One thing missing from vintage collecting: opening packs

[Case12]

Packs I opened in the 70's had hard, dry, crumbling gum. Stopped trying to chew that stuff...

[Yankees1964]

Originally Posted by Case12

Packs I opened in the 70's had hard, dry, crumbling gum. Stopped trying to chew that stuff...

We'd go to the candy store across the street from elementary school in the early 70's. The flavor from that gum was gone before you walked across the street, but man do I miss those days! Especially if I was able to take cards off another kid flipping them.

[Tere1071]

The liquor store in my neighborhood had cards late. For example, the 1970s Supers were available in 1971 and the 71s were sold in 1972. I still have the 1970 Clemente that I purchased. The killer was the 1970 high series that the owner put out in 1973. My next-door neighbor who kind of, sort of collected bought a number of these packs and I was able to get some of the high numbers. I was never able to complete the set, however, and I ended up trading off what I had for other cards.

I still wish that corner liquor stores carried cards.

[williamcohon]

I’m retired, now, but while I was working, I used to treat myself every day to a “vintage pack.” Every morning, I would grab eight or ten cards, randomly, from my collection, put a rubber band around them (yes, of course they were in hard sleeves), and slip the “pack” into my pocket.

Then, every day at lunch, I had the pleasure of “opening a pack.” It was fun to see who I got! And fun to see what years and types of cards I got. Of course, they were always old!

Now, when I travel, I often treat myself. I throw a couple of “packs” in my suitcase. It’s true, there are no wrappers to deal with, but it’s fun. Give it a try!

[conor912]

Originally Posted by williamcohon

I’m retired, now, but while I was working, I used to treat myself every day to a “vintage pack.” Every morning, I would grab eight or ten cards, randomly, from my collection, put a rubber band around them (yes, of course they were in hard sleeves), and slip the “pack” into my pocket.

Then, every day at lunch, I had the pleasure of “opening a pack.” It was fun to see who I got! And fun to see what years and types of cards I got. Of course, they were always old!

Now, when I travel, I often treat myself. I throw a couple of “packs” in my suitcase. It’s true, there are no wrappers to deal with, but it’s fun. Give it a try!

Hey Bill,

Nice to to see your post. Cool idea. I hope you’re well!!

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

Originally Posted by williamcohon

I’m retired, now, but while I was working, I used to treat myself every day to a “vintage pack.” Every morning, I would grab eight or ten cards, randomly, from my collection, put a rubber band around them (yes, of course they were in hard sleeves), and slip the “pack” into my pocket.

Then, every day at lunch, I had the pleasure of “opening a pack.” It was fun to see who I got! And fun to see what years and types of cards I got. Of course, they were always old!

Now, when I travel, I often treat myself. I throw a couple of “packs” in my suitcase. It’s true, there are no wrappers to deal with, but it’s fun. Give it a try!

I really LOVE this idea. It not only helps scratch that "what's inside this pack" itch, but it also allows you to enjoy your own existing collection without spending a dime.

And that's the cool thing about vintage...even a pack full of "common" players are interesting and fun to handle and look at. I'd never even consider tossing my vintage commons in the recycle bin (which is where most of my modern commons end up).

One little fun (and sort of weird) thing I did recently: I'm slowly building a 1935 Goudey set. I have a beat up raw copy of the Ruth card, and I recently purchased an authentic 1935 Goudey wrapper. So I wrapped my Ruth in the wrapper and had it sitting on my desk for awhile. I thought it was kind of cool to have an authentic "unopened" Babe Ruth bubble gum card on my desk.

[Leon]

Great stories, guys. I only remember opening late 60s and early 70s packs of Topps as a kid. If I only had those packs today.

[Rickyy]

Great stories...some of my recollections... I remember buying a whole wax box of 75 topps at local 7-11 back as a kid and ripped em open and saw that all the cards hard shrunk! Yep 75 minis tested out here in N. Calif. Also remember buying a couple of 73 rack packs late in the year to complete my sets and I recall it was mixed series...I got some 4th series cards along with high numbers..how I got my M Schmidt rookie. I have a couple of mid 70's topps baseball wax packs and topps 74-75-76 cello packs still left, but don't have the stomach to open them now...lol.

Ricky Y