Best Memory of Opening Wax Packs

sox1903wschamp · #1 09-23-2011, 11:16 AM

Summer 1968 opening a 1968 Topps 5 cent wax pack on the way to a Little League game in Watertown Square (Watertown, MA). I played in a park right behind City Hall in Watertown that is still there today.

Anyway, the pack contained my 2 favorite Red Sox at the time, Rico Petrocelli and Jim Longborg out of 5 cards. I was in card heaven. I have no idea on the other 3 cards. They were not Red Sox

Tim Fritz · #2 09-23-2011, 11:42 AM

Buying my first whole box of wax packs in '85 to complete my set. I was in heaven with all those packs to open. Last card I needed was the Gooden rookie. I think my head it the ceiling when I finally got it in one of those packs. And I think I can attribute at least one childhood cavity to all the gum that day.

My first wax pack memory was my mom buying me '76 football from a very small grocery store across the street from my dads work. I wrote my name on all the cards, so mine wouldn't get mixed up with my sisters. At the age of 4 I wrote my name backwards. MIT. I don't have those anymore and would love to find one some day.

sycks22 · #3 09-23-2011, 11:46 AM

It was in the early '90's and when we went to a local card shop and there was sitting a '84 Topps pack. It was like $10 or something which is pretty much a house payment for a 10 year old kid so I took the plunge. One of the first cards was the Mattingly rookie. It was jumping up and down like crazy and still remember that day. I think it booked around $30 at that time. Great times.

celoknob · #4 09-23-2011, 01:26 PM

7 years old, in the backseat on the way to a birthday party, I opened a 1975 Hank Aaron. Like many of my '75s I loved them till they were flimsy and full of creases.

I passed that Aaron on to my son a few years back and bought myself a PSA 7. Not sure what that says about me or the hobby.

deadballera · #5 09-23-2011, 01:35 PM

Loved going to to the corner store market and buying some packs. Then stuffing the hard gum into my mouth.

jbbama · #6 09-23-2011, 01:47 PM

a good 1/2 mile (actually took the short cut on the main road, i would have in big trouble if caught) to the local gas station with my small tupperware box bungee tied to my Huffy #4 bike handlebars. I was able to purchase 3 packs of '81 Donruss or 3 packs of '81 Fleer for $1 (tax included). I then would hurry home (short cut again) and rip into them like no tomorrow. I remember Fernando Valenzuela Fleer (R) being the big card. The good ole days of rubber bands and empty matchbox car cases for carrying them around.

brob28 · #7 09-23-2011, 02:44 PM

I remember shoveling snow from neighbors driveways with my collecting buddy to make money to then ride our bikes to the corner store to buy cards. I think it was in late March and there was about 7 inches of the white stuff but we laughed our asses off riding our bikes in the snow to get those cards!

btcarfagno · #8 09-23-2011, 05:15 PM

So many memories...mostly generic. Places i used to buy the packs...B&B downtown...the corner store...the local Pathmark grocery store with the tray packs. The only time i can recall getting a particular card in a pack was in 1980 coming home from a birthday party (9 years old) with a bunch of the other kids in the back of a station wagon opening up the goody bag that had a pack of baseball and a pack of hockey. The baseball pack had nothing special and I was not a hockey fan at that point. I opened up the hockey pack and asked one of the other kids about the players. Pretty soon every kid in the car was offering me the world for this guy named Gretzky. Partially because I figured I had something nice and partially because I wanted to spite the rest of the kids I did not trade the card.

Tom C

boysblue · #9 09-23-2011, 05:47 PM

late 60s....my brother and i would take our weekly allowance money and bike down to mallat's gas station where hockey cards were sold inside the attached store. can't remember any specific cards, but the smell of the gum is etched forever. we used to flip 'em and trade 'em with friends at school. oh, what memories.

daves_resale_shop · #10 09-24-2011, 04:21 AM

My father frequently took me to the Newton Mass. (I believe it was at the Days Inn) Baseball Card Shows in the Mid to Late 80's... I would typically bring my $5 allowance and spend it on .35 topps packs from 1986-87... At the time Roger Clemens was my Favorite player and I had owned his "Cheapie" Topps rookie, but really wanted his 85 donruss but didn't have the $12 or so dollars to spend on it... On the way out of the show, my father treated me to a pack of 85 Donruss (must have cost about 1.25). And I was ecstatic to find a wonderfully off-center Roger Clemens Rookie Card in the pack!!! At the time I thought it was the pull of a lifetime!!! I still own that very card today!

jp1216 · #11 09-24-2011, 07:47 AM

1980 Topps BB rack packs from Giant grocery stores in VA and wax packs from the local 7-11. I would gladly accompany my mom to the store and spend the entire time in the candy isle searching racks. My first pack had Steve Garvey on top and also remember looking for Rose & Reggie. My first set to finish was the '80 FB. Trading with friends (age 7) and waiting months to finally pull a Mike Haynes All-Pro. Or maybe it was a trade? Boy were those cards ('80 FB) ugly!

I also remember a neighbor giving out '79-80 Topps Hockey wax packs on halloween. Weird. Wish I had hit that house a few more times....

Chris-Counts · #12 09-24-2011, 11:02 AM

In the spring of 1970, when I was nine, my mom sent me to the grocery store to buy some vegetables. As I walked into the grocery store, I was awestruck by a box of baseball cards. At the time, I knew little about baseball, although I collected other stuff, like bugs, Hot Wheels and Odd Rod stickers.

For reasons I can't explain, I spent the money my mom gave me on several packs of Topps baseball cards. I can remember getting a poster of Ollie Brown in the first pack and one of Willie Davis in the next pack. As I was walking home, my father passed by in his car and offered me a ride home. I explained to him what happened and he was surprisingly sympathetic. He drove us back to the grocery store, where he bought my mom the vegetables she wanted � and he bought me several more packs of baseball cards ...

From that day on, I lost all interest in bugs, Hot Wheels and Odd Rods ...

vintagechris · #13 09-24-2011, 12:10 PM

My first packs were 1980 Topps FB(I actually loved them then and now). I used to go to the mall where my Mom worked when we had breaks from school.

Like most kids then, I spent hours and hours playing video games. One day on my way to the back of Woolworths where the game room was, I noticed the packs of cards. Bought a couple and was hooked.

From that day until about 1987, My Mom would bring home two packs of cards everyday from work. Mom was a big part of my love for collecting cards. She passed a couple years ago from a long battle with cancer, so I have very fond memories of all those packs Mom bought for me in the 80's.

brass_rat · #14 09-25-2011, 08:56 PM

This thread is great, thanks to everybody for sharing. Chris, I can only imagine you looking at veggies and then the cards, back at the veggies, then making a "tough" decision...haha.

I remember my very first pack was 1987 Topps (I was 7 at the time)...it was during a summer camp visit to the batting cages and the associated arcade. I was really excited and promptly went home to tell my parents that I now collected baseball cards.

In the early 90's my mom would take my sister and I to the mall and to the local card shop, Extra Innings. I'd use my allowance to buy a box of cards, I vividly remember the yellow boxes of 1990 Score and green boxes of 1991 Score. My family would order pizza for dinner and watch the four shows that made up TGIF on tv, and I would open my cards. Great times...

Steve

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

In the spring of 1970, when I was nine, my mom sent me to the grocery store to buy some vegetables. As I walked into the grocery store, I was awestruck by a box of baseball cards. At the time, I knew little about baseball, although I collected other stuff, like bugs, Hot Wheels and Odd Rod stickers.

For reasons I can't explain, I spent the money my mom gave me on several packs of Topps baseball cards. I can remember getting a poster of Ollie Brown in the first pack and one of Willie Davis in the next pack. As I was walking home, my father passed by in his car and offered me a ride home. I explained to him what happened and he was surprisingly sympathetic. He drove us back to the grocery store, where he bought my mom the vegetables she wanted � and he bought me several more packs of baseball cards ...

From that day on, I lost all interest in bugs, Hot Wheels and Odd Rods ...

Matthew H · #15 09-23-2011, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycks22

It was in the early '90's and when we went to a local card shop and there was sitting a '84 Topps pack. It was like $10 or something which is pretty much a house payment for a 10 year old kid so I took the plunge. One of the first cards was the Mattingly rookie. It was jumping up and down like crazy and still remember that day. I think it booked around $30 at that time. Great times.

My story is very similar to yours Pete. The pack I bought in the early 90's was 1985 topps, I paid $8 and found an Oral Hershiser

I was a young Dodger fan and bought the pack in hopes of finding the card... Good times indeed.

Kzoo · #16 09-23-2011, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycks22

One of the first cards was the Mattingly rookie. It was jumping up and down like crazy and still remember that day. I think it booked around $30 at that time. Great times.

My memorable pack opening experience was buying a wax pack of '84 Donruss from a card shop up in Flint, MI. for around $10 or maybe more. This was in the late '80s and the Mattingly RC was HOT!! I was lucky enough to get the Mattingly in that one pack and my buddies couldn't believe it......and the two guys working at the shop really couldn't believe it as they looked at each other in disbelief.....almost as if one guy was mad at the other guy for missing that card when he searched the wax packs.

I was excited, they weren't so much.

Matt

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