My very first card was...

Moonman

This one. I bought it for $1. This is the actual card that I’ve had since 1988 when I was 13 yrs old. It got me hooked immediately. Do you remember your first?

Stone193

Do you remember your first?

Unfortunately no.

I was gonna be a smart ass and say Carol Blackburn, Ypsilanti, MI.

_EagleEyeKid_

First card pulled or purchased? That's a toughie for either. Bought my first packs in 1978. I take that back. My brother and I and a couple of our neighborhood friends (hoodlums) all went down to our local Safeway supermarket and we stole 1978 Topps packs. Yes, I'm going to hell. My first card purchased was a 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn for $2 in 1984 at a comic book store called Hidee Hoo comics in Santa Monica.

BriYo79

The 1983 Fleer packs my dad would pick up for me on his way home from work. I was 4.

tulsaboy

One pack of 1986 Topps baseball. Had a Wade Boggs and a Dennis Eckersley in there.
kevin

Kid4hof03

First packs I ever opened were 1979 Topps football, first card I ever remember was Terry Bradshaw.

Moonman

Ive thought about subbing it just for sentimental value. But I'm not sure I want to receive a lower grade

billwaltonsbeard

86 Topps Eric Davis......I picked it up off of the floor at Walmart. I stuck it in my pocket and walked out with my mom thinking I had just won the lottery

2dueces

Monster Laffs 1966. My brothers shoe box stash when he went in the Army 1964

doubledragon

Ah, yes of course I remember the first time my wife hit me with a fly swatter. The purchase was a 1989 Topps Tiffany Randy Johnson.

LarkinCollector

1980 Empire Strikes Back rack pack, red border (first series?). They're beat to heck, but I've still got them around here somewhere.

Nathaniel1960

1980 Topps Dan Petry.

lahmejoon

Yes. 1976 Topps Hank Aaron #1 record breaker card. My grandma took me to a card shop and I gravitated toward Hank, since my name is Aaron. It was the cheapest card available at the time. I still have the card - it's sitting in my 1976 set and is the one card that I don't think I would ever get rid of.

Charlie9

Found a 1972 Topps Garland Boyette (Oilers) on the sidewalk - I think in 1973. From there I started buying FB packs in 1974 but can't remember my first pull.

Moonman

Ok let me ask the question in a different way ... What got you hooked on the hobby? Why are you baseball focused vs football or hockey

doubledragon

I started collecting Joe Louis cards after watching a documentary about him, and seeing that black and white footage of him fighting in the 30s and 40s. I became fascinated with him. I still am. The great Brown Bomber.

doubledragon

EagleEyeKid said:
First card pulled or purchased? That's a toughie for either. Bought my first packs in 1978. I take that back. My brother and I and a couple of our neighborhood friends (hoodlums) all went down to our local Safeway supermarket and we stole 1978 Topps packs. Yes, I'm going to hell. My first card purchased was a 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn for $2 in 1984 at a comic book store called Hidee Hoo comics in Santa Monica.

Don't feel bad, I have trained a local gang of punk monkeys to steal from my neighbors for me.

JakeR2234

88 Topps Football and looking for Chicago Bears cards got me hooked.

hyperchipper09

First pack was 78 Topps baseball. Pack had a Tony Perez in it, I remember that much. First single card I ever bought was a 1974 Topps Steve Garvey. I liked the look of that card in the 1982 K-Mart set so it became first single bought.

NGS428

Probably was 1990 Topps or Donruss.

Moonman

@JakeR2234 said:
88 Topps Football and looking for Chicago Bears cards got me hooked.

My love of the bears is what got me to that Payton card, Eventually

jordangretzkyfan

Technically my first packs were 1982 Fleer football (yes, Fleer team action photos), followed by tons of Garbage Pail Kids from series 1-15. However, my first baseball card was a sick 1984 Topps Strawberry RC...

ahopkins

I'm pretty certain my first packs were 1983 Topps. I had a big mirror on the back of my dresser and I used to put the cards on the mirror wedged in the frame. I have always held these specific cards near to my collecting heart and proof of my youth. They've always stood as symbols of what is right in my collector's mind. I cared not for condition then, but I loved those cards like they were my best friends. Here are the few, creases and all, that used to adorn that mirror:

Moonman

@ahopkins said:
I'm pretty certain my first packs were 1983 Topps. I had a big mirror on the back of my dresser and I used to put the cards on the mirror wedged in the frame. I have always held these specific cards near to my collecting heart and proof of my youth. They've always stood as symbols of what is right in my collector's mind. I cared not for condition then, but I loved those cards like they were my best friends. Here are the few, creases and all, that used to adorn that mirror:

I love the cards with a little wear on them, I mean mint is always nice but the story that comes with the card is always better

soxaddict

My dad took me to the Nashville flea market around 1980. He bought me these for my birthday. I don’t remember how much we spent, but I’m sure it was less than $50.

1968 Mantle
1964 Mays
1958 Aaron
1958 Matthews
1959 Berra
1959 Snider
1963 Musial
1958 Spahn

I remember buying a 1967 Mantle with my own money that day for $10.

I remember having a price guide. I think it was called CCP. It was a little thin newspaper feel price guide. 1952 Mantle was on my wish list. It booked for $1500.

In4apenny

1955, I was ten at the time. Put the Don Mossi on my bike wheel. When it wore out put the rest of the pack one at a time until they were all gone. Don't remember who the rest were because I had the Rams Pictures on my wall. Men played football. Baseball cards made nice noise's when they were in my spokes.

Stingray

@Stone193 said:

Do you remember your first?

Unfortunately no.

I was gonna be a smart ass and say Carol Blackburn, Ypsilanti, MI.

Stone, you from Michigan??

My first card had to be something from 1974 Topps baseball as that is when I first bought packs.

Soonerific

I can't remember my first card, but my first packs were 1978 Topps baseball. The first set I completed from packs was 1980 Topps baseball. I still remember the very last card I needed was Phil Mankowski #216 of the Detroit Tigers. I was eating dinner with my family when the doorbell rang. It was the kid from a couple houses down. He had pulled a Phil Mankowski and offered it to me for $1.50. My dad was still at the table telling me to close the door and rejoin the family at the dinner table. I explained to my dad the situation and to my delight and surprise he got up from the table, came to the door, and pull two $1 bills out of his wallet and handed them to the kid. I was so excited. Been hooked for 40 years now, but have really switched my focus to vintage football the past decade or so. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of my dad taking me to the local card shop or card shows.

Moonman

I was talking to my dad about the hobby the other day and he told he had boxes of early 50's baseball that he bought for the gum. Well he and his friends were giants fans and they hated the Yankees, he told me they took great pleasure in putting the mantle cards on their bike spokes just to hear the noise. Then I told him what the Mantle cards are worth today.....and we all know how that conversation went

toadstrangler

1978 Topps Baseball. No idea what the first pack was like.

slimies

first card was a 1959 topps whammy douglas

psychump

Never forgot opening my first pack and here he was!

Stone193

@Stingray said:

@Stone193 said:

Do you remember your first?

Unfortunately no.

I was gonna be a smart ass and say Carol Blackburn, Ypsilanti, MI.

Stone, you from Michigan??

My first card had to be something from 1974 Topps baseball as that is when I first bought packs.

Hiya Kirk - my dad lived in downtown Detroit after I went into the Army.

He had a traveling auction that went to county fairs in the summer - mostly in Michigan.

mrmopar

Have no clue. I would assume my first card was from a pack of 78 Topps baseball, but even that could be off. It might have been a non-sports set. Don't remember the first pack of baseball cards, what cards were inside, exactly where it came from or anything of the sort. Wish I did. Maybe had I recognized the significance at the time, I might have seared it into my memory.

I couldn't tell you the first card single I bought. Might have been a vintage cards from the 50s, but can't be sure. I can't remember the first card I won on ebay either. I hardly remember what I bought last month.

markj111

A 1961 Killebrew was the first card I bought raw on ebay that graded PSA 8.

Horse

First:

FrozenRope

1972 Topps baseball in wax and cellos (cherry picking packs! lol). I literally spent all of my $ on packs, while my buddies bought candy and soda. Even though I'm a sox fan (loved Yaz back then), my strongest recollection of my 1st good pull from '72 was Willie Mays.

CARDSANDCOINS

1974 topps mike sadek

lucasj

One single pack of 85T football. I distinctly remember a Walter Payton record breaker.

1986T baseball set for Christmas.

Two packs of 87F basketball from Ben Franklin with mom.

87T FB, 88F BKB and all the 88s in BB are the first sets I went all in on packs.

Seems like yesterday.

GreenSneakers

Seems like I have a lot of company in my first ripping being Topps baseball in Summer 1978. I remember the first card in my first rip, #641 Doug Rau. Last year I went through my boxes and found that exact card. It’ll grade a 2 from a generous grader. I’m sending it in my next submission though and plan on displaying prominently. Condition has its place in the hobby but memories matter more.

ArmyMan

Don't remember the first card , just the packs 1982 Fleer at the corner liquor store, went good with my bottle of RC cola

3stars

1979 Topps Larry Bowa. I was six and was excited because it had the all star banner above the team name.

Unknown

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rexvos

I still remember it like it was yesterday. My older brother by 5 years decided to give me his cards because I liked them more than him including his Archie Manning. None of the others mattered. I actually had a card of Archie.

Billyk97

I don't quite remember my first pack of cards I opened. I think it was 2001 topps because Albert Pujols was my favorite player growing up and always kept every single card of his in a binder. However, I do remember my favorite card I have ever found in a pack. It was either 2005 or 2006 topps heritage and my dad came back home from Target with all the individual packs they had left. I pulled a Yogi Berra signature of the 1957 design. As a 9 year old, I was ecstatic and always been interested in Yogi Berra ever since.

My first pack I ever bought myself was 2013 Topps Heritage. My mom gave me $70 to spend while I visited my grandparents in Wisconsin. My grandpa took me to Walmart and convinced me somehow to spend all my money to buy baseball cards with him. I didn't think much of it at the time about the value of baseball cards and when I started getting back into collecting this year, I was cleaning out my room before going back to college and found all of those baseball cards I bought with my grandpa. Thank goodness I kept those baseball cards.

ssollars

I only "first" card I can remember is my first graded card. That was a PSA 6 Jim Brown Rookie off eBay.

The first cards I ever collected were 1977 Star Wars, then 1980 Empire Strikes Back, then finally my first football cards in 1981.

Beezer12

First pack was 1971 OPC baseball. Got an Expo, liked the uniform and immediately became a fan. My first trade was for a Ken Dryden OPC rookie for a 71’ Phil Esposito. didn’t know who either were back then. The Dryden is the only card I still have from my childhood collection.

MikeyP

The 1977 Topps Star Wars and 1978 Topps Baseball were the first sets that I collected as a kid. I never came close to completing them, which is the reason why I enjoy collecting them as an adult today. The first card that I ever purchased was a 1984 Topps Don Mattingly RC. I paid $30 for it.

dictoresno1

owned a bunch of commons in the 80's, however my first card I bought in a store was in the early 90's. it was a 1984 Topps Mattingly rookie card. it was one of the first cards I ever sent to PSA, ended up only getting a 5 due to a minor surface wrinkle I totally missed and is barely visible. still have it, dont have the heart to sell it.

Moonman

@dictoresno1 said:
owned a bunch of commons in the 80's, however my first card I bought in a store was in the early 90's. it was a 1984 Topps Mattingly rookie card. it was one of the first cards I ever sent to PSA, ended up only getting a 5 due to a minor surface wrinkle I totally missed and is barely visible. still have it, dont have the heart to sell it.

Keep that thing forever man!!

dictoresno1

@Moonman said:

@dictoresno1 said:
owned a bunch of commons in the 80's, however my first card I bought in a store was in the early 90's. it was a 1984 Topps Mattingly rookie card. it was one of the first cards I ever sent to PSA, ended up only getting a 5 due to a minor surface wrinkle I totally missed and is barely visible. still have it, dont have the heart to sell it.

Keep that thing forever man!!

almost sold it the other day to someone who needed a low grade or raw for a signing, but for the value of it, I couldn't see myself letting it go for so little. still has sentimental value to me. I remember walking into the shop and buying it.