Your First Trading Cards - Which Ones Were They?

DirtyDog48

1954 and New York City was in the middle of a bloody "White Bread War" between the established Silvercup Bread brand and a brash new upstart named Wonder Bread which sported garish wrapping festooned with Red, Blue and Yellow balloons.

In an effort to increase sales, Wonder struck a deal with Topps cards and started inserting 5 Topps cards in a separate pocket at the end of their white bread loaves.

One day I was sent to the corner grocery store with strict instructions from mom to buy Silvercup (because Wonder Bread was "nothing but air") but I couldn't resist the temptation of 5 "free" Topps cards with each loaf. My mom started sending my sister down to the store after that, but those '54 Topps were the first cards that I ever went out and bought (sort of) for myself.

MorrellMan

...and thus was born the DirtyDog....

DirtyDog48

And years of therapy to get me over that Wonder Bread thing

AkbarClone

My first cards were also the WonderBreads, but they were 1976. I was soon collecting Topps football from that year as well. Too bad my idea of displaying them was the old thumbtacked to the bulletin board trick!
James

orion9578

The first cards I bought on a regular basis are now more then worthless. 92-93 fleer ultra and 92-93 upper deck(all sports). Go figure .

Knuckles

1987-88 O-Pee-Chee hockey. I was 7 years old and my dad bought me 3 to 5 packs from a corner store called Red Rooster.

ajw

I can't remember a time when I didn't have baseball cards. While I can't actually remember getting them, the oldest cards that I had as a kid were from 1977. I was born at the end of summer in 1974, so I would have been less than three when my parents bought me those packs. My father also took me to a Brewer game before my first birthday specifically so I could someday say "I saw Hank Aaron play." I still have the "Home Run King" pennant he bought me that day.

Awesome parents, huh?

bowdowntome

My mom let me buy some rack packs of 1970 Topps at the local Thriftymart, because she thought a hobby would be a nice distraction "for a while". I started going to shows in 1974 at the tender age of 11, buying vintage cards (50's, 60's and T206's).

Onlypsahockey

68 Topps hockey. Carried my Orr's around in my back pocket.



Bob

Stone193

DirtyDog
In the bread wars - let's not leave out Bond Bread - back in the early 80s, I was traveling thru a small town and saw an old painted sign on the side of a building that actually still had on it: Hopalong Cassidy eats Bond Bread! And of course, so did Jackie Robinson.





mike

NBAFan

84 Topps Baseball Cello packs from Stop-N-Go

90 Proset Football

91-92 Upper Deck Basketball

I remember pulling the Derrick Coleman Rookie Standout insert and it being worth the most in that set at the time. I think $6. I think LJ rookies were around $10 at the time.

Stone193

When I was a small kid, the exhibit machines were still in candy stores - they were the first cards that I bought - then came the wax - the 58s were the first that I can remember opening in any large amount.
Knew nothing about the series and now.....it all makes sense!

mike

N162Collector

1986 Donruss

First cards I actively collected were 1968 Topps

phreakydancin

1980-81 OPC hockey... traded a Tiger Williams to the neighbour kid for Wayne Gretzky

Of course, that Gretz would grade about a 2 or 3 today

NewJerseyMeatHook

1974 Topps baseball. Dad got a real good deal on two wax boxes at Ekberg's Drug in Mpls. in October (They were clearing things out for football season). We sat down and busted 'em open. He explained the importance of never touching the corners, and even made his own little square cardboards so as not to leave rubberband indentations.

At 36, I still get a bit nervous handling his collection of '52-'60's!Text

Knuckles

<< <i>explained the importance of never touching the corners, and even made his own little square cardboards so as not to leave rubberband indentations. >>


Hah! that's pretty funny but GOOD that he was so anal regarding keeping the cards in good shape... Not too many did back then.

This makes me wonder when the first top loaders or 'card protectors' made readily available?

ctsoxfan

Now, there is a guy who was ahead of his time! Imagine caring about the condition of cards back in 1974!

Not that I was throwing them around or anything, but I used to sort the cards by team, or maybe numerical order, or whatever I felt like that given day. I did this in piles of cards on my bedroom floor (or even back porch). I remember collecting cards as far back as 1973, but it wasn't until 1975 that I began going for a set of cards each year. Never finished one until 1978 however (still have it!).

softparade

The first packs that I remember busting myself were 1976 Topps. I did have ALOT of 70 - 75 Topps as a kid but they were all cards my brother opened and we ruined joyfully. 1978 Topps was the first year that I seriously tried putting a set together. I was 9 at the time and I don't remember how close to completion I got. I do know that they ended up in 3 different huge cardboard boxes scattered all over the place. Rubber bands marks, awful corners, checked checklists, the whole 9 yards

iamthegreatcornholio

1990 Donruss - I was a dumb 7 year old



Brian

softparade

cornhole .... not your fault that you were born into modern. The only thing any 7 year old in the 50's and 60's have over us now is there baseball card collection and prescription medicine collection

denwd1

<< <i>cornhole .... The only thing any 7 year old in the 50's and 60's have over us now is there baseball card collection and perscription medicine collection >>

hey i think i resemble that remark******1959 topps *****i was enamored with the team logos at the bottom of the cards,also i remember cutting the "action figure" out from the '55 topps,making a little card. but those 59's still sometimes make me feel 7 years old again.

baseballfanatic

Not really cards, but the old corner store in the area I was raised had a row of shelves in the back which carried every novelty ever known to mankind. In between the 10 cent wallets and yo-yos was a box of StarCal decals which were sold for a nickel each. I would return coke bottles I collected in the neighborhood and in exchange I would get my pick of the litter from the decals since I was the only one who even cared they were there. The store owner was glad to exchange the old overstocked inventory rather than give me the usual 2 cents per regular bottle or 5 cents per quart bottle.....

NewJerseyMeatHook

Still have my 1974's, too! Not in the greatest of shape anymore, but still cool to thumb through, nonetheless.

xbaggypants

<< <i>1987-88 O-Pee-Chee hockey. I was 7 years old and my dad bought me 3 to 5 packs from a corner store called Red Rooster.

Ahhh.. Good ole Red Rooster. My first cards were bought there too. 1981-82 OPC Hockey, Love the Mike Palmateer RB card.

bobbybakeriv

My Mom allowed me to buy a pack of 1976 baseball cards in exchange for my running to the local grocery store (Stockton's IGA) for her, list in hand. Over that summer, I made a number of bicycle runs to the store for her, happy as a lark each time I did so. I made it a point to only open the packs when I reached the safety of my room. The first card I remember pulling that really made me happy was Graig Nettles, all-star 3B for the NY Yankees. He immediately became my favorite player since I played 3B on my little league team.

gosteelers

1980 Topps were the first I collected full steam (I was 9). I live within minutes of Duryea, PA (Topps Plant). I remember my friend's dad had a contact at Topp's and he would always have full boxes to open, I'm assuming, for free But my loving Mom would always find a way to bring some packs home for me

Mark

Carew29

Can't remember what was in the first pack but it was a 1969 topps baseball pack that i bought at the local K-Mart with my paper route money.

Knuckles

I glued my '87 OPC cards in a sticker album I made.. No huge loss but there was an Adam Oats RC.. My favourites were of Edmonton Oilers players.. I had Messier and Coffey (didn't glue them in because I liked studding the backs of their cards)

CollectorChris

My first card was a Topps 2004 A-Rod card in my crib. WAHHHHHH!!

Boopotts

'77 Topps basketball, followed by '81 hockey.

Lothar52

1986 topps football..woohoo!!

loth

zef204

1983 topps baseball and Ryne Sandburg and Jody Davis were my two favorites. Hey, at least one of them panned out. I still have them all in the same box that My dad bought me.

Any one else have one of these boxes from the early 80's? They could fit two rows of cards, were white cardboard with blue baseball player sillouhettes?sp? all over them, and they came with sticker with all the MLB team names to put on the dividers that came with the box.

I still go back to my parents house and look through them during holidays and such. Good thing I wrote my name on them so noone else would ever want them. My dad tells me similar things he did to Mantles, Banks, and Williams's in the early 50's. I guess that puts things into perspective as my 83 Jody Davis's with may name scribbled on them probably would neber be able to help me retire.

Stingray

Growing in up in Michigan, my mom would take me and my older brother to the local Kresge (lower end Kmart). We would buy 10 packs of 1974 Topps for a buck go home and open them up. Had one of those locker style card holders that you could mail in for through Topps. My brother started collecting cards in 1971, so when he moved out he gave me all his cards. When I went off to college, was not into collecting any more so I gave my cards to some neighborhood kid, Geez if I had those cards now. God only knows what I had in those 71s.

Stingray

A761506

1986 Topps were my first. I still can vividly recall the wonderful smell of the gum when I opened the packs. But, I didn't care much about the cards, only the Tigers, until a day in 1987 when I saw my first vintage card at a neighbor boys house. A 1958 Rocky Colavito that I thought was the most beautiful card in the world. I traded an 86 Topps Vince Coleman, an 87 Topps Will Clark, 2 Jose Canseco's, a Mark McGwire and a Bo Jackson for it and the kid was certain he had just robbed me blind.

gregmadduxfan

1987 topps Christmas green box version sealed set was the first thing I can really remember, I would have been 6 at the time. I may have had other cards before that but the 87 set was my first real memory.

fsjeter

1973 Topps Baseball. Pulled a second year Fisk which I still have today!

Scott

TimeMachine

1983 Topps rack packs bought on saturdays after swim meets at the neighborhood High's Dairy Store in Woodley Gardens, Rockville Maryland... traded all the Sandbergs, Boggs, and Gwynns away but I have them all in PSA 10 now anyway. Still have some of the commons somewhere in a trunk in my attic...

TNP777

ah, early card memories.

First football: 10 yearts old - 1976 Topps. Used to get the at Bernie's Liquors. Remember sorting that at my Uncle Bill's house. I have no idea what happened to those, but I'm collecting them again. I feel nostalgic every time I get one in the mail.

First baseball: 12 years old - 1978 Topps. Took me forever to complete that one. I think I was a junior in high school when I finally obtained that elusive Dave Johnson card. I used to love to play the baseball game on the reverse. I also busted a zillion cello rack packs in '79. Those cards are all gone now too. I had to recomplete the '78 set. Haven't started the '79 yet.

Geordie

peterredshoes

1987 Topps, from my grandmother's supply of cards retrieved from the stands of the Woolworth's she worked at, where they'd been left behind by gum stealers. The stash included my first Alan Trammell card. The rest, as they say, is history...

Peter G.

KOBEcollector

75 Topps Baseball

All the neighborhood kids would " flip " our cards to try and win some more from each other.

Back then if i had only known grading would become such a big thing lol .

I ruined more cards from flipping and just being careless with them by just throwing them in boxes and stuff