Length of original card collecting run

[Cmvorce]

Like I do on a lot of Saturday mornings I was looking through my cards before anyone else woke up and I started to think about buying packs as a kid. I first got into cards as an 8 year old in 1987. My mom bought me a pack of Topps and I was off and running. From 1987 - 1991 I spent any money I had on packs of cards or inexpensive singles at mall card shows. In 1992 I bought a couple packs here and there. Took 1993 off completely, bought a box of 1994 Topps and then didn’t buy another pack of cards until 2007. So I had a solid 5 year run from 87-91. How long was your initial pack buying run?

[uyu906]

Originally Posted by Cmvorce

Like I do on a lot of Saturday mornings I was looking through my cards before anyone else woke up and I started to think about buying packs as a kid. I first got into cards as an 8 year old in 1987. My mom bought me a pack of Topps and I was off and running. From 1987 - 1991 I spent any money I had on packs of cards or inexpensive singles at mall card shows. In 1992 I bought a couple packs here and there. Took 1993 off completely, bought a box of 1994 Topps and then didn’t buy another pack of cards until 2007. So I had a solid 5 year run from 87-91. How long was your initial pack buying run?

For me it was 1976 through 1983. An eight year initial run.

[EGreenwood]

Mine was 1978 - 1987. Bought a case in 1991, several boxes in 2000, and a few boxes in 2008.

[egri]

Mine was 4/5 years. Then I took about four years off, before coming back.

[Tyruscobb]

I haven’t bought a pack since 1993, and probably never will again. I’m 100% into pre-1970 vintage. My pack buying days spanned from 1987 - 1993.

[rats60]

1965-2015. I bought random packs in 1965-66 and 1982-83. Every other year I bought boxes.

[fkm_bky]

My run was from 1981 to 1991 - ages 8 to 18. Went to all the card shows in the Twin Cities and collected every set from pack openings. Then went college and started my career. Picked it back up again around 2000, then found pre-war in 2003. Beyond grabbing a few packs here and there have moved completely away from packs.

Bill

[G1911]

28 years and counting. My first packs were Skybox Batman cards in 1994, started with sports with NASCAR in 1995 (I liked the card that came in the pack with the die cast cards more than the Hot Wheel style car toy), Football in 1997 and Baseball in 1998. Collected every year until college, still bought a few packs every year in university, and never really stopped; I buy a few boxes every year (mostly Heritage, and a Star Wars box or two) still though I would not consider myself much of a modern collector or particularly knowledgeable.

[obcbobd]

1967 (Topps Test Stickers Red Sox) to 1974. After that I bought complete sets for a few years.

[ullmandds]

1976-1981

[abothebear]

From 84-87 my dad would bring home packs of baseball and football for me and my brother. In 88 I started spending all my own money (which wasn’t much) on cards. It shifted from mostly baseball to mostly basketball during the Larry Johnson and Shaquille RC years, to mostly hockey in 94 and 95. Then I didn’t buy packs until 2008 or 2009 when I would buy a few for my son to see if he’d get into it. I didn’t buy cards for myself again until I found a great local card store in 2010 and started getting vintage cards here and there as a way to cope with adjusting to a new job, no packs for me though. I learned my lesson from the 84-95 packs-collecting run.

[ccre]

I cllected from 1979 - 1984 and then again from 1989 - 1994.

[DHogan]

I started building Topps baseball sets around 1993. I needed something to do in my limited spare time. I asked my wife if I could start collecting baseball cards. We had some extra income then. She said yes. But then said you don't even follow sports.

[mikemb]

1964 to 1991

Baseball cards mainly Topps.

Fleer and Donruss 1981 to about 1988.

Some non-sport sets like Beatles, Man from Uncle, Addams Family, etc.

Mike.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Cmvorce

Like I do on a lot of Saturday mornings I was looking through my cards before anyone else woke up and I started to think about buying packs as a kid. I first got into cards as an 8 year old in 1987. My mom bought me a pack of Topps and I was off and running. From 1987 - 1991 I spent any money I had on packs of cards or inexpensive singles at mall card shows. In 1992 I bought a couple packs here and there. Took 1993 off completely, bought a box of 1994 Topps and then didn’t buy another pack of cards until 2007. So I had a solid 5 year run from 87-91. How long was your initial pack buying run?

Like you, I started in 1987. I was 11, maybe a bit old to start, but my folks weren't sports fans. I actually got pneumonia that summer and was laid up for a few weeks.

I had a few friends who collected cards, and it seemed interesting, and so I had my mom grab a few packs of '87 Topps at the local corner store.

I went hot and heavy until 1994. A combination of the strike and going off to college curtailed my collecting. McGwire/Sosa in 1998 brought me back in.

That being said, last time I bought boxes of unopened the year they were released was likely around 2012-13. I might have bought a pack or two after that, but probably not any new packs/boxes in roughly the last decade.

It's fun to look back at the different "stages" of your collecting. I think I've gone through probably a half dozen iterations in the last 35 years (including that 4-year hiatus).

[jingram058]

1967 to 1972, hot and heavy Topps wax packs 1967 to 1970. Only a few in 1971 and 1972, as comic books, Hardy Boys books and other interests took over.

[rjackson44]

1970

[butchie_t]

From 68 - 75

[Mark17]

1967-1971.

In 1972 my mom bought me the complete set from Stan Martucci (his ad in The Sporting News.) After that I got cards from publication ads like SCD and only occasionally bought packs.

[jh691626]

In earnest, 1981-1986

[ksfarmboy]

1977-1987 although I did open a bunch of 76 packs in 77.

[Eric72]

I started in 1977, although I may have had a single pack in 1976.

I never really stopped; however, these days it's just the occasional pack or two.

My main focus is picking up T206 and 1952-80 Topps, so singles are definitely the way to go. Buying packs (or boxes) for fun is fine when they're current year or recent products. Opening 42+ year old wax is a gamble that's much too expensive for my taste.

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

My run was similar to yours OP. Started maybe a year earlier. Bought a LOT of packs between 1986 and 1991. Sometimes a buddy and I would put our money together and split a wax box. Good memories and lots of worthless junk wax.

Stopped completely during high school and college, and then started up again buying an occasional pack in the early 2000’s. Honestly, I think was the relic cards (bat and jersey pieces in the cards) that got me interested again because I thought they were pretty cool.

Eventually relic cards got old, and then I got in to vintage around 2017.

[90feetaway]

Similar also to OP around 87-91. I remember buying 1985 S1 Garbage Pail Kids at the grocery downstairs for $.25 as my first pack. I was heavy into 1989 Upper Deck Baseball and 1989 Pro Set.

[slidekellyslide]

1975-1990. I bought a blaster box or two in a few years in the early 2000s and it wasn’t until 2020 that I actually purchased a full box of baseball cards.

[trdcrdkid]

1975-1982, with my peak being 1977-1981, when I collected the Topps set from packs every year.

In 1975 I got some packs and collected the entire 24-card MVP subset, a precursor to my interest in vintage.
In 1976 I bought more packs but didn't make any real effort to collect the Topps set, though I also started getting some older cards and visited my first card shop (which were very rare at the time). I spent $2.95 plus 25 cents postage to get one Topps card from each year from 1952 through 1975, all of which I still have.
In 1977 I collected the Topps set from packs and continued to get older Topps cards when I could.
In 1979 I got my first prewar card (T206 Jack Pfeister).
In 1981, when Fleer and Donruss first came out with sets, I collected the Topps and Fleer sets from packs, and bought the Donruss set. In 1982, I bought the Fleer set and started the Topps set but never finished it. At that point I mostly dropped out of active collecting, though in 1986 I went to a card show with my younger brother, who was into collecting and collected the Topps set that year.

Not until 1991, when I was in grad school, did I get back into actively collecting. I bought a box of Topps baseball and collected the set just for fun, and also got into Stadium Club (then in its first year) and collected about half of that set from packs (which generally cost $5 apiece). Soon my collecting moved entirely to vintage, mostly prewar, where it has remained since then.

[skil55voy]

I started buying packs in 1962 and bought them through 1975. Bought complete sets after that.

[nwfsteve]

1965 to 1971, took a couple years off then started buying complete sets from TSN ads.

[FrankWakefield]

I think 1964, I'm certain I bought bunches of packs in 1965, not quite as many in 1966, lots of 1967 packs, enough to get a set together, 69, 70, and on to about 1978, with just 2 or 3 packs a few of those latter years. I think that's right.

Life gets in the way, and it is different stuff depending on our age at the time. Girls, cars, a part time job, college, more packs, six packs, more girls...

I still get a pack or two, but I'm sure there are some gaps over the years. Mark, what a Mom, getting you a set in 1972!

[seanofjapan]

I also started collecting as a kid in 1987, but I was living on Ramstein air base in Germany so couldn’t buy packs of cards until I returned to North America in 1989.

Instead, I got into it by getting cards in trades for other things at the playground during recess from kids who had just arrived from stateside and brought their collections with them. In fact, for the first two years of my collecting life I wasn’t even aware that cards were sold in packs, they were just these things that the new kids had magically come into possession of somehow. It was hard to build a collection in that environment, two years of haggling on the playground netted me a random assortment of about 50 cards.

When I came back in 89 I got my first look at a card shop it just blew my mind. You mean you can just buy packs with 15 cards in them at a time? Or even whole sets? Crazy.

I then went through a really hard core collecting phase between 1989 and 1993 during which time my dad and I even started a little shop of our own. Then in 1993 he got transferred and we had to move again and I basically quit collecting at the age of 16 and wouldn’t pick it up again until many years later as an adult.

[angolajones]

1977-1989 Thought I was going to be a flipper and viewed those cards from 1985-1989 as currency. Started at age 4 with my mother and ended as a sophomore in high school. Now, I just buy what I like. Turns out I am a hoarder not a flipper.

[wake2002]

Fairly similar timeline as the OP for me. Picked up a few packs as a 6 year old in 1986, a little heavier in 1987, and then peak years were 1988-1992. Then trailed off in 1993, and pretty much lost interest in 1994 (decided it wasn't cool anymore once I got to high school). Mostly Topps, although, I remember buying a lot of Donruss in 1989 (desperately wanted a Ken Griffey rookie but never pulled one from a pack), and then some Upper Deck in 1990.

The heaviest year in that range for me though was definitely 1990,and definitely Topps. I think I ripped through 20-25 boxes that year, mostly from my Dad who would bring them home from work as a surprise for me. One of my favorite memories from my childhood, I miss him dearly.

After 1994, I stayed away from the hobby for a long time, and on a whim in 2016, got intrigued by T206's and got back into the hobby, solely collecting those. In 2020, my Dad passed away right before COVID broke, and I ended up buying a bunch of 1990 Topps Wax Boxes off of Ebay and opened them with my kids for a few months. Outside of that, haven't really bought any packs since 1994, mostly been focusing on collecting the T206 series.

[darwinbulldog]

Six years. My sister gave me a 1986 Big League Chew Babe Ruth she found between the pages of a library book. My dad took me to a Holiday Inn card show the next month (April '86), and I spent all the money I had (about $4) on a modern Ty Cobb card, a Will Clark, and a pack of '86 Donruss. From there it was my principle hobby until the last time I went to a show at that same Holiday Inn and spent all the money I had (about $30) on the new "Stadium Club Dome" set in 1991. I was pretty much out after that, but I bought one pack of 1992 Fleer Ultra when that came out.

I tried half-heartedly setting up an eBay account in '98 or '99 and unfortunately didn't follow through with that until 2002. Once I was on there I was back into the hobby within a few minutes and into pre-war within a few weeks.

[skelly423]

Roughly 1991 through to 2002. I only stopped when I went to college and couldn't afford to buy more cards. I picked it up sporadically around 2010, and resumed in earnest in 2015.

[Econteachert205]

1987-1994. Great timing I know.

[Exhibitman]

1970-81.

[riggs336]

1953-1961. Then girls, cars, girls, etc.

[nickedson]

1959 to 1969 were my biggest years, but actually I've never stopped.

[drmondobueno]

Interrupted by cars, beer, other stuff, marriage. And got back in with my boys again from 1981 through 1987.

Returned to collecting tobacco cards from 2013 through 2018, sidelined by health issues. Also chased post WW2 menko on and off.

[drmondobueno]

Interrupted by cars, beer, other stuff, marriage. And got back in with my boys again from 1981 through 1987.

Returned to collecting tobacco cards from 2013 through 2018, sidelined by health issues. Also chased post WW2 menko on and off.

For me packs 1971 to 1980, unopened boxes 1981 io 1990

[midmo]

I bought a few before and after but 1980-86 were my pack obsession years. Interests starting changing around 15...

[BearBailey]

1983 to now, never stopped not sure I ever will? I

[toppcat]

Bought a pack or two in 1969, then 1970-72 was huge for me, 73-74 a little less so. In 75 I bought a vending box from Renatta Galasso, then 1976 saw me buy a pack or two and that was it. Then I got back in in '81 and here I remain.

[cornhusker]

Saving up my weekly allowance funded the purchases of 1978 wax boxes at the farmers market in Manheim, PA. Paid $4 a box I think. Put together sets and horded every Reds and Phillies players I could get hold of thru 1985.
Returned to the hobby about 12 years ago with my kids and we are 95% complete with a Topps BB run from 1959-1987.
My daughter traded her stake in the BB cards for some vintage Beatles memorabilia and my son has turned his attention to comics (silver & bronze age as well as pre code horror comics.) It has been very interesting to observe the similarities and differences between the 2 communities.
Not sure if we will finish the BB set run or sell off the commons for some high end favorite HOF's and Pete Rose cards

[Chuck9788]

For me it was 1983-1987 with 1985 being my busiest pack purchasing year. I remember taking MANY bike rides to the local pharmacy to buy packs hoping for a Dwight Gooden rookie.

[bmattioli]

I've been buying packs since 1972 and always looked forward to the day I found them to start the new season. A good memory for me..

[dacubfan]

1952 through 1962. Hot and heavy 1957-62, Packs again 1978-82.

[familytoad]

Interesting topic!

I know when I started. 1971 Football cards. I would have just turned 9 years old.
Then I hit it as hard as my meager allowance would go!
That run lasted (by the volume of cards from my original collection) until 1978.

I had virtually no 1978 Football but a lot of 1978 baseball so I think I determined that cutoff pretty well.

In 1988 I started again, along with the rest of the planet.
I stopped buying packs in 1992 or so.

I got into prewar in 1991 which is still my main gig even though I have almost every Topps set complete too. It was great going backwards to fill those sets (I have baseball and football, Bowman and Topps , mostly finished but some I don’t collect at all… you know, the ugly ones:-))

I have chewed a lot of bad gum, people!

[hoot-owl]

An eleven year span--my $.10 allowance bought at least a couple of packs in 1965. Ended with a complete 1975 set purchase from Renata Galasso.