First Pack of Cards

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hey Leon
You are off a year, I pulled this card out an 1888 OLD JUDGE pack .......... my favorite set in my collection.



SERIOUSLY speaking............I pulled my first BB cards from the BOND BREAD packages in the Summer of 1947.



1947 Homogenized BOND BREAD wrapper





Here are Yogi Berra, Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Ralph Kiner, Bobby Thomson (any of which were my 1st BB cards). These are their true "ROOKIE" cards.





TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Absolutely awesome!

[guy3050]

1971-72 O-Pee-Chee hockey

[stlcardsfan]

1972 Topps In Lincoln, IL at Age 5. Still remember the Chris Chambliss All Star Rookie card!

[pingman59]

For me, 1968 Topps BB 1st Series Rack Packs, purchased at the Woolworth's department store. I don't remember any of the cards from my first purchase, but do recall anxiously waiting to return later to purchase more. It wasn't until later that summer that I purchased my first 5 cent wax pack (in a different town). Up until then, I didn't know wax packs existed. I was more thrilled with the insert game card than the actual cards in that pack. At Christmas that year, my parents gave me a Topps Fun Pack which had several 1968 Topps BB 6th and 7th series packs (1 card to a pack). I remember getting a Manny Jiminez and a Phil Roof. That would begin a trend of pulling plenty of Phil Roof cards over the next three years.

[FrankWakefield]

1964 Topps. I bought a very few packs at the end of the season. And didn't keep up with them, they were lost before the next season started. I bought a bunch of 1965 Topps, maybe had 300 cards including duplicates. Only a few packs in 1966; then in 1967 I liked the cards, was scrounging up more coins for cards, and eventually had what I recall as being the set. I'm gonna fill those out here sometime soon.

One thing younger collectors miss out on is buying cards as they came out in series. When word spread that there was a new series out, we were on our bicycles with a plan on buying ball cards. A modern equivalent is the internet and eBay. Trading or acquiring cards you lacked was peer to peer initially, then by mail from lists and known card fanatics. Now, many cards are just a click away, and you can pay for them with a few more clicks. I'm sure there are guys on here who sent cash and coins through the mail buying cards in their old days.

[savedfrommyspokes]

1980 Topps baseball wax pack, my great Aunt gave me and my cousin a handful of packs one day on a visit. Still have the 40-50 cards from that day....no Henderson though.

[HercDriver]

Mine was 1974 also, from the Woolworth's in Freeport, IL. I was hooked, and have been ever since. Still one of my favorite sets...

Cheers,
Geno

[Tao_Moko]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

I'm sure there are guys on here who sent cash and coins through the mail buying cards in their old days.

Crazy thing is that it wasn't that long ago. I remember anxiously waiting to see if my Lew Lipset mail in order would return with cards. Just hoping I got to one on my list before the next guy. I don't think I bought my first card off of the internet until sometime in the 2000's.

[FrankWakefield]

The Lew Lipset boxes.... I have a couple a dozen of those secreted away on shelves and in closets. My family has always given me grief over saving boxes. Until this time of year, before the holidays. Then they'd sheepishly come to me and ask if I had a box about this long and this big, moving their hands as guides. I still have a few cards I'm certain I got from Lew's lists. Those boxes still bring me a smile. He could paraphrase Hans Wagner... "Ain't much to collectin' old ballcards, IF you know about old card collectin'"

[Collectorsince62]

1962 Topps 6th series. My mom let me ride my bike to the "dime store" by myself for the first time to buy whatever I wanted for a nickel. The boxes were right next to the register and the wrapper was so colorful. I kept those five cards together in a desk drawer for many years but somehow misplaced one of them, but having the remaining four is worth more to me than my entire 1962 set.

[frohme]

Originally Posted by Leon

It would have been 1966 or 1967 Topps. That was a while ago. I still can't believe I turned 60.....
.
.

Right behind ya Leon - 60 is staring me in the face.

My first packs were 69 Topps - no clue what cards were there, but I remember a Félix Millán - one of my favorites. Before I became a Pirates fan, it was Atlanta - the nearest team to Orlando back then. Don't have any of them anymore, but I do have the 7-11 Slurpee cups from '71 and '72, + the HOF set (73?). They take up way more space than cards, and rarely see the light of day anymore.

--
Mike

[rhettyeakley]

I found a 1977 Don Kirkwood in the basement storage area of my house (it had belonged to my older brother) and that was the 1st baseball card I had ever seen, thus making it my first card (I still have it).

A few days later my brother and I each got a pack of 1986 Topps at the store. I remember getting a Willie McGee card and thinking that that had to be the worst picture ever put on a card, which is probably the only reason I remember any cards from the pack.

[Stampsfan]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

1966 Topps Batman. I don't remember if I bought any baseball packs. If I did, I just don't remember.

That would be the same ones I recall, but obviously the OPC version. The first sports packs I bought were 1967-68 Topps hockey. Still constantly upgrading that set.

After that I remember buying 1968 OPC baseball, 1968-69 OPC hockey, and also 1968 OPC CFL football. Didn't know that last one would be considered a test issue until years later.

What I mostly recall is trying to do chores at home so I could get a quarter from my mom, and buy five packs of cards for that quarter. All from the corner confectionary store (called a depanneur in Montreal). Great memories...

[iwantitiwinit]

1967 Topps bought at Sal's Stationary Store in Stamford, CT. My Dad would buy me one pack after church every Sunday. I loved those 67's and loved my Dad, unfortunately both are gone now.

[Jeffrompa]

From Hiram Schwartz’ corner store in Milmont Park Pa.

[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. :-)

[Leon]

Originally Posted by frohme

Right behind ya Leon - 60 is staring me in the face.

My first packs were 69 Topps - no clue what cards were there, but I remember a Félix Millán - one of my favorites. Before I became a Pirates fan, it was Atlanta - the nearest team to Orlando back then. Don't have any of them anymore, but I do have the 7-11 Slurpee cups from '71 and '72, + the HOF set (73?). They take up way more space than cards, and rarely see the light of day anymore.

--
Mike

Well, we did play against each other in Little League.

.

[Seven]

Love hearing these stories, I was waiting for Ted to chime in with his stories from his pulling cards from packs days!

Can only imagine the feeling of pulling guys like Mays, Mantle, Robinson, etc from a pack. I'm sure the feeling has remained the same for younger collectors today when they pull the stars from today out of a pack of cards!

At least back then though there was no "Prismatic Superfractor Diecut Serially numbered NFT variation." Simpler times, simpler cards, I'm sure. And for a hell of a lot cheaper too!

[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

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

I'll never forget it. 1977 Topps, my mom bought them for me. She gave me the pack while grocery shopping. I didn't understand what they were. She tried to explain that they had cards of all different players, and you could trade them with your friends until you got all the ones you liked, or the full set.

I had no clue what a "set" was, or anything. But I opened that pack, and inside there was a Rod Carew. To me, 8 years old or whatever, Rod Carew was the greatest player on earth, and that card was BEAUTIFUL, with the camera focused on Carew with the blurry player in the background, and "A.L. All Stars" emblazoned across the bottom of the card. It was fantastic, and it had all his stats on the back!

I was hooked. Baseball cards were all I thought about when I was a kid, 8-10 years old. I'm glad I've gotten over them.

-Al

Gotten over the cards...hmmm. If you say so, Al.

[donmuth]

1985 Fleer from an Eckerd drug store in Florida while visiting my grand parents. Bought by my dad when I saw them and asked him what they were. Probably around 45 cents a pack or so if I remember right.

[Griffins]

'70 Topps 4th series. Felipe Alou, Carew AS, Phillies Team, Billy Grabarkewitz, John O'Donughue, Tim Cullen. And a scratch off with Tom Seaver on the front.

[Bobbycee]

My first was a pack of 7th series '70 Topps Baseball. My mother handed it to me in the backseat of the family car on a long trip to Maine, to shut me up (& it did..). I stared at the Bud Harrelson card, which featured him signing a program for a fan.

Then next year ('71 Topps Baseball), the stuff really hit the fan. Boy those beautiful black bordered cards with the tremendous actions shots really gripped me, and still do today.

[mrreality68]

enjoying this post.

1. Shows many of our ages
2. Fun sharing some of the memories
3. Interesting view many have and share in this post

[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.

[ASF123]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

enjoying this post.

1. Shows many of our ages
2. Fun sharing some of the memories
3. Interesting view many have and share in this post

I love it because it makes me feel so young!

[Natedog]

It must have been either 1988 Topps or Donruss. I thought about buying a box and ripping them for fun and nostalgia.

[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.

[Gorditadogg]

Deertick that is a bittersweet story.

I was 9 years old in 1966 and I liked Mickey Mantle. I used to ride my bike with my friends to the IGA in South Jacksonville IL and buy packs two at a time. I bet I bought a hundred packs before I gave up, never did pull a Mantle. Of course I didn't know how the series' worked back then, by the time I started buying packs they were already done with series 1 and were selling series 2 and 3.

I did visit my cousins later in the year and they had some Mantles which they traded me for Mays and Rose cards so I eventually got my Mantle. They also had some series 7 cards because I traded for Gaylord Perry.

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[Exhibitman]

1970 Topps baseball. I bought the pack on a Friday night at an ice cream store in the mall in Mahopac NY. I don't remember who was in it and don't have the cards now, but that was definitely the first. By 1971 I was buying packs with every dime I had. Total addict. My birthday present in 1975 was two full boxes of Topps baseball wax packs. My avatar is me sorting 1975 Topps hockey on the floor of our house in Mahopac. I was ten. Awful/wonderful thing is that when I found the photo in our family albums 45 years later I could still name every card I could see.

[Eggoman]

It was 1969 Topps at Stella's Delicatessen on my 2nd Grade Lunch Break from Catholic School. My older brother introduced me to buying packs.

He was PISSED when I got Curt Flood and I was absolutely STOKED! Sister Viola confiscated my cards as soon as I returned to class. I tried not to sob the rest of the afternoon...

She returned them to me at the end of the day and told me "Never Again in my classroom!"

I can remember EVERY DETAIL of the event....

[Bliggity]

For me it was 1988. I was seven years old and my mother had just signed me up for my first season of parks & rec little league. For my birthday she got me a Dave Righetti glove and a pack of 1988 Donruss from the corner Exxon station near our house. I pulled a Mattingly card, can't remember which one, but I think it was the all star card. We lived two states away from the closest MLB team and I didn't know anything about anything, but my grandmother told me that he was the best player on the Yankees. So of course I started collecting him and he became my favorite player. I bought a lot of $0.35 packs from that Exxon over the next couple years. I just got rid of my entire childhood collection earlier this year, except for the 100 or so Mattingly cards, still in the same little box that I always kept them in.

[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.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by Seven

Probably some mid 90's junk wax, I can't recall a particular "Pack" that I bought first.

Gosh, I think we're in the top 3 youngest in this thread. My first pack was 1991 Topps, I was 5. No clue what cards I got. But I remember enjoying the AS cards in that set. And the Wade Boggs photo is pretty decent.

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[skil55voy]

1962 Topps: John DeMerit, Ray Washburn, Don Schwall, Al Schroll and the only man to pinch hit for Ted Williams: Carroll Hardy.

Still have the cards. My dad and I walked one block to the Universal Drugstore.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by todeen

Gosh, I think we're in the top 3 youngest in this thread. My first pack was 1991 Topps, I was 5. No clue what cards I got. But I remember enjoying the AS cards in that set. And the Wade Boggs photo is pretty decent.

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This forum probably isn't the youngest by age...
Now, get off of my grass!!
.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Leon

This forum probably isn't the youngest by age...
Now, get off of my grass!!
.

No...not at all.....I was excited that I only had 3 more years to go for IHOP to declare me a senior citizen!

[BCauley]

The first packs I actually remember opening were 1986 Topps and was always happy to pull a Red Sox player, particularly Clemens or Boggs.

I also had a small grouping of '84 and '85 Topps at the time but I don't recall ever opening packs of those so not sure where they came from unless my father bought them for me.

[Bill77]

Originally Posted by Natedog

It must have been either 1988 Topps or Donruss. I thought about buying a box and ripping them for fun and nostalgia.

Same for me. Bought 2 boxes a few years ago and opened them while sitting on the floor watching a baseball game just like my brother and I did back in 1988. Just made a lot more noise getting off of the floor compared to when I was 10 years old is all.

[John1941]

For my 6th birthday, my grandma gave me a 2012 Topps Yankees team set. I dabbled for a few years, and become obsessed after getting a couple thousand cards of various sports from some friends who moved into a house and found them.

I think I'm the youngest on Net54.

[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.

[Chuck9788]

Originally Posted by ChiefBeef

Pinned or taped at least 6 (1965) Mantles on the walls and back of the door. Ugh!

[drmondobueno]

I remember seeing a Dentist who was carving the remnant of a tooth to make way for the next generation. Usually at the end of a visit the dentist would offer a sucker but this trip he had a pack of baseball cards in his candy drawer and he said I could have them. I remember the pack was wrapped in clear cello and the top card was a Billy Williams Topps Rookie All Star card. I thought that was cool as hell and did not know who Billy was but he had to be good if Topps said so! Lol!

So it was on. The closest store was the once upon a time New Star market about a mile away up the highway. And I picked up a few ‘ 61 packs before the 1962 rack packs showed. They were a lot of money for a kid with no allowance and lawns to mow were few and far between- it was too hot and the soil was just terrible. So, whenever I got my hands on 29 cents it was a trip to the market in the morning- it would get around 117 in the afternoon, a death walk we would say- and scrounge through the packs to grab one with a Mantle The Switch Hitter Connects...to this day I love the In Action and Leader cards. I think I had 14 Mantle Connect cards at one time.

One of the first things I did when we moved to the garden city of San Bernardino (I prefer El Centro) in 1963 was scope out the local stores, the closest was R &S Liquor on Del Rosa Blvd. the Safeway down on the corner never carried cards that I could find. Seemed to remember the 1963 rack packs went up in price to 39 cents and I thought that was just too much! Did not like the looks of the ‘64 set but later bought as many 1965’s as I could get.

I was the kid who would not flip cards but would trade marbles for cards. Who needed marbles at eleven? A neighbor across the street would take an erasor to his duplicates and draw in phony eyes, noses with boogers and Frankenstein stitches onto faces. I still have one of his cards. Terry Bain was a 20th round pick , I think by Kansas City, in 1972 or 1973, and passed a few years back. I remember his giggle whenever he saw one of these cards.

The things you remember...

[campersmd]

First pack was from the complete 1969 Topps box that I purchased for $1.20 with gift money in 1969. I still have the marked checklists from that box.

[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