Where/When did you buy your first pack of cards?

gfb

Mine was on the street corner from the ice cream man in Laguna Beach CA, 1978. And i actually bought more packs of KISS and Star Wars cards than baseball cards that summer, man what was i thinkin 8-(

mercurynut

Campbell's Market 1970

Throwdown

1986 Topps football.
1987 Donruss baseball
1988 Fleer basketball
1990 UD hockey

SDSportsFan

A Speedy Mart about a quarter mile from my house in 1970, in Santee CA


Steve

Griffins

A liquor store in Santa Monica in August of 1970.
Equal time to baseball and Donruss Odd Rod packs.
They started out equal, but baseball eventually pulled ahead.

Downtown1974

Peppercorn Food Station (a little convenience store down the street from where I grew up.) back in 1981.

joestalin

81 Topps football at Eckards...the rack packs were 35 cents a piece....I would search through and look for any tampa bay players on the
front or back..Joe who?? LOL

Kevin

Knuckles

1987-88 OPC Hockey.. Dad bought them for me from the corner store.. a Red Rooster. I was 7 years old.

Buccaneer

1970 Topps baseball, Marble Farms Ice Cream, Syracuse, New York, June 1970.

jmbkb4

1989 Upper Deck.

My father's business partner passed up a complete set to buy a box instead. Nice idea in theory, but a Griffey was not realized (in either box); however, I did get one of those $100 (ha!) Dale Murphy RevNeg's. Remember them anybody?

ldferg

77 topps football cello packs and 7/11 convenient store. used to get the pink checklist cards and for some reason i remember jim zorn showing on top alot.

airjoedan

I can't recall my first pack, but I do remember my first real experience with cards....I found my brother's old 1980 Topps baseball card collection in a bedroom drawer when I was 7 years old or so......I've been hooked ever since.


Joe

Allen

1 st packs were 95-96 ultra bkb, I remember getting a Joe Smith Rc, But mostly remember 95-96 hoops view Jordan that was like $120. I guess I am way younger than the rest of you...

bowdowntome

Thrifty drug store, corner of Colima and Nogales (L.A. county), summer of 1970 at approximately 4:15 pm, rack packs of 1970 Topps BB, and yes, they were actually hanging on a rack. Had to sift through many Hank Aaron's and Johnny Bench's to find the racks with Dodgers on them though.

MajorDanby

first pack was back in 1991 at the local albertsons in riverside, california. It was upperdeck baseball...got two cards that got me hooked...dave justice (my soon to be favorite player) second year and the bo jackson that was going for like $10 at that time. at that age...$10 was a lot

bjork73

I remember it was 1992, from Common Cents (fairly common chain in the upper Plains) in Custer, South Dakota. Not exactly sure of what I bought first, but one of my experiences that reeled me in was pulling one of the Joe DiMaggio inserts from '92 Score, booked for $40 at the time

digicat

1989, I picked up two packs of 1989 Topps baseball from the local corner market. Got a Sandy Alomar Jr in one pack and a Gregg Jeffories in the other.

If you want to go back further... my folks filled my Christmas stocking full of packs of Star Wars cards back when Empire Strikes Back was out.

Axtell

First packs I remember ripping were 1981 topps my parents bought me after soccer games.

First packs I remember buying myself were 1985 topps football....good, good times.

jmoran19

1970 for me too. Remember getting Blue Moon Odom and couldn't figure out why there was a water tower behind him.

Stingray

1974 baseball, at the local Kresge.


Stingray

lostdart58

......they didn't come in packs back then..........they came in cigarette packs.......I used to smoke those Sweet Caporals and Piedmonts.....never did get that Wagner card though.......

Stingray

Are you sure you ID should not be oldfart58?

Stingray

ROCKDJRW

1986 Topps Baseball. I could get a pack of cards and a "bigstick" popsicle for around a dollar.

SportyJoe

Wow, this brings a memory blast from the past back. Wilbur street market and the packs were actually bought for the gum!-lol, the cards were a bonus. Anyway, it was back in like 1970 or '71. Believe it or not, I still have most of those cards The most vivid memory is sitting on the curb trading them. Man, nothing like finding or scavaging up a couple of soda pop bottles up to trade in or get the deposit from, then buying them packs.

wufdude

Mack's Dime Store - Lillington, NC - 1979 Topps

CardCoreCollector

House of Decorations- North Brunswick NJ 1975 Topps

jackstraw

1976 Topps at the 7 11 in Vernon CT. I was 6 going on 7 and I road my bike with my neighbor that stopped seeing if I wanted to go. That day has pretty much changed my life forever.

DrNguyenVanFalk

1977 Topps Baseball at Strudell's Pharmacy in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. I even remember some of the cards I got - Minnie Minoso Record Breaker, Jamie Quirk, Ken Boswell. I would spend hours in my room trying to duplicate their autographs . . .

smallstocks

In a park with my family back in 1970. There was a candy stand and they were also selling cards. 1970 Topps. Though I was just 7, I can still picture it to this day.

RedHeart54

Also an '86 Toppser here (though I was buying 3rd series Garbage Pail Kids before baseball). I started buying '86 Topps in September 1986 after seeing the movie Stand By Me. (Anyone remember the baseball cards on the wall of the brother "Denny" who had been killed? One of them is a "flub" in terms of the movie's timeframe.)

bobbybakeriv

Stockton's IGA in Midwest City, Oklahoma. I purchased a pack of 1976 Topps baseball cards and was elated to obtain Graig Nettles #169 since I played third base on my little league team and liked the Yankees. He immediately cemented his status as my favorite player. (I still don't know why he wore his lone batting glove on the upper hand in the photo though....I remember being perplexed about that one).

fsjeter

I bought my first pack of cards (1973 Topps) at a convenience store in 1974. I lived in Cherry Hill, NJ that year. I stayed with family and went to first grade there. I can't, for the life of me, remember the name of that store but I still have that 2nd year "Pudge" I pulled out of that pack. BTW, for the younger board members, Carleton Fisk had that nickname long before Ivan Rodriguez.

Scott

ChrisStufflestreet

My first pack was 3rd series Star Wars (yellow borders) in late 1978 at a 7-11 on the corner of Shore Drive and Independence in Virginia Beach. I lived in Navy family housing across the street from there (near the entrance of Little Creek Amphibious base). I was almost 6 years old at the time.

Once I accumulated some dupes, I traded for my first baseball card...it was card #413 of the 1978 Topps set, the card commemorating the '77 series. It showed Reggie taking a big swing. The first baseball cards from packs came in Spring '79, from the same store.

By the time we moved away from VA in Dec. '80, I had accumulated cards from Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, Wacky Packages, Mork & Mindy, Superman, Star Trek: The Movie, Jaws 2, Grease, and of course Topps baseball, football and basketball cards. That's what I can remember...I'm sure there may have been others.

Buccaneer

WOW! That's 6, maybe 7, of us starting in 1970!

DaddyRich

From the ice cream man on my street in Rialto, Ca. in the summer of 1978. He also sold cigarettes and other things to my oldest sister and the other teenagers, I believe. Breaks my heart to see how expensive packs are now.
Rich

Stone193

I've got to be honest....I don't remember?

mike

ledsters

I used to buy rack packs of 1979 topps baseball when my mom would go to TG&Y in Poway, CA.

Kevin

Stingray

<< <i> can't, for the life of me, remember the name of that store but I still have that 2nd year "Pudge" I pulled out of that pack. BTW, for the younger board members, Carleton Fisk had that nickname long before Ivan Rodriguez. >>



Took me a few seconds to remember that. Living in the Detroit area, Rodrigquez was of course the first thing that came to mind. But that is right on Fisk. I wish I still had all those 74s that I bought back then.

Stingray

rbdjr1

Well children,

I was 7 years old when I bought my first baseball pack in 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio?

Or was it when I was 8 (a 1957 pack!)???

I can't remember that far back!

rbd

CopperJJ

1979 Topps Baseball from the Convenient Food Mart in Crestwood, KY. Man I was happy when I got Pete Rose and Reggie Jackson.

Moved to Jacksonville, FL in 1980 and remember going to the local 7-11 for slurpee discs when they came out.

Glynparson

1979 Topps Baseball Wax Pack at the long defunct Tulpehocken Dairy Farms Retail Store in Wyomissing Pennsylvania!

baseballfanatic

I had bought cards before for a nickel a pack, but my most memorable time involving cards that sticks out in my mind at an early age was getting a high number 1966 wax box at a cub scout pinewood derby. There was some sort of entertainment afterwards (to help the spirit of the losers I guess since my wheel came off in my first race), and I correctly answered the question "What color was George Washingtons white horse?". Sad part is (but good for me), I was the third person he asked before he got the right answer. Nothing beats the feeling of being a kid in the 60's and having not just one pack, but a cool little box containing all of the cards of players that I didnt even know existed after opening up my share of packs for a whole year.......

Bosox1976

I remember finding a convenience store outside of Boston in 1974; the owner had opened up a couple of boxes of '74 Topps Baseball and was selling red sox for a dime a piece and everyone else for a penny apiece. I bought 100 of the penny cards, including multiples of Rose, Aaron, Bench, Seaver, etc. He did the same thing in '75, so I did too. Of course, as an 8 year old I had never heard of RC's - just wanted the big names (and the cool names - like Sixto Lezcano and Bill Hands). Bought my first wax in 1975, but not until after the penny cards were gone. I guess I was a cheapskate even then.

Buccaneer

<< <i>I remember finding a convenience store outside of Boston in 1974; the owner had opened up a couple of boxes of '74 Topps Baseball and was selling red sox for a dime a piece and everyone else for a penny apiece. I bought 100 of the penny cards, including multiples of Rose, Aaron, Bench, Seaver, etc. He did the same thing in '75, so I did too. Of course, as an 8 year old I had never heard of RC's - just wanted the big names (and the cool names - like Sixto Lezcano and Bill Hands). Bought my first wax in 1975, but not until after the penny cards were gone. I guess I was a cheapskate even then. >>



You are right. Back then, a player had to be good (or a personal/team favorite) for it have "value". The RC phenomenon (along with price guides) have not been good for the hobby, esp. for those of us that started collecting in the 50s-70s.

HoofHearted

<< <i>Are you sure you ID should not be oldfart58?

Stingray >>



Stinger Zingers!! I almost decided NOT to reply to this post since it was in 1962 I bought my first pack. Some neighbor kids and I used to go Kretzchmar (sp?) Drug store in Fairmont, MN, to buy the penny and nickel wax packs. I got a dime (silver!) for my weekly allowance and blew it all on cards!

Who farted??

hh

NewJerseyMeatHook

1974 - Ekberg Drug Store or Red's Corner Grocery . . . Johnson St. Mpls, MN

Stone193

Hey!

All you guys remember your first pack you ever bought?

What the heck is the matter with me? I have no idea when or where I bought the first pack. I was about 5 or 6.

I'm feelin old, senile or just out of it?

ken61

1973 Topps Rack Pack, corner store at White Horse Beach in Plymouth, Ma.
No Red Sox players showing - all had been cherry picked.

HoofHearted

<< <i>Hey!

All you guys remember your first pack you ever bought?

What the heck is the matter with me? I have no idea when or where I bought the first pack. I was about 5 or 6.

I'm feelin old, senile or just out of it?
>>



Stone,

Or were you spending your money on more...what shall we say...memory altering things?? Ha! Maybe you should answer the question "Where/When did you buy your first baseball board game?"

hh

ArchStanton

1980 Auman's Grocery in St. Marys, PA. I was six years old, and I was dying for a Rickey Henderson. I never got one out of a pack, though. Mr. Auman sold 5 packs for a dollar until about 1985.

DCICEMAN

I was 9 years old in 1965 buying my first wax packs at Krupp's Market in Hatfield, PA. The market's no longer there, but my memories sure are. Me and my friend Bob riding our bikes for the 2 mile trip to Krupp's, getting 5 for a quarter (my weekly allowance), and sitting and ripping them open, hoping for Johnny Callison cards. If it was a really hot day, I might buy an A-Treat instead of the 5th pack. Those were the days.........