think I had 14 Mantle Connect cards at one time.

One of the first things I did when we moved to the garden city of San Bernardino (I prefer El Centro) in 1963 was scope out the local stores, the closest was R &S Liquor on Del Rosa Blvd. the Safeway down on the corner never carried cards that I could find. Seemed to remember the 1963 rack packs went up in price to 39 cents and I thought that was just too much! Did not like the looks of the ‘64 set but later bought as many 1965’s as I could get.

I was the kid who would not flip cards but would trade marbles for cards. Who needed marbles at eleven? A neighbor across the street would take an erasor to his duplicates and draw in phony eyes, noses with boogers and Frankenstein stitches onto faces. I still have one of his cards. Terry Bain was a 20th round pick , I think by Kansas City, in 1972 or 1973, and passed a few years back. I remember his giggle whenever he saw one of these cards.

The things you remember...

1969 Topps
 

First pack was from the complete 1969 Topps box that I purchased for $1.20 with gift money in 1969. I still have the marked checklists from that box.

In 1975, bought and traded thousands of 1975 Topps minis growing up in Warren, Michigan. I was 11 years old and I had no idea that they were small for 1975. My friend’s older brother had 1968 and 1969s in a box. He would yell at us if we got near them. I had something like 10-12 “doubles” of each player except I only had one Lerrin Lagrow. It took me all summer to finally finish the set. I needed Jim Dwyer (Cardinals) and I never found it in a pack. I had to trade for it. I do remember 1974 Topps cards in wax packs (grouped in 3 packs) to a rack pack-like sack being sold at Kmart in the summer of 1975. I bought one pack and was disappointed that they weren’t like the 1975 minis I was collecting so I stopped buying them! LOL

My first pack of cards was 1981 Fleer. I was at a friend's birthday party and he had a pinata. As it busted open, out fell a bunch of candy and 36 packs of Fleer baseball packs. I can't say for sure, but I am pretty sure there was a Fernando Valenzuela rookie in the pack, as the picture of that card is burned into my memory (he was the hottest thing in Southern California at the time). From that point on, I was hooked. Before that, my earliest memory of cards was on the bottom of Hostess boxes in the late 70s, but I never thought to cut them out and save them.

54 Bowman
 

My father had a pharmacy in upstate NY. I would take an entire box to the basement and open packs. 1955 Bowman was first year. I distinctly remember Mantle. Of course they were all lost at some point

1987 Topps. No idea what cards I got.

Chad

1977. dad bought them for me when I was 3. I don’t remember any tbh hi g about it. But found a small stack of them complete with 3-year old scribbles on the front and back of nearly every card.

Packs
 

I opened a ton of them in 1960 at the Sun Drugs in Sharon, PA, but don’t remember any specific cards. I do specifically remember not getting any Roberto Clementes or Mickey Mantles.

1953 Topps. Can't remember the player. I do remember, when my parents took me to Woolworths to get some more cards, seeing 1951 Berk Ross cards still for sale.
Of course I didn't know they were Berk Ross or 1951, but I clearly remember the little windows on the packaging.

1971 Topps Super Baseball. I was 4 years old. Three big, colorful, thick cards (perfect for grubby little hands) and gum for a dime. I put together 62 of the 63 cards back then - never got the damn Nate Colbert until one of my first card shows in college. Think I paid a buck for it. [emoji846]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My first cards were 1977 Topps Star Wars wax packs purchased from Woolco and Kmart. My first sports cards were 1979 Topps football wax packs my dad bought me from the local hardware store.

Same
 

Like many others, first pack was from 7-11, 1969. I was 6, it was after baseball practice. I seem to recall Harmon Killebrew, and definitely had a Reggie at some point.

Was actually more into the Slurpee cups back then - ultimately traded the cards away for the cups I needed to get a complete run of either '71 or '72, can't recall, but they have survived several moves more or less intact.

--
Mike

1979 Topps pack from the local drug store near my childhood home in Connecticut. Ozzie Smith RC… which sparked my first PC. Nothing wrong with starting with The Wizard!!!

1965 Topps. I don't remember who I got, but I do remember having a t-shirt covered with the iron ons. Like several others, I got a lot of my cards from 7-11 and also Stop N Go. I have a complete set of slurpee cups obtained by drinking a lot slurpees.

1986 Donruss. No stars, but I remember Johnny Ray had the highest batting average in the pack.

Not a first pack of cards, but this what got me started into collecting cards. 1970's Nabisco Sugar Daddy

1978 Topps cello pack with Woodie Fryman at the top. He was a Cub and growing up in the Chicago area I thought why not. I was 8 years old and didn't know too much about Major League baseball. I was too busy playing ball with friends. There were also Tom Seaver and Pete Rose cards in that pack. Not a bad pack.

My Dad started me at 4 and got me a 1988 Fleer partial set for Christmas 1989. The stars were removed so he got it dirt cheap and I didn't really care one way or another

These are the actual cards.
My Dad would pick me up from the "babysitter's house" after his work; she was a friend of the family; I walked to her house after school each day; in case some may worry about me needing a babysitter, lol.
My Dad would always pick up the late edition newspaper, before going home. I would get lucky sometimes; asking Dad if I could get a pack of baseball cards; when he responded, "Sure".
I pulled Mick from the first pack; sure, he's MC/OC but he was and still is, mine.
(Love my Mom. She kept the shoeboxes)

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=34969

Ben

"I love baseball history backstory; especially when it involves cards."

1957 I was eleven years old. My Mom and my pal Marty’s Mom had taken us to the city to visit our orthodontist. While they shopped we were given a couple of dollars and went to the Morgan and Lindsey store. First time we had seen baseball cards. Love at first sight.

1976 Topps from Toyorama, John Henry's and most super markets.

For the Gen-xer’s who remember those awesome rainbow colored Topps Fun Packs at Halloween, mine were 1978 Close Encounters of the Third Kind in my trick or treat bag.

Started a many, many years long hobby…good job Topps.

In that same vein, I found Pokémon Halloween fun packs this year. I handed them out with the candy and couldn’t believe the kids excitement. I hope it grows for a few of them like it did for me. ;)

I think someone bought me a pack of 1971 Super Baseball at our local candy store in NY, but it wasn't until 1972 that I got a cello pack at the Walgreens after we moved to FL. Since I'd actually started collecting cards in 1970 though, about 15 years ago I treated myself to an opened 1970 wax pack. Spent about $50 on that pack, and when I opened it, I was astonished to find a mint Mays and Rose in that pack!

First baseball pack was '77 topps cello from a gas station outside of Hershey, PA. I remember there was a Larry Bowa card and I thought he was one of the coolest because in school our teacher used him as an example in an inspirational talk. Something along the lines of chase down your dreams kind of thing because Bowa had been cut from his high school team multiple times yet persevered and was a star player for the Phillies. I don't remember the Phillies being all that good at the time but it was great doing the bus trips from the sticks where i lived to Vets Stadium to see them play.
Had to stretch the quarter allowance back then to pick up those cool blue border Star Wars cards too. Man, they were cool. I sold most of my childhood cards when I was at college so I had $ to wine n dine my lady friends. Was able to re-acquired those SW cards in really nice condition recently. Kinda funny to be chasing the same cards at 55 that we were trading as 5-year old kids. Ha :)

I have no idea of the first pack I opened as I had a lot of late 1960's cards and a few from 1970 in my prime of collecting. Then the cards magically disappeared......thanks mom. When I was about 14 or 15, I bought a pack of 1975 mini's and pulled a Yaz. I still have those cards from that pack.
Bob

1966 Mankato MN, Ben Franklin store at the Tempo shopping center. Rode my bike the 2 1/2 blocks, pulled a Sandy Valdespino in the first pack, although it may not have been the first card.

Also would have bought '66 Philly gum and Topps football later that year at the same place, but don't remember the players in the first pack. Do remember Jerry Sturm's card though-- look at it sometime and tell me as a 7 year-old kid that the card would not make an impression (you decide the impression). Seemed like he was trying to fly through the clouds-- I still chuckle when I see it.

My brother started around 1964, he's 7 years older than me and I think I my first pack was around 1971 or 1972. You'd think that if it was 1971 I'd remember because of the black fronts on the cards.

My brother kicked the habit pretty young when he figured out girls were more fun to play with than cards.

I no longer buy packs (ok, rarely) so my knowledge of all these shiny, limited, 1/1 and other crud is foreign to me. Perhaps that's a good thing because I'd rather chase the old stuff than have a 1/1 shiny card of the flavor of the month that resides in a TPG holder with a 10 on the label. I still have a hard time understanding that obsession.

What happens if you pay $100K for flavor of the month and the player gets popped for PEDs and no longer produces at an incredible rate that gave them flavor of the month status? Holy crap, when I think about people paying out that kind of money for shiny and new I think about all the vintage I could buy with that money. I digress...

1990 Topps was my first pack and still one of my favorite designs.

1963 Fleer - it was cheaper than Topps at Taylor's grocery store.

That was opening a pack, but I cut cards off the back of cereal boxes before that. The attached picture is one of them I've had all these years.

I first started collecting cards in 1975 when I was 7 so that would have been the first pack I got. I don't remember anything about it, but I still have the 1975 set I put together.

1968 topps....Dad gave me quarter for "allowance" and I'd run down to the corner store and buy 5 packs ( 5 cents) and I can recall walking back home opening the packs and reading the players names and facts on back of the card. GREAT memories .......so grateful for my family and the hard work, hoping to past that along to MY family ......Amen

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays to one and all

73
 

My Dad started bringing me packs of cards in 1973. We collected a couple hundred baseball cards. By football season I was hooked and we put together the entire set. Still have them all.

1984 Topps purchased at a convenience store at 55 St Johns Ave, Highland Park, IL, one block from my elementary school. No idea who I pulled from the pack. Within 2 years I had a subscription to Sports Collectors Digest.

1954 Scoops cards.

It was '66 or '67 Topps.....don't remember the specifics other than...

it probably would have been at a concession stand at a little league ballpark, in SW Houston.

.

How in the world do people remember who they pulled from a pack of cards on some random day 50 years ago. With all due respect. . . . I ain't buying it . . . . .

61 Topps, do not remember the initial pulls, but must have bought some high number packs because I had some of those slippery rascals. We picked up pop bottles for 1 cent each and the packs cost 5 cents. The next year 62's came out, I bought a couple packs and hated them and the fact they went up to 10 cents a pack. I think my best pull in 62 was Cuno Barragan. Very awful.