I Can't Be The Only One
 

My first adventure into trading cards was Garbage Pail Kids back in 1985 when I was 9. I just received an unopened back of GPK from 1985 and the first thing I did was smell it.. and i was whacked over the head with memories.

who else like the smell of vintage? It's like the smell of a broken in baseball glove, it never gets old

Memories
 

Yes, I remember the smell of that gum. Nothing like it. My favorite small though id old comic books.

I won $20.00 in 1997 when a friend bet me that I wouldn't open a pack of Star Wars cards and eat the gum. A little nasty. Turned to crumbs as soon as I bit into it.

Don't laugh, it was $20.00.

I ripped a box of 1980 Empire Strikes Back 2nd Series last year and the smell was like a time machine. I rip a lot of older wax and a lot of the smell has faded; but this box was case fresh and smelled just as I remembered as a kid. The gum was still pink and non-brittle as well.

Nostalgia is a drug.

I bought my buddy Billy Hauser a pack of Rocky II cards in late 2020 thinking I'd give it to him at Christmas. I didn't see him, figured I'd give it to him the next time I saw him. He died in February 2021. I slipped the unopened pack and a Joe Jenkins card into his coffin.

About 20 years ago I saw stack of cards on my son's desk and asked him where he got them. Apparently he found an unopened box of 1984 Topps baseball that I had stored away. He opened a few packs for the gum. I asked him how the gum was and he said it wasn't that good. It didn't hurt him so I guess that stuff lasts a while. Anybody looking for a near full box of 1984 Topps wax? :p

I remember collecting Topps at the local, little league ballpark concession stands in the late 1960s. That gum with all the white powdered sugar will be a smell I will never forget. I would stick several sticks in my mouth, chew for a little while, and spit it out. Those were some good days...
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