What was the first baseball card you ever purchased?

[Koufax32fan]

My dad took me to a card shop and I bought a 1966 Sandy Koufax for $6, and then bought a 100 card lot of 1968 commons for another $6. Still have them all. I think that was 1982.

[RichR]

My first card was bought at a card show in a mall card show in the mid 80s. It was a 59 Mickey Mantle AS. I still have it.

[teetwoohsix]

First T206, and still have it:

Sincerely, Clayton

[Paul S]

The first pre war card I ever purchased, in the sixties. All I had known up to that point was Ruth. Then I found out about Cobb. Then it blew my mind I could actually own one. Just sold it in the recent B&L auction.

[bbsports]

I started with 1964 Topps baseball in 5 cent packs & then bought a box for $1.25. My first auction by mail was a T206 Cobb red portrait for $5.00 from The Traders' Speaks magazine & a 1952 Topps Mantle for $36.00 in a SCD phone auction both in the early 70's.

[ATP]

First card I purchased from a dealer was a 1986 Fleer Jose Canseco rookie, for $10. I couldn't afford the Donruss one, at that time in 1987 they were going for $20. I remember the first week I had it, I took it out of the case and was admiring it. Laid it down on the ground in my room for a minute, and our cat (she was hefty) walked right over the top of it. Left a small crease and a couple light puncture marks from two claws...thankfully it was on the Eric Plunk half. Back in those days it still would have been considered near mint to my friends and I. Still have the card around somewhere.

[Bpm0014]

Neat story Paul. I was the one who won it. I'll take good care of it!

[E93]

In 1979 when I was in junior high and first discovered card shows and old cards I bought a 1960 Yogi Berra. Later that year I traded half my collection for a T206 Cobb/red.
JimB

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by Bpm0014

Neat story Paul. I was the one who won it. I'll take good care of it!

Excellent!!

[ejharrington]

1972 Topps Dave Kingman rookie card; $3.25 at Card Collectors Closet in Springfield, MA in 1984. At the time, it was a fairly sizable investment when you could buy about 10 packs of cards for that amount. I still own the card and all of my Kingman cards from the 70's-80's.

[tedzan]

Spring/Summer of 1947

My folks preferred BOND BREAD....so, my sister and I had fun carefully pulling out of the bread loaf packages these neat B/W BB cards. I still have them.

We were just 7 and 8 years old, respectively....and, I still recall how excited she and I would get, finding a Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams,
Stan Musial, or Phil Rizzuto (our nearby neighbor in Hillside, NJ).

My Father and my Uncle Chris owned restaurants, so we convinced them to by Bond Bread in order for us have a larger source of these BB cards (plus,
the four Boxers in the set).

Anyone of these cards were my very first Sportscard......











TED Z

[Theoldprofessor]

The first card I ever saw was a '48 Leaf Ruth. A kid down the block had bought a pack and opened them. Nobody wanted it because he wasn't a current player. As I recall, it went in the trash with the gum and the wrapper.


The first I ever bought was a T206 Schaefer

T206 Schaefer 001.jpg

[Theoldprofessor]

Never mind!

[pcoz]

Daryl that's great, lol!!!!!

[veleno45]

My first single card purchased was the 81 Tim Raines rookie. My first pre-war purchase was a "lot" of about 15 T206's from eBay. That was my first hit of pre-war crack. I still can't get off the stuff.

[Orioles1954]

First Card: 1978 Kellogg's Lyman Bostock. I was 6 years old and I was wondering what all the "stuff" was on it....so I picked it off!

First Packs: 1983 Topps Football from a corner drug store in San Jose, California in 1983. I bought them for the sole purpose of scooping mud.

First single card purchase: 1972 Topps Hank Aaron for $10 at Dixie's Card Shop in Williamsport, PA. I was only 8 years old in 1984 and for some reason I thought Hank Aaron was white. So I bought the card and kind of stared at it for a while.

[basesareempty]

My first card I ever purchased was a 1977 Topps Brooks Robinson($1)and later that day I purchased a 1982 Topps Cal Ripken($2).This was in 1982 and I was 12. My first T206 I ever purchased was a Gabby Street catching raw in vg condition for $10 about 5 years ago.

[Big Six]

Saved money from my paper route to buy a '73 Topps Schmidt rookie...that had to be back in 1984 or 1985...want to say it cost me upwards of $75? Also remember buying a Mattingly Topps rookie in 1984 for $10 or $20 from a school friend (Mark Murphy of all people for those who know The Baseball Card Kid).

[albrshbr]

Originally Posted by Big Six

Saved money from my paper route to buy a '73 Topps Schmidt rookie...that had to be back in 1984 or 1985...want to say it cost me upwards of $75? Also remember buying a Mattingly Topps rookie in 1984 for $10 or $20 from a school friend (Mark Murphy of all people for those who know The Baseball Card Kid).

Matt - That's great...as I posted my 1st single purchase was also the 73 Schmidt

[Section103]

Its weird that I don't know my first single card purchased, but I remember my first card out of a pack.

My single card might have been a ratty T206 Tris Speaker.

My first card out of a pack was the glorious 1974 Topps Bob Moose.

[DHogan]

I don't recall the 1st card I bought. But, I the 1st one I actively went looking to buy was the 1990 Score bb Bo Jackson card with him in his football shoulder pads on and a bat over his shoulders. I still have it too.

[dferguso1988]

1989 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr when I about 6!

[Jeffrompa]

I bought lots of packs as a kid starting in 1965 . First card that comes to mind is Cookie Rojas from the Phillies . After that never bought a card until some Signed Dominator Elites in the 90's which I sold too quickly .

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Jeffrompa

I bought lots of packs as a kid starting in 1965 . First card that comes to mind is Cookie Rojas from the Phillies . After that never bought a card until some Signed Dominator Elites in the 90's which I sold too quickly .

I started buying packs that same year. It seemed like every pack that I bought contained a Gary Bell.

[Jeffrompa]

I had lots of commons most of which were flipped against my parents garage door and lost

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by Jeffrompa

I had lots of commons most of which were flipped against my parents garage door and lost

What is flipping?

[kmac32]

1922 E121 Elmer Miller at the National in 1989 for prewar and back in maybe 1988 I started collecting all of the Chicago Cubs Topps cards including errors and variations

[Jeffrompa]

Originally Posted by I Only Smoke 4 the Cards

What is flipping?

Here are the basics but we added some other elements such as leaning cards against a wall to try and knock them over to win them .


Rules are simple; from a standing position, the first player takes a card, holds it along his side and then, with a flip of the wrist, lets it drop to the floor. It lands, with the picture facing up (heads) or the stats facing up (tails). The second player then flips and tries to match the card. If they match (both heads or both tails), player #2 wins the cards, if they did not match, the cards goes to player #1. I lost 100s of cards this way .

[ullmandds]

On a slightly different note...the cards I WANTED to buy as a kid...from my early days of collecting...but couldn't afford to were:

67 topps seaver rookie for $7
54 topps aaron rookie for $25

I also remember wanting a pete rose rookie...which I tried to steal from my neighbor...who was older...but he suspected mischief and while searching for contraband under my leg he tore the rose rookie into pieces...at which time he let me keep it!

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Jeffrompa

Here are the basics but we added some other elements such as leaning cards against a wall to try and knock them over to win them .


Rules are simple; from a standing position, the first player takes a card, holds it along his side and then, with a flip of the wrist, lets it drop to the floor. It lands, with the picture facing up (heads) or the stats facing up (tails). The second player then flips and tries to match the card. If they match (both heads or both tails), player #2 wins the cards, if they did not match, the cards goes to player #1. I lost 100s of cards this way .

We used to use the grade school wall as a backstop. We would stand about 15 foot away and flip them at the wall. Closest card to the wall wins. Back then I never collected just bough the occasional pack or 2 to play. We also done this with nickels and dimes.

[danmckee]

T206 Downey Cinncy Glove in air for .50 in 1970 just to have a tobacco card.

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by Jeffrompa

Here are the basics but we added some other elements such as leaning cards against a wall to try and knock them over to win them .


Rules are simple; from a standing position, the first player takes a card, holds it along his side and then, with a flip of the wrist, lets it drop to the floor. It lands, with the picture facing up (heads) or the stats facing up (tails). The second player then flips and tries to match the card. If they match (both heads or both tails), player #2 wins the cards, if they did not match, the cards goes to player #1. I lost 100s of cards this way .

My card-collecting buddies and I were very competitive. We played the above described games to win each other's cards.

We called another game we played (my favorite) "sail touch." It was played on a large, open floor area. To start the game, the first player (there were 4 of us kids) would sail a card to the open floor area. Each player, in turn, would then sail a card, the object being to land your card such that any part of it covered any part of any other card that was already laying on the floor. Once someone accomplished this, then each remaining player, in turn, had one chance to sail a card to partially cover any card already on the floor. If these remaining players failed to do this, then the first player won all of the cards on the floor. If one or more of the remaining players also accomplished this, then only these accomplishers remained in the game, which continued on as though no one had yet partially covered another card with his card. I liked this game much better than "knock down" (leaning a card against a wall and sailing cards until someone knocked it down) because the cards didn't get dinged up so badly so quickly!

Our card sailing and flipping games ended when some adult taught us kids how to play poker and blackjack. We then gambled our cards, until we got old enough to get newspaper routes or after-school-jobs, which enabled us to gamble our hard-earned nickels, dimes, and quarters instead. Those were good times in the late 1950's!!
Val

[Jayworld]

From a dealer: 1979 Topps baseball complete set from Leon Rock in January of 1979; cost: $9.99 plus shipping. His price beat other dealers by at least $4, but I had to wait 2 months to get the cards. Also assorted cards from Richard Gelman's Card Collector's Company that year, such as different lots of 1960s-70s Topps, T206 cards (50 cents each)

From a show: 1933 Goudey Gus Mancuso, 1951 Bowman Bobby Thompson, 1951 Bowman Hank Arft, Dallas Baseball Card Show at the Twin 60s Hotel, 1979.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Sounds a lot like pogs (the game of my childhood).

[footlong]

Bought a lot of 20 1952 topps from Frank Nagy. He told me to send my want list and money. Did this several times, I was never smart enough to ask for high numbers. RIP Frank.

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by I Only Smoke 4 the Cards

Sounds a lot like pogs (the game of my childhood).

Pogs! That was a (short-lived) part of my childhood as well.

[drmondobueno]

...no one I knew bought individual cards. We bought packs from the local New Star market and traded marbles, cards and Gila monsters. Of course these trades were subject to our Mom's approval (hah)...the cards were mostly 1961 through 1963 Topps. Must have had a dozen or more '62 Mantles. Loved the Maris card, 61 Home Runs!

The first individual card I remember buying, sometime around 1980, was a '63 Topps Juan Marichal. Cost me $3.25 in a live auction at a card show, the West Covina mall. My first tobacco card was a t206 Jack Bastian. Still have the Bastian.

[bigfanNY]

Very first individual card was an E95 cobb at the New York antiques show in Madison Square Garden 1973 cost $4. First pack was 1968 Topps at the Rainbow Deli in my home town. In 1972 I had a paper route and would often walk to deli on collection day and buy a few packs one of the older kids in the neighborhood saw me and we started talking about cards and he gave me a Box of cards from 1964 thru 1966 and told three of his friends that I collected cards and they did the same. One even bought over his satchel 0f 64 coins. They just wanted someone to enjoy them instead of their Mom's throwing them out. It was nice when my neighborhood was filled with neighbors.
Jonathan

[auggiedoggy]

Can't really remember the exact card. My first cards were actually non-sport - monster cards from around 1961-62, i.e. Horror Monsters. A few years later I got into baseball and hockey. They would have been Topps/O-Pee-Chee cards from around 1963-64.

[richardcards]

first single card purchased from baseball card store 1985
1963 Topps burgess for 25 cents

[25801wv]

In 1987 I bought a 1985 Topps McGwire for $20 and I also bought a M&M Panel with Canseco & Dale Murphy (I think) for about a couple of bucks around the same time.

[icollectDCsports]

The first second-hand cards I ever purchased were through the mail from Gar Miller, probably around 1977 or 1978. A late 60s Don Drysdale card and 2 Senators team cards from the 50s. Wish vintage cards could still be purchased at those prices.

[glynparson]

Gil Hodges in 1979.

[callou2131]

In 1987 I was 12. had never collected cards or bought packs but I walked into a shop that was almost all comics (Whick I never collected either) and saw a 1982 Donruss Ripken in the case for $8. Dont know why I bought it but I did. Ripken seems to be a main theme here in card collecting.

[clydepepper]

T206 Evers

[Orioles1954]

My story is kind of funny. It was 1986 and I was 10 years old. My father and I had visited the shopping mall where my brother was working as a teenage clerk at a computer store. When we arrived at the store, we walked into a situation where the store manager was berating my brother for some reason. My dad was very upset and gave me $10....told me to go away for 10 minutes and buy something. (later I realized it was so he could give the store manager a piece of his mind). I left the store and wandered through an antique show going on in the mall at the same time. I came upon a fellow selling these pictures of old ball players. I gave him a $10 bill and asked him to pick one out for me. The nice old gentleman gave me a worn, but presentable 1909-11 T206 White Borders Red Ames (Portrait). I've been hooked ever since.

[jbsports33]

Connie Mack OJ


Jimmy

[RTK]

I don't consider myself a card collector in the way most folks here are. I buy few cards. My first significant card was a '57 Ted Williams. The first cards I bought that didn't come from a pack back when I was a kid were some common early 60's cards of Cubs players.

[aquarius31]

1948 Play Ball Pete Reiser that I purchased at a mall in 1985. Still one of my favorites.

[arc2q]

I remember buying two T206s at the local card shop in 1987 for $4 each. I thought it was so amazing to have these relics that were so old, but my friends seems perplexed I would spend that money on old, creased cards instead of the latest Jose Canseco card. Even then vintage cards held a special mystique to me. I still have the Barbeau and Nichols.

I recall the Holy Grail card among my friends at the time (late 80s) was the 1977 Dale Murphy rookie card. It seemed unobtainable but I had a friend whose mother gave him $75 for one. I was shocked. 25 years later I finally bought one on eBay for about $2 or so. I had a tremendous feeling of satisfaction when it came in the mail. I finally got it!