Best Memory of Opening Wax Packs

[Ronnie73]

I remember two exciting times of opening packs.

The first was around 1988 and I ordered an unopened box of 1987 Donruss Baseball for $50 and 3 packs of 1984 Donruss Baseball for $5 each from a dealer listing in SCD. All I can remember about the 1987 Donruss Box was I didn't get the Mark Mcgwire Rated Rookie. The 1984 Donruss packs I opened later that night and the first one I picked up, I could see the name on the back of the card showing faintly through the wax paper and it was the Don Mattingly Rookie. I gently opened the pack up and there he was. Perfectly centered with 4 sharp corners. I didn't mind the light wax on the back of the card. At the time, this card was not affordable for me to buy and never thought i'd get one. One of the other packs had a Kevin McReynolds RR.

The second was early in 1989 when Upper Deck was released. It was about a week after the Dale Murphy Reversed Negative was discovered. I had plans to go to a local monthly card show that weekend and someone there was selling unopened early packs. I bought 3 packs at $10 each. I opened them when I got home. The first two had nothing good that I remember but the last pack as I was slowly searching through the cards, I saw the back of the Dale Murphy. I was told by my mother that I started to shake and when I turned the card over and saw everything reversed, she said I stopped breathing for about a minute .

I've opened thousands of packs over the years but those two cards that I still own today, I will remember forever.

Ronnie73

[margoaepi]

Amazing thread! My first pack was 86 Topps. I was at the Jersey Shore with my family for vacation, and the kid in the house next to us showed me some cards, and I was hooked. I was only 6, but each time I got a pack I discovered new players and teams and it was just awesome. I vividly remember getting Willie Mcgee and Cecil Upshaw in my first pack. Some people say that 86 and 87 Topps are ugly cards, but to me, they are wonderful.

The biggest thrill ever was a 1990 Leaf pack. It was a $4 or a $5 pack because it had the Frank Thomas and Dave Justice rookies. I never went for those because who wants to blow it all on one pack when you can get way more Topps for your money, but one time I did it. Opened them up on the car ride home and pulled the Justice. I don't think I was ever so excited in my young life.

[blackandgold]

I started collecting in the late 60's, and Easter was always fun because mom and dad would put a Topps rack pack in with all the candy.
My favorite memories though are Sunday mornings, when I (sometimes) got to go with my Uncle Billy to the Whispering Pines to get his paper. I would get a dollar for whatever I wanted. It was always the same - 10 packs of Topps baseball. He was a like a second father to me. He passed away in 1989, but I still smile when I think of all those Sundays, hoping to find as many Pirates as I could.

[SteveMitchell]

Opening packs as a youngster was my favorite pastime - even better than playing ball or snow sledding during the off-season.

My most memorable pack to open occurred in 1957 - the year I first discovered baseball cards at Jordan's Variety store in North Deering (Portland), Maine. My family and I were on our return trip home from visiting my grandparents in far-away Bangor (about 125 miles which required 3-4 hours in those days of poor roads and an occasional flat tire). Toward the end of the journey my mother recalled having earlier purchased some cards for me and reached into her purse - pulling out a pair of one-cent Topps packs. One of the two contained card #1 Ted Williams, Boston's greatest ballplayer. Who the other one was, I do not recall which any 8-year-old-Red-Sox-fan-who-is-crazy-about-baseball-cards can understand!

From 1957 until 1964, however, the season's first pack(s) of cards opened and enjoyment experienced are still fresh in mind - as is the smell of that pink gum. Seeing cards devoted exclusively to checklisting in 1961 (and team cards with statistics to study) as well as multi-player cards of favorites and League Leader cards for the first time - these all rank especially high on my list of early hobby memories.