First Pack of Cards

[realbigfatdog]

Although I had a stack of 1985 Topps baseball, I don't remember buying or opening any packs of them. My dad had an old Phillies cigar tin box, and inside he had stacks of 1985 topps and fleer, so he probably bought them (feeling nostalgic at the time himself, no doubt) and gave them to me. However, I vividly remember buying 1986 Topps baseball packs, and even more, 1986 Topps football packs. Cello packs, to be specific. The local Quick Check or Krausers stores in Hopatcong, NJ were my go to spots. I also remember buying the Topps sticker albums for both baseball and football and lots and lots of those packs as well, though I never completed either one. Lol.

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[drcy]

From the cards I had as a kid, my first pack would have been 1977 football. First baseball pack would have been 1978. Would buy them from a local family grocery store.

[MK]

My first pack was in 1959 which my Mom bought for me at a pharmacy. I don’t remember any specific cards from that pack but it did start my journey (addiction). Several years later my Mom made an amazing find at a garage sale and purchased me thousands of cards from 1951 through 1958. I was on the receiving end of the “mother got rid of my baseball cards story”.

[bobcatfunds]

This is one of the clearest memories I have as a child. The year was 1970 and I was eight. My Dad brought home a pack of cards and I remember pulling this card.



Knowing me, I probably traded it for a Nate Colbert card. :-)

[Harford20]

1975 Topps, and the pack had a Joe Morgan with that beautiful NL All-Star star in the corner. Traded it later that day for the 1975 Topps Johnny Bench that my best friend had pulled.
Dave

[Rocky]

Back in 1967 or 1968, when I was 10 I bought my first packs of Topps cards at Hartman's Corner Store is Southmont (Johnstown, PA). Got a Bill Mazeroski in my first pack and became a life-long Pirates fan. Bought a whole box of cards after that for $2.40.

[ushojh1]

1967 Topps Baseball bought at Menard & Dempster Drug Store Morton Grove, Il. Tony Perez was one of the cards. also !967 Philidelphia Football cards.

[Deertick]

1973 Topps at a corner store in Overbrook Park in Philly with 2 half dollar coins my grandmother gave me. I remember getting water ice and some cherry licorice and a pack of cards. Went back and opened them up and spread them out on the carpet and studied them. NO PHILLIES! Went back after dinner and spent the rest on more packs.

A few things:
I had no idea they were issued in series, so I spent a good deal of the summer only to get the same damn players, and no Mike Schmidt's!

Even back then I had a nose for numbers, and when I saw Rack Packs for the first time (at a 5 & 10 in the Bazaar of All Nations) I knew my cost per card had gone down considerably, of course sans gum.

At some point, my persistence paid off. I got my Schmidt! And I hated it! I traded as many as I could to non-discerning friends for Bowa, Carlton, and Luzinski.
I kept one that was sweet. I took it to a game in '85 in a bobo display holder (black border with 2 little snap in legs) and I showed it to Tom Foley and asked him if Schmidty could sign the holder. He said probably not, but could he take it to the clubhouse to show it around? The few that I saw him show it to before he disappeared, were laughing their asses off. After a while I started to get worried because batting practice was winding down, and by this point it was my prized possession. Luckily he popped out a few min later as security was trying to shoo everyone back to their seats. He thanked me (!) and handed back a beautifully signed autograph nearly the entire length along the bottom.
It was stolen in 1988.
I still have a good deal of my original cards.

[dfletch00]

76 baseball and basketball tall boys...

[cardinalcollector]

First pack was 1968 Topps from a GEM department store in St. Louis. I was immediately hooked. I couldn't wait for them to arrive each year. I remember reading the classified ads in the back of The Sporting News for the 2 or 3 baseball card dealers that were active back then. Boys Life also had baseball card ads. I was calling the local 7-11 in late March in the early 1970s asking if the new cards had arrived yet, I know I drove them crazy. I think it was 1973 when I actually called Topps to see when they would show up in Wichita, KS, where I was then living. I remember my Dad yelling "who made a long distance call to Brooklyn?" I have collected every year since 1968 without any gaps. Baseball cards have always been part of my life.

[ValKehl]

First pack was 1955 Topps, most likely from the local 7-11. Can't remember what cards were in the pack. I collected Topps cards through 1960. Sometime in the early-to-mid 1970's, Mom called on day out of the blue to ask if I wanted my cards that she had just come across while cleaning out a storage area, before she tossed them. I retrieved them, thinking that one or more of my rug rats might get interested in collecting cards when they got older, but they never did. I resurrected the collection and began collecting again in the mid-to-late 1980's, and I have thoroughly enjoyed collecting ever since.

[Chuck9788]

The first packs that I consistently purchased were 1985 Topps (age 11). I remember getting out of school and racing on my bike to the local convenience store hoping ... praying, that they still had packs left. When I was a big spender, I'd splurge on the 59 cents Cello pack. At the time we didn't want the Mark McGwire Olympic rookie, we hoped and dreamed for a Dwight Gooden card.

[Mitochondria]

In 1975, bought and traded thousands of 1975 Topps minis growing up in Warren, Michigan. I was 11 years old and I had no idea that they were small for 1975. My friend’s older brother had 1968 and 1969s in a box. He would yell at us if we got near them. I had something like 10-12 “doubles” of each player except I only had one Lerrin Lagrow. It took me all summer to finally finish the set. I needed Jim Dwyer (Cardinals) and I never found it in a pack. I had to trade for it. I do remember 1974 Topps cards in wax packs (grouped in 3 packs) to a rack pack-like sack being sold at Kmart in the summer of 1975. I bought one pack and was disappointed that they weren’t like the 1975 minis I was collecting so I stopped buying them! LOL

[Smarti5051]

My first pack of cards was 1981 Fleer. I was at a friend's birthday party and he had a pinata. As it busted open, out fell a bunch of candy and 36 packs of Fleer baseball packs. I can't say for sure, but I am pretty sure there was a Fernando Valenzuela rookie in the pack, as the picture of that card is burned into my memory (he was the hottest thing in Southern California at the time). From that point on, I was hooked. Before that, my earliest memory of cards was on the bottom of Hostess boxes in the late 70s, but I never thought to cut them out and save them.

[BuzzD]

My father had a pharmacy in upstate NY. I would take an entire box to the basement and open packs. 1955 Bowman was first year. I distinctly remember Mantle. Of course they were all lost at some point

[MuncieNolePAZ]

1987 Topps. No idea what cards I got.

Chad

[scottglevy]

1977. dad bought them for me when I was 3. I don’t remember any tbh hi g about it. But found a small stack of them complete with 3-year old scribbles on the front and back of nearly every card.

[JackR]

I opened a ton of them in 1960 at the Sun Drugs in Sharon, PA, but don’t remember any specific cards. I do specifically remember not getting any Roberto Clementes or Mickey Mantles.

[riggs336]

1953 Topps. Can't remember the player. I do remember, when my parents took me to Woolworths to get some more cards, seeing 1951 Berk Ross cards still for sale.
Of course I didn't know they were Berk Ross or 1951, but I clearly remember the little windows on the packaging.

[darwinbulldog]

1986 Donruss. No stars, but I remember Johnny Ray had the highest batting average in the pack.

[SyrNy1960]

Not a first pack of cards, but this what got me started into collecting cards. 1970's Nabisco Sugar Daddy

[olecow]

1978 Topps cello pack with Woodie Fryman at the top. He was a Cub and growing up in the Chicago area I thought why not. I was 8 years old and didn't know too much about Major League baseball. I was too busy playing ball with friends. There were also Tom Seaver and Pete Rose cards in that pack. Not a bad pack.

[Seiklis]

My Dad started me at 4 and got me a 1988 Fleer partial set for Christmas 1989. The stars were removed so he got it dirt cheap and I didn't really care one way or another

[benge610]

These are the actual cards.
My Dad would pick me up from the "babysitter's house" after his work; she was a friend of the family; I walked to her house after school each day; in case some may worry about me needing a babysitter, lol.
My Dad would always pick up the late edition newspaper, before going home. I would get lucky sometimes; asking Dad if I could get a pack of baseball cards; when he responded, "Sure".
I pulled Mick from the first pack; sure, he's MC/OC but he was and still is, mine.
(Love my Mom. She kept the shoeboxes)



Ben

"I love baseball history backstory; especially when it involves cards."

[tobychin]

1957 I was eleven years old. My Mom and my pal Marty’s Mom had taken us to the city to visit our orthodontist. While they shopped we were given a couple of dollars and went to the Morgan and Lindsey store. First time we had seen baseball cards. Love at first sight.

[Lorewalker]

1976 Topps from Toyorama, John Henry's and most super markets.

[Rad_Hazard]

1990 Topps was my first pack and still one of my favorite designs.

[gonefishin]

1963 Fleer - it was cheaper than Topps at Taylor's grocery store.

That was opening a pack, but I cut cards off the back of cereal boxes before that. The attached picture is one of them I've had all these years.

[jayshum]

I first started collecting cards in 1975 when I was 7 so that would have been the first pack I got. I don't remember anything about it, but I still have the 1975 set I put together.

[5-Tool Player]

1968 topps....Dad gave me quarter for "allowance" and I'd run down to the corner store and buy 5 packs ( 5 cents) and I can recall walking back home opening the packs and reading the players names and facts on back of the card. GREAT memories .......so grateful for my family and the hard work, hoping to past that along to MY family ......Amen

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays to one and all

[JimC]

My Dad started bringing me packs of cards in 1973. We collected a couple hundred baseball cards. By football season I was hooked and we put together the entire set. Still have them all.

[CurtisFlood]

61 Topps, do not remember the initial pulls, but must have bought some high number packs because I had some of those slippery rascals. We picked up pop bottles for 1 cent each and the packs cost 5 cents. The next year 62's came out, I bought a couple packs and hated them and the fact they went up to 10 cents a pack. I think my best pull in 62 was Cuno Barragan. Very awful.