The first packs I ever opened were 1984 Topps...I was about 6 or 7 years old at the time...what I remember most about those cards back then was Pete Rose's mop top/fro and Gary Carter's man perm.
I remember buying pack after pack of 1986 Topps packs at the corner store. I was looking for a Wally Joyner card. I had no idea he wasn't in the set and had no idea price guides existed. I wasn't smart enough to read the checklist cards. I just threw them away.
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1986 Topps, I think I pulled a Dan Plesac and that is all I remember. I bought tons of those packs too, and still cannot remember for the life of me who I pulled that was a big name star to this day. Thanks for starting this post!
I collect vintage PSA graded SF Giants, Willie Mays, McCovey, Cepeda, Marichal and Perry. And modern players like Buster Posey, Will Clark and Barry Bonds.
<< <i>I remember it like it was yesterday. My mom & I were downtown LA shopping, we went into one of those basement stores. There in front of me was a table of boxes and packs. I was hoping my mom would get me a couple of packs so I ask her. She said I could have one. When I grabbed one pack, she said "no, one box"
YES! Those were 1959 Topps and I took home a whole box! >>
If we're talking 36 packs of nickel packs, that's $1.80, or $14.24 adjusted for inflation. You must've had quite a generous mommy! Pull any Mickeys or Mays or whatnot? >>
I can remember buying the packs so well but I can not remember opening them or who I got. Funny how are memory works?
It was 1968. My sister was working at a drug store and asked me to do her a favor. Don't recall what it was but the payoff was that she would bring me home a surprise. She was 16...I was 10. I had no idea what baseball--or even sports were at the time.
It was a Sunday and she was working 10-6. I was very anxious to get the surprise. We grew up very poor, so any surprise was a great treat.
Well Pat got home and I saw that my surprise was a full box of 1968 Topps Baseball Cards. Say What?? What was this $hit? That's not a surprise for a poor boy from Fox Point!
I was not happy. But Pat said that all the kids liked baseball and that I would like them. Well i did not like them--at least the 1st pack. Or the 2nd or 3rd. But as I got to the middle of the box--I realized that I liked openng the packs. So i opened everyone of them. Who were these guys? What was baseball?
I knew nothing of the players, so I went thru every card several times. I decided that I wanted to be a fan and wanted a favorite team. But how to choose which team? How does a 10 year old decide?
Easy--pick the guy with the birthday closet to mine--August 23rd. And so I did. Went thru every card. And the guy whose birthday was closest was.......yup--Carl Yastrzemski and his Boston Red Sox! Had it been a Yankee--I would have been a Yankee fan--Jesus!!
Any way...I was hooked. I got boxes every time I did a favor for my sister Pat. And boy did she take advantage of it!!
Anywho, that was my 1st experience. unfortunately, I started to collect coins and lost the flavor of cards until 1989...just in time to collect cases and Donruss.
And yes Yaz is still my favorite. Have some great collectibles of him---my sister has no idea!!!!
I've never opened a pack of BB cards. Is it hard to do???
Oh crap, you had to put that disclaimer about "serious responses, only".
Well then, I opened my first pack of baseball cards on May 28, 1976 when I was just shy of 9 years old. We had those ice cream trucks drive around the neighbor and I noticed the packs of cards when getting my ice cream fix. Since I liked baseball, I decided to buy a pack. And wouldn't you know it, the first card I saw was this beauty.
BTW, you guys can keep a secret and not tell my unopened buddies, right???
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting: Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
I do not think that I bought any packs in 1982, but I do remember buying packs of 1983 Topps and Donruss. I got to meet Dane Iorg after the 1982 World Series as his parents lived in the town where I went to elementary school. About 1000 people total. I have been a Cardinals fan since the beginning of the 1982 playoffs and when I knew the hometown ballplayer had did good! Got to know a lot of the family over the years. The Iorg cards were always a hot commodity as Dane had a brother Garth with the Blue Jays. Garth still lived in town and it was fun to treat or treat his house as he gave full candy bars back then. I got an Oh Henry! bar and saved it until all my other candy was gone. He is currently a first base coach of the Brewers.
BUYING Frank Gotch T229 Kopec Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
For me it was 1st Series Garbage Pail Kids that my dad drove me all over town, from Circle K to 7-11, looking for them. They were sold out for about 6 stores then we stopped in at a card shop (my Dad's idea) and that was it. But the biggest/ealiest memory I have with Sports is my Dad and I looking for LT and Phill Simms on top of 1987 and 1988 Topps football rack packs that the local OSCO Drug had a ton left hanging from each checkout stand. Hahaha, looking for stars on top at 8 years old. Too bad it was a crap year and I opened em all. Funny story about my Dad taking me to my grandparents house that night to "give me his collection". My Grandma threw it out 2 weeks earlier while cleaning out storage. OUCH!!!! Dad was a Mantle, Mays, and Clemente fan that grew up in the 50s.
I just wanted to say how great this thread is. I read every post and it did one thing for me, brought me back to those first days of collecting. I always give thanks to my dad everytime I call or see him with helping me buy cards as a kid because although I got an allowance, he funded my card addiction at a early age. Doug
My first pack ever was 1974 Baseball. I was 8 at the time and everyone on our street started collecting that year. I will always remember that the first pack contained Dave Cash and Danny Ozark plus others. By the end of 1974 almost everyone else on the block had stopped collecting and I ended up with all of their cards.
Of course I wrote my name on the backs of those cards. And they remained in my 74 set until I sold it off a few years ago - never wanted to upgrade them.
1985 Topps Baseball was my first, however, i did not rip a lot until the 1986 set came out. I remember my friend and i bustin a ton of wax looking for Vince Coleman's first regular issue card.
<< <i>1985 Topps Baseball was my first, however, i did not rip a lot until the 1986 set came out. I remember my friend and i bustin a ton of wax looking for Vince Coleman's first regular issue card. >>
Remember the bummed out feeling when you thought you saw Coleman in the pack...and it ended up be Tito Landrum?
I honestly can't remember the exact date, but I was around 10 so it had to be circa 1973. Topps baseball. I was hit and miss on picking up cards because the coin collecting bug had already bitten me at around age 7 courtesy of my uncle. I was mostly an STL fan so I tended to keep those and trade away the others-unless it was a bigger name star or had some other significance (for example I have a '59 Topps Gibson RC but I also have a '59 Topps Zack Monroe, as he lived here). At some point I need to get better organized and decide what needs graded and what doesn't.
I'm assuming my first pack was 76 topps bb as I found those amongst my Star Wars toys. That would mean I was 2ish. Also found 75 topps football. So assume my dad and I opened some. Which Of the two i actually opened first is a mystery.
GB5HOF, its funny you mention the Tito card because my friend and i both thought we had a Coleman early into our rips only to realize it was Tito. Over the years i became a big Tito fan but back in 1986 it was indeed a letdown
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<< <i>
<< <i>I remember it like it was yesterday. My mom & I were downtown LA shopping, we went into one of those basement stores. There in front of me was a table of boxes and packs. I was hoping my mom would get me a couple of packs so I ask her. She said I could have one. When I grabbed one pack, she said "no, one box"
YES! Those were 1959 Topps and I took home a whole box!
If we're talking 36 packs of nickel packs, that's $1.80, or $14.24 adjusted for inflation. You must've had quite a generous mommy!
I can remember buying the packs so well but I can not remember opening them or who I got. Funny how are memory works?
<< <i>I posted this years ago on the 72 thread in the Set Registry Forum. Kids I assure you. We all wore pants like that back then.
That pic is priceless!!!!
The pants? Ya gotta love the 70s!
It was 1968. My sister was working at a drug store and asked me to do her a favor. Don't recall what it was but the payoff was that she would bring me home a surprise. She was 16...I was 10. I had no idea what baseball--or even sports were at the time.
It was a Sunday and she was working 10-6. I was very anxious to get the surprise. We grew up very poor, so any surprise was a great treat.
Well Pat got home and I saw that my surprise was a full box of 1968 Topps Baseball Cards. Say What?? What was this $hit? That's not a surprise for a poor boy from Fox Point!
I was not happy. But Pat said that all the kids liked baseball and that I would like them. Well i did not like them--at least the 1st pack. Or the 2nd or 3rd. But as I got to the middle of the box--I realized that I liked openng the packs. So i opened everyone of them. Who were these guys? What was baseball?
I knew nothing of the players, so I went thru every card several times. I decided that I wanted to be a fan and wanted a favorite team. But how to choose which team? How does a 10 year old decide?
Easy--pick the guy with the birthday closet to mine--August 23rd. And so I did. Went thru every card. And the guy whose birthday was closest was.......yup--Carl Yastrzemski and his Boston Red Sox! Had it been a Yankee--I would have been a Yankee fan--Jesus!!
Any way...I was hooked. I got boxes every time I did a favor for my sister Pat. And boy did she take advantage of it!!
Anywho, that was my 1st experience. unfortunately, I started to collect coins and lost the flavor of cards until 1989...just in time to collect cases and Donruss.
And yes Yaz is still my favorite. Have some great collectibles of him---my sister has no idea!!!!
<< <i>But as I got to the middle of the box--I realized that I liked openng the packs. So i opened everyone of them. >>
So the urge to bust open packs was from an early age? No wonder we saw that video!
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
Oh crap, you had to put that disclaimer about "serious responses, only".
Well then, I opened my first pack of baseball cards on May 28, 1976 when I was just shy of 9 years old. We had those ice cream trucks drive around the neighbor and I noticed the packs of cards when getting my ice cream fix. Since I liked baseball, I decided to buy a pack. And wouldn't you know it, the first card I saw was this beauty.
BTW, you guys can keep a secret and not tell my unopened buddies, right???
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting:
Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
<< But as I got to the middle of the box--I realized that I liked openng the packs. So i opened everyone of them. >>
So the urge to bust open packs was from an early age? No wonder we saw that video!
LOL--and that was the LAST one that you all saw Anthony!!
Of course I wrote my name on the backs of those cards. And they remained in my 74 set until I sold it off a few years ago - never wanted to upgrade them.
I think my parents bought them for me as part of Braves mania that was rampant in the South at that time. I still have those cards. I was 6 then.
Got interested myself with 1985 Topps and would buy packs from the 7-11.
saucywombat@hotmail.com
<< <i>1985 Topps Baseball was my first, however, i did not rip a lot until the 1986 set came out. I remember my friend and i bustin a ton of wax looking for Vince Coleman's first regular issue card. >>
Remember the bummed out feeling when you thought you saw Coleman in the pack...and it ended up be Tito Landrum?
RIP Mom- 1932-2012