First packs you remember opening...

Goodsport40

What are the first packs you remember opening? Mine were 1975 Topps baseball purchased for me by my dad when I was 8 years old. He got them for me on the way to my grandmothers house about 2 hours from our home. I still have a few of the cards in my collection. They aren't exactly mint, but I treasure them just the same. I guess this explains my love for 70's cards in general. Memories, anyone?

Robert

pandrews

1985 topps football from the Li'l Champ store up the road from my house..

rlankhaar

1987 Topps Baseball. I think this explains why I really like the 1962 Topps as well.

Stone193

I've got to say - as this question comes up from time to time...

The memory that people have is incredible...

I do not remember what/when I opened my first packs. In fact, I collected stamps in the 5th grade before I collected cards - we had a hobby time once a month on friday afternoon in elementary school. There was no baseball card club - just stamps.

I wish I had some special moment.

I do remember buying packs with my cousin Ray in 6th grade at his house in Quincy, Mass. I promised him I would trade Boston for any NY cards.

mike

cardinarky

The first pack I ever opened myself was 1957 Topps baseball.
The first packs I opened in quantity were 1958 Topps Football and Baseball.
I distinctly remember having Jim Brown, Bart Starr (we were Packer fans in Indiana but the local TV station carried the Browns game every Sunday), I had athe entire Browns team and of course had many duplicates.
In 1958 baseball, I had Ted Williams All-Star cards (plural), Stan Musial (plural) and Mantle, Mays etc..
I remember buying 1960 Topps baseball by the box (I was 13 then). The cards/gum cost $1.25 for a box of 36 packs and came in seven distinct series.
Sick humor here, what was really bad was the local store in the small farm community I lived near in Indiana got stuck on the fourth or fifth series and I wound up having 7 (#350) Mantles.
They never got the last series in the store because they switched over to football for the following season.

Writing this post makes me very ILL.
WHO asked this terrible question?
I need SEVERAL drinks now.

GoDodgersFan

I love this post.

My first pack was 1978 Topps Baseball at Pat's Liquor in Van Nuys, California. Wow ! Great memories of them
good old days in the valley. I was in 5th grade.

I was also new to this great country and baseball cards became a great tool in making friends.

Collecting:

1978 Topps Dodgers PSA 9
1988 Kenner Starting Lineup Cards PSA 8-9 HOFs

Griffins

'70 Topps 4th series. Alou, Bateman, Astros Team, Carew All Star, Boog All star, 5th series checklist, a few others, and a scratchoff of Tom Seaver.

Still love that set.

gosteelers

1980 Topps Baseball

Wondo

1968 Baseball with a Rocky Colavito on top!

julen23

1980 topps baseball rack packs from k-mart.

Julen

TripleCrown

73 Topps, Baby Ruth bars, Hawaiian Punch at the 7-eleven store........aaaah the good old days.

We used to play some kind of "flips" game using the colored dot that's on the front of the card. I think you flipped the cards down and if you matched the other guys dot color you took the stack? Anybody remember that?

thesplendidsplinter

1975. My family & I would go to the Woolworths for dinner. Yep!! When I was finished & the rest of my family was still talking, my Dad would give me a couple of bucks & I would buy as many Baseball & Wacky Packs as I could. Think they ranged from 5 to 10 cents. What I remember the most is the smell of Woolworths & the cards. It is imprinted in my brain & will never leave. Later, in the summer, I would ride my bike to the 7/11 & buy BOXES of 75's & enjoy so much opening them. Musta had 75-100 Hank Aaron's! Both #1 & # 660! My Dad even told me who to keep forever! He said this teenager Robin Yount is gonna be special. This Winfield guy was a stud in college in 3 sports. Watch out for him! My room eventually became filled with 75's & Wacky Packs. And when I think of Wacky's & 75's, I always have great thoughts about my family, specially my Dad.

charliehustle14

1974 Topps when I was six years old. My dad bought a box at a gas station and let me open it on the 2 hour trip to see my grandparents. I think it was my parents' way of keeping me from torturing my little brother in the car. First card I remember getting was a Sparky Anderson. I still have most of the cards.

-Todd-

mikeschmidt

1981 Topps. I was five.

Hub

1973 Topps. Still love that set. I also distinctly remember getting a box of 24 packs at my 8th birthday party in 1973. Cost: $2.40. I think I got more expensive gifts, but that was, by far, the best one. And yes, I still have those cards...albeit in rough condition.

theczar

1966 5th series from Hoeflingers Market near the apartments where I lived then. I remember as a six year old rying to figure out how to pronounce "Conigliaro", "Trawcewski", "Clendennon", "Zolio Versalles", "Gagliano" and "Momboquette". I had so many Al Kaline's and Juan Marichals from that set back then.
The next year I collected the whole season, chasing the 1967's. I lived in St. Louis and for whatever reason Topps did not send 6th series to our town that year, but doubled up on 7th series. It took me to my adulthood to see some of the 6th Series for the first time. With the double batch of 7th series I cannot tell you how many packs we opened with Seaver Rookie, Carew Rookie, Belanger Rookie, Maury Wills, Red Sox Team and Brooks Robinson.
They say your sense of smell is the greatest in terms of memories. Every time I smell that kind of gum from those cards it brings back those great days.

Goodsport40

Sorry, Cardinarky, for your pain! Have a drink on me!

Great memories! Keep them coming.

Robert

RedHeart54

<< <i>What I remember the most is the smell of Woolworths & the cards. It is imprinted in my brain & will never leave. >>



I know what you mean! There was just a certain "smell" to those discount stores.


Before baseball, I was into Garbage Pail Kids so I remember opening multiple packs of 1986 3rd series. Then in September 1986 the movie "Stand By Me" came out. It had a real effect on me in terms of the 1950s and baseball. (Remember the '58 Mantle and '60 Berra on "Denny's" wall?) Anyway, we go grocery shopping afterward and I proceed to buy about 10 packs of 1986 Topps baseball, my first baseball packs. (My only regret is the store didn't have Fleer or Donruss, i.e. Canseco was about to become a star.)

lawnmowerman

1976 topps baseball. I remember pulling a Johnny Bench, at the time he was my favorite player. Brings back good memories.

Matt

sandmanfromlv

1981 Donruss from King's Dept Store...I think they were 30 cents a pack maybe..they had TONS of them...

larryallen73

1974 Topps (in 1975) from some store in French Quarter in New Orleans. There on family trip. Same year remember buying '75 rack packs from Sav-on Drug store in West Los Angeles, on Sepulveda, near my house. Good times!!!

StormBear

1971 Topps Baseball. I also remember going to the "big" Ben Franklin store to get rack packs, since they only had wax packs at the Ben Franklin closest to our house.

sando69

it was late in the fall of 1959 & i had been recently indoctorinated to the world of sports by virtue of the hometown dodgers' world series victory over the chicago white sox. one afternoon, as i was walking out of wally's pharmacy on fair oaks ave in altadena, ca, i noticed a small picture card resting, scuffed & beaten near the curb... it was a "trading" card of paul hornung. and altho i had NO idea whatsoever who this guy or his team was (the green bay packers?), i captured the card, the card captured my heart, and a lifelong bond was immediately forged!
before long i had discovered the la rams & was purchasing cello packs of 1959 topps football as often as my 10 cent weekly allowance permitted... which was once a week!

but, it was the following spring that i discovered my lasting love & can remember buying one 1960 topps baseball wax pack for a nickel at wally's then walking up fair oaks to the corner store/soda fountain & spending the other nickel from my allowance on a wax pack of 1960 fleer all-time greats... 12 cards that entertained & educated me for the week while bridging the historical gap between babe ruth, ty cobb & cy young and willie mays, mickey mantle & sandy koufax! yes, those certainly WERE the days!

btw... i still have that '59 topps hornung & altho it would only grade a psa 1, it is safely stored in a card saver & treated like a treasure... as it's sentimental value to me belies it's collectible value (or lack thereof) to anyone else.

Robeson

I remember buying 1979 Topps when I was 10 from a vendor at dodger stadium. Our parents would buy the really cheap seats and could not see the game, so the kids would spend our time buying baseball cards from the guy at the vending cart. We would open them up, then run to the top of the stadium seating and drop them over the top of the wall. I was hooked but had no money. I found out the Savon drug store by my house paid kids a 2 cent stamp for each shopping cart returned from the parking lot. When we filled the book with 50 stamps, we had a dollar to spend. I actually saved my books and turned in 8 of them and walked out with a full box of cards. $7.20 + tax. I was in Heaven!!

Allen

1990 Donruss from Big Lots lol. Then they got some 1992 Donruss and I opened so many boxes, I will never forget pulling the Will Clark Donruss Elite #/10,000 WOW!

Brian48

'78 Topps

Downtown1974

81' Topps baseball, Sando, that was a great story!

onlyanumber

I remember getting a pack of 84-85 Topps hockey for the gum, and when I realized that there was only one cruddy stick I gave the cards to my younger sister who proceeded to draw all over them. It was two years later and 86 Topps football when I came back around and decided to start collecting cards, but I still didn't learn. My first pack had a John Elway in it, and I was brought up a Bronco fan so this was gold. I took the card out of the pack, stored the rest in a box and thumbtacked Johnboy up on the wall on my Elway poster. On a side note, I'm damn glad I wasn't a 49ers fan

nearmint

1969 Topps football, at Bugarsky's Red Owl. I bought one pack, opened it, went back in for a couple more, opened them, went back in for a few more, opened them, then went back home to ask Mom for more money.

SDSportsFan

1970 Topps baseball and then football. I don't know why I never bought any packs in 1971, but I started again in 1972 and have been going ever since


Steve

divecchia

1973 Topps Hockey cards.

Donato

mercurynut

1971 Topps baseball

SoFLPhillyFan

'72 Topps Baseball.

I still have a few. One or two are graded, namely a PSA6 Aaron. Not a great grade but hey I'm the original owner. This is the small stack I found at my parent's home a year after selling most of the collection in a fit of stupidity in 1990. Sold about 300 raw cards for $125 to a dealer.

What I would do to have them back today.

Stingray

I think I have said this a few times throughout these threads, but being 8 years old and buying 1974s for 10 packs for a dollar seams like a milenium ago (great I just gave away my age). Just wanted mainly all the Tiger players I could collect. Though I thought they were petty bland looking, boy what a difference the 75s made.


Stingray

jmbkb4

1986 Sportflics

Stingray

<< <i>1986 Sportflics >>



Young pup!

Stingray

jmbkb4

<< <i>

<< <i>1986 Sportflics >>



Young pup!

Stingray >>


Yea, I was almost 6 at the time!!!

TNP777

1978 Topps baseball - bought 'em by the boatload at Newberry's in Astoria OR as a 12 year old. Loved collecting the Dodgers & playing the game on the back. Took me forever to finally get the last card (I think it was Dave Johnson?).

Geordie

55in88

1966 Topps baseball, couldn't wait to take them to school and trade. Previous year my best friend and I got pretty excited about a couple of pitchers named Koufax and Drysdale. The 1966 cards I started buying by the ton! When I pulled my first Koufax, I was thrilled. For some reason the pack fresh colors seemed to jump out at me. I used to buy my cards at a tiny "store" run by a very kindly lady named Mrs. Place.
This store was the most disorganized place you had ever seen. Mrs. place was the kind of woman that would enjoy children coming into the store, and in my small town, she knew everyone. A good report card was usually good for some kind of treat. I am sure that she never made any money in that store, and she only did it for the company. It was there that I also bought my first whole box of cards. Poor Mrs. Place couldn' believe someone could by that many packs of cards. The summer of '66 and all of the next two summers were spent buying and "flipping" baseball cards. We turned each card over in a pile until someone matched the previous team color. Sometimes the piles would be hundreds of cards, and we even would run out (actually walk about 1 1/2 miles) to the store leaving the pile just as it was until we could continue. I have no idea what happened to most of those cards, I can't imagine where I could have stored them all at that time. I do remember one day "flipping" a couple hundred cards, one by one into a "burning barrel" out in our yard. I often wonder how much I lost that day.

zef204

1983 Fleer baseball at the Lindemann's Pharmacy. They had a soda fountain with Green River asnd we would sit and open our packs there with our bikes just left unlocked outside on the sidewalk.

Stone193

<< <i>The summer of '66 and all of the next two summers were spent buying and "flipping" baseball cards >>


55

Nice story about the cards.

The summer of '66 - I was on the bus!



Summer of '67 I was matriculating at the University of Saigon!LOL

And, BTW, I did pick up some packs from the Px and opened them to see how the design looked. What did I do with the cards? Stuck them in my pocket - I sweated them all up and tossed them. Don't even remember if I got anyone good or not - I can't believe how good the memory is on some of you guys!

I'm one who really liked the smell of the gum and the taste too. Of course Bazooka is my favorite all time!

mike

zef204

Loved the gum in the packs, Bazooka too, but my favorite was big league chew. The was the best and blew the best bubbles.

WarHoundR69

In 1962 My father bought a house that belonged to a man who worked for Bowman Gum. In the basement were boxes of Bowman baseball, football & basketball cards. My father gave them to me. Boy did I have fun with those cards. Wish I still had them. The address was 331 W. Girard Ave. Phila Pa.

ironranger

1973 Topps football given to me at my Grandfather's general store. The only player I remember was Mike McCoy. One the way home, I gave the cards to my older brother. I did not start collecting until a couple years later.

dizzyfoxx

Mine were 1972 Topps football rack packs. I have yet to find them in today's marketplace and sure would love to get a hold of one for those good 'ole memories. Some of the cards from those rack packs that I remember having and being so dear to me, were those Pro-Action or In Action cards. They were just so and my favorites were the Ray May, Rick Volk, Jim Kiick, and John Brodie.

tkd7

First baseball was 1972 Baseball rack packs.

I think I opened Wacky Packs that my older sister had as well.

Lothar52

2 packs of 86 topps baseball...followed by 1986 topps football...ALOT OF FOOTBALL....ive replaced most in my set cause they simply were trashed...too bad...nothing like a nm-mt set of cards that YOU COLLECTED AT THAT TIME.

chicago111

1977 ? StarWars PAcks..The Cards with the Blue Borders. Followed quickly by 1977 football and 1977 Baseball.

jmoran19

Here ya go Dizzyfoxx

phreakydancin

1980 OPC hockey. I still have all my old cards, but unfortunately the Gretzky and the Bourque RC would only grade somewhere around a 4 or 5 at best. I didn't finish the set, didn't pull the Messier either.

fur72

1982 Topps baseball. All the older kids in the neighborhood took advantage of my age. "Hey I will give you 5 cards for the one card". My guess would be the card was a Ferando or Ripken. For some reason 1982 Topps baseball is my favorite set.