[Harliduck]

I agree, great memories! Pochards above, my brother, and I first packs were 79s....I remember him pulling that Rick Honeycutt, and was extremely jealous as it was a Mariner. My first card was Reggie Jackson, and he immediately became my favorite player. Once a week our mom would bring us whatever was left of the box of packs at the local corner store (sometimes it would be a whole box!) and sometimes she would let us ride our bikes, which was about 4 miles on country roads. We were 7 and 9 and I don't think I would let my kids make that trek alone now days, funny of what was normal back then and not now. I LIVED riding in the back of trucks, my kids now don't even know to call the tire hub for a seat!

I finished that set in 79 through packs and totally remember my last card that seemed extremely elusive was Pirate reliever Kent Tekulve. At the time he was also one of my favorite players with the "we are family" Pirates dominating at the time. The Bump Wills error was the first error I ever got, and still have both versions. I remember hating the rookie cards, and dieing to pull Pete Rose or Reggie or a Mariner everytime I opened a pack. A couple times I would sneak some packs from my mother, open them up, take the better cards, replace them with nobodies, iron them back together, and make sure they were Jason's when he opened them later, hahahaha, sorry bro.

I also remember going to Kmart when it first opened in our town that year, and seeing three pack cello cards for the first time. Digging through to find my favorite players was fun, wish I saved a few! After I got the complete set I took all the stars and glued them into a scrapbook with team sets, and would save newspaper clippings to add. I still have that scrapbook...it even has my notes about the games and players. There is a few pages dedicated to Thurman Munson who died in a plane crash that year...that 79 Munson is burned in my memory as a young Yankee fan.

I also remember my first rookie craze hit too...I wanted as many Bob Horners I could get my hands on...he was the next Mickey Mantle don't you know! hahaha...