Remembering the good ole days...

Lothar52

i was at the CVS today and started to wonder if they had any Sportscards....they didnt. I remember back in 1986 when i was a kid...my first real set was 1986 topps football. I was 9 years old and my dad used to buy me 2 packs (1.00) worth of cards every other day at the local CVS type store on his way home from work (he'd stop to get gas)....Unfortunately he used to throw them at me from upstairs...like a dog owner throwing a treat LOL. id scramble to get them and then bust the pack open and chew the gum. I still have ALL those 86 topps football card. ....even tough they are 5's in condition due to corner and edge damage on the green boarders. I have since replaced alot of the cards....i did SOMEHOW keep a 86 marino in decent shape..found it in a OLD binder. I think it went from pack to binder for some reason in 1986....it came back a 9. the lesson of that story was that it escaped ME....now....for the rest of us who collect 1957 or vintage cards in general in 6,7,8 grade....THINK ABOUT THAT..HOW LUCKY ARE WE THOSE CARDS STILL EXIST IN THAT GRADE....its really amazing.

PLEASE..tell everyone your story of the GOOD OLE DAYS

loth

mudflap02

I distinctly remember eating a 1989 Topps Don August card.

lawnmowerman

I used to ride my bike down to the old department store ( I cant recall the name) and buy all the 1981 Topps baseball rack packs. It was 1983 and they still had tons of them, I thought it was some kinda rare find because I never saw them before. I went down there every week that summer and spent whatever I had on them. I was really anal about my cards and they went directly into my binders. Unfortunatly the pages werent very safe back then and turned many of my cards yellow.

Matt

NewJerseyMeatHook

I once was sick with the flu and threw up on a '78 Larry Hand. I remember the name because my dad tried to make me laugh by holding up the card and saying, "I bet Larry Hand wouldn't be too happy about this."

joestalin

My best card memories are with my dad also. We would drive all over town looking for deals and closeouts...a chance to get
91 score football for .10 a pack..looking for that 1 in a million Ted Williams heros auto. I remember hitting cumberland
farms gas stations for 87 fleer. I remember finally pulling that tough 86 donruss canseco rc.

Back in 98 we chased those pinnacle gold cans...going from gas station to gas station....the cases had like 48 cans in them and
were incased with cardboard that you had to open. One of the gas station attendants was like 6"9 300 lbs...he opened the
case by pounding on the side, damaging like 6 cans all at once...luckly the gold can was safe....McGwire...the best one you
could of pulled back then! We have the whole set, its priceless to me.

I also remember buying a 82 Pete Rose off my sister for 50 cents, which was a lot of money to a kid back then! We are spoiled with
all the low numbered stuff and ink and holders.

JS

Stone193

I rememeber the summer I spent with my cousin Ray when I was 9. We would go down to the store on the corner - buy packs - and trade them....from there it was off to the ball field for some pitch n hit.

Next, when my son was about 9 and we would go to the card shop, local stores like Kmart, flea markets and in general running around hunting down the lastest craze. My all time favorite - 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations!

mike

Mac53

I actually bought Topps for the gum. In the early 60s, it was the best tasting gum out there, I thought. Better than Bazooka, and there weren't a lot of brands of bubble gum. I bought them at a little neighborhood store about as big as my front room. About 3 packs got me through a Little League game. Those were the days!

WinPitcher

I remm when the gum was the same size as the cards.

wasn't the gum bazooka only flat?

and that marble powder..............mmmmmmm

many times though it was hard as a rock.....

steve d

Stone193

BTW, for those who never bothered to read - I summed up the history of bubble gum a while back - as many may know, it was Fleer's Dubble Bubble that came on the market first:

Gum is old as dirt and was perfected in the late 1800's but Fleer tried to make bubble gum in the early 1900's but failed to come up with a recipe that didn't stick to the paper and just didn't have the elasticity they were looking for. In 1928, an accountant for the company was messing around with gum recipes in his spare time. Walter Diemer accidentally came up with a recipe that was bubbling, was elastic and could be wrapped. His success was not left unnnoticed by the company and Fleer took over the production of Dubble Bubble for which he never received royalties.
As a side note, Fleer Dubble Bubble was the first one to come up with the "pink" color which is the mainstay of all bubble gums today.

They had the market to themselves until Bazooka came along and of course the rest is history.



mike

Stone193

Also, for those who liked the Bazooka brand better than the gum in the Topps packs - that, IMO, is a classic example of how "shape" affects ones taste. It's the same gum. Topps developed their gum after WWII and named it Bazooka. As we know in the 50s, they came out with the Topps packs with the sole purpose of selling chewing gum - thus the gum was "flat" to fit in a neat package.

I, too, as a kid, thought the Bazooka "bricks" of gum tasted better!

Mike

VintageJeff

<< <i>My best card memories are with my dad also. We would drive all over town looking for deals and closeouts...a chance to get
91 score football for .10 a pack..looking for that 1 in a million Ted Williams heros auto. I remember hitting cumberland
farms gas stations for 87 fleer. I remember finally pulling that tough 86 donruss canseco rc.

Back in 98 we chased those pinnacle gold cans...going from gas station to gas station....the cases had like 48 cans in them and
were incased with cardboard that you had to open. One of the gas station attendants was like 6"9 300 lbs...he opened the
case by pounding on the side, damaging like 6 cans all at once...luckly the gold can was safe....McGwire...the best one you
could of pulled back then! We have the whole set, its priceless to me.

I also remember buying a 82 Pete Rose off my sister for 50 cents, which was a lot of money to a kid back then! We are spoiled with
all the low numbered stuff and ink and holders.

JS >>




That's funny Joe, my favorite card memory was when you sold your etopps port for a song and the buyer ended up buying a BMW with the profits he turned on you. LMFAO Oh and then the constant bashing, crying and moaning I heard from you off and on for the few years afterwards were priceless. Thanks for the memory Joe.

Axtell

<< <i>


That's funny Joe, my favorite card memory was when you sold your etopps port for a song and the buyer ended up buying a BMW with the profits he turned on you. LMFAO Oh and then the constant bashing, crying and moaning I heard from you off and on for the few years afterwards were priceless. Thanks for the memory Joe. >>



Don't you have a bridge to go climb back under, troll?

goudeygold

I liked licking all that powder off the bazooka gum prior to giving my jaw a workout.

GG

denwd1

does anyone have any idea what shape the goudey gum was??? i doubt anyone here remembers opening those packs!

Lothar52

i had my first pack of big league chew in the 80's....wasnt that awesome gum??? boy i can still remember my excitement...i loved the funny drawing of players on the front....they still make "Big League Chew"? Anybody know?

loth

Basilone

<< <i>.....they still make "Big League Chew"? Anybody know? >>



Yep..go to your local CVS/Wallgreens and they should have them.


One memory was buying 1981 Donruss and wondering as a kid why the card stock was not like Topps and why they had different versions of the same player (ie. Reggie Jackson).

Another was searching through a GIANT bin of 1979 Topps Football rack packs at Kay-Bee Toys looking for Steelers cards on the top or bottom.

yawie99

Many of my earliest card memories are with my mom, actually. My dad was the one who got me interested in sports and who later had stories to share about his collecting days, but my mom bought most of my first packs. We used to walk to Gasen's Drugs all the time and she'd usually get me a pack or two of '81 Topps cards. Cellos were great because you could look at the top card. Finding somebody like Keith Hernandez or Silent George Hendrick on top was like Christmas morning. One of my great childhood rites of passage came a few years later when I was able to go to Gasen's without my mom since one had to cross a relatively busy four-lane street to get there.

Oh, and I also have to add how cool the old Topps sticker books were back then. In the neighborhood, it was mainly cards, but at school, we mainly traded and showed off stickers. Probably because they were so convenient to take back and forth from home. And the foil stickers - way ahead of their time, now that I think about it!

tennesseebanker

I remember as most of you do,
Running to the dime store after school.
It wasn’t play doh, or army men, or slinky I sought
But baseball and football –it was sports cards I sought.
I’d search my pocket for a dollar or two
To buy me some cards with a stick of gum too!
With smell of cardboard still fresh in the sack
I could hardly wait to rip open the packs.
I speedily searched my fresh open jewels
In search of star player, a rookie or two.
Half a pack gone, a brief stop for the gum
When what was this I saw under my thumb?
A Mantle, a Rose, a Gibson, a Bench,
Man what a pack im gonna be rich!

joestalin

LOL....and here comes bitterJeff...urrrr I mean vintagejeff...the user name says is all....some vintage guy who didn't know what
he was getting into and now must make himself feel good after padding topps pockets for years. Funny thing is he bought a
bunch of etopps but really doesn't have anything!

The fact of the matter is that I sold Ronin 800 dollars of junk that today is worth less than 150. I tracked that group of cards and it was
never worth more than 1100, and that isn't including the fees to set up 76+ auctions. Oh and those 23 Shinjo's are doing well too.

Hey, Jeff, tell the etoppers that I say hi, I heard that etopps is really taking off. Beckett is going to do a cover story on the greatest
topps cards of all time...you know, 52 Mantle..54 Aaron..01 Tony Banks.

ah yes the memories....of hundreds of etoppers going face first trying to sell a portfolio of 500 cards and having to run 500 ebay auctions
to do it!

Thanks for stopping by

JS

Stone193

<< <i>

<< <i>My best card memories are with my dad also. We would drive all over town looking for deals and closeouts...a chance to get
91 score football for .10 a pack..looking for that 1 in a million Ted Williams heros auto. I remember hitting cumberland
farms gas stations for 87 fleer. I remember finally pulling that tough 86 donruss canseco rc.

Back in 98 we chased those pinnacle gold cans...going from gas station to gas station....the cases had like 48 cans in them and
were incased with cardboard that you had to open. One of the gas station attendants was like 6"9 300 lbs...he opened the
case by pounding on the side, damaging like 6 cans all at once...luckly the gold can was safe....McGwire...the best one you
could of pulled back then! We have the whole set, its priceless to me.

I also remember buying a 82 Pete Rose off my sister for 50 cents, which was a lot of money to a kid back then! We are spoiled with
all the low numbered stuff and ink and holders.

JS >>




That's funny Joe, my favorite card memory was when you sold your etopps port for a song and the buyer ended up buying a BMW with the profits he turned on you. LMFAO Oh and then the constant bashing, crying and moaning I heard from you off and on for the few years afterwards were priceless. Thanks for the memory Joe. >>


Jeff
Thanx for coming over and screwing up what is supposed to be a fun thread!!! What do you guys do? Read the boards just waiting for this kind of opportunity - why don't you create your own thread about eTopps and ask Kevin to discuss the product? I promise you'll get your money's worth - they don't come more knowledgeable! This is disgraceful!!!

denwd1

agree with Stone193.......etopps? please stop hijacking threads!

VintageJeff

Guys i wasnt trying to hijack the thread. I just have a long running thing with good old stalin lol. Just some good natured fun. In fact I don't even collect etopps anymore, i made alot of nice profits and now just have a few cards i like. I am a vintage collector at heart. There are alot of things on etopps i don't like and I don't like where it is heading so no I am not an etopps cheerleader.

My favorite memories of buying cards as a kid were working jobs at a young age for my dad or his friends on their farms and then going and buying mountains of packs of cards for $40 and spend the next day opening and sorting them. Good times.

Stone193

Thanx Jeff
There's been plenty of "stress" threads - I'm just happy there's one about fun stuff.

mike

Lothar52

you are all very welcome for me starting this thread....now if someone will please throw some dogcrappy in my face I would be most ablidged to pile-drive you into your car hood....with might I add...fellow collector courtesy.....DING DING DING!!

loth

joestalin

loth......you need some 06 heritage fast!

LOL
JS

iamthegreatcornholio

That's one of the few things I envy from you old guys - the hobby was pure when you guys were growing up. I recall buying 1990 donruss packs at big lots when I was 7

Ok something positive, I remember going to the nationals here in atlanta in '98. I got to meet Yaz, and it was the first time I got to see some really nice vintage cards.

Brian