Best Memory of Opening Wax Packs

[sycks22]

It was in the early '90's and when we went to a local card shop and there was sitting a '84 Topps pack. It was like $10 or something which is pretty much a house payment for a 10 year old kid so I took the plunge. One of the first cards was the Mattingly rookie. It was jumping up and down like crazy and still remember that day. I think it booked around $30 at that time. Great times.

[celoknob]

7 years old, in the backseat on the way to a birthday party, I opened a 1975 Hank Aaron. Like many of my '75s I loved them till they were flimsy and full of creases.

I passed that Aaron on to my son a few years back and bought myself a PSA 7. Not sure what that says about me or the hobby.

[deadballera]

Loved going to to the corner store market and buying some packs. Then stuffing the hard gum into my mouth.

[jbbama]

a good 1/2 mile (actually took the short cut on the main road, i would have in big trouble if caught) to the local gas station with my small tupperware box bungee tied to my Huffy #4 bike handlebars. I was able to purchase 3 packs of '81 Donruss or 3 packs of '81 Fleer for $1 (tax included). I then would hurry home (short cut again) and rip into them like no tomorrow. I remember Fernando Valenzuela Fleer (R) being the big card. The good ole days of rubber bands and empty matchbox car cases for carrying them around.

[brob28]

I remember shoveling snow from neighbors driveways with my collecting buddy to make money to then ride our bikes to the corner store to buy cards. I think it was in late March and there was about 7 inches of the white stuff but we laughed our asses off riding our bikes in the snow to get those cards!

[39special]

I remember going to the local candy store in '77 any buying packs with my paper route money.Toward the end of the summer I remember saving enough money and got a box.I think it was around $9.00.I was in heaven opening all those packs.34 years later,I'm 18 cards away from finishing the set!

[Beatles Guy]

Mom bought me a '79 Topps pack for doing something (can't remember what). I pulled a Mike Schmidt. It and all the other cards became wallpaper above my bed

[btcarfagno]

So many memories...mostly generic. Places i used to buy the packs...B&B downtown...the corner store...the local Pathmark grocery store with the tray packs. The only time i can recall getting a particular card in a pack was in 1980 coming home from a birthday party (9 years old) with a bunch of the other kids in the back of a station wagon opening up the goody bag that had a pack of baseball and a pack of hockey. The baseball pack had nothing special and I was not a hockey fan at that point. I opened up the hockey pack and asked one of the other kids about the players. Pretty soon every kid in the car was offering me the world for this guy named Gretzky. Partially because I figured I had something nice and partially because I wanted to spite the rest of the kids I did not trade the card.

Tom C

[boysblue]

late 60s....my brother and i would take our weekly allowance money and bike down to mallat's gas station where hockey cards were sold inside the attached store. can't remember any specific cards, but the smell of the gum is etched forever. we used to flip 'em and trade 'em with friends at school. oh, what memories.

[Jcfowler6]

It was the late 70's. My dad came home from work and handed me a pack of football cards. It was the best. I remember Franco was in there and that made my day. My dad, not that it was a bad thing, didn't bring me home things so that was pretty special.

Thanks Dad.

[timber63401]

Started busting wax in 87 at the ripe old age of nine. Thought I was king of the world when I pulled an Ozzie Smith. To this day if I see a 1987 Topps Ozzie Smith I get a happy feeling inside.

[daves_resale_shop]

My father frequently took me to the Newton Mass. (I believe it was at the Days Inn) Baseball Card Shows in the Mid to Late 80's... I would typically bring my $5 allowance and spend it on .35 topps packs from 1986-87... At the time Roger Clemens was my Favorite player and I had owned his "Cheapie" Topps rookie, but really wanted his 85 donruss but didn't have the $12 or so dollars to spend on it... On the way out of the show, my father treated me to a pack of 85 Donruss (must have cost about 1.25). And I was ecstatic to find a wonderfully off-center Roger Clemens Rookie Card in the pack!!! At the time I thought it was the pull of a lifetime!!! I still own that very card today!

[jp1216]

1980 Topps BB rack packs from Giant grocery stores in VA and wax packs from the local 7-11. I would gladly accompany my mom to the store and spend the entire time in the candy isle searching racks. My first pack had Steve Garvey on top and also remember looking for Rose & Reggie. My first set to finish was the '80 FB. Trading with friends (age 7) and waiting months to finally pull a Mike Haynes All-Pro. Or maybe it was a trade? Boy were those cards ('80 FB) ugly!

I also remember a neighbor giving out '79-80 Topps Hockey wax packs on halloween. Weird. Wish I had hit that house a few more times....

[Danny Smith]

Originally Posted by jp1216

1980 Topps BB rack packs from Giant grocery stores in VA and wax packs from the local 7-11. I would gladly accompany my mom to the store and spend the entire time in the candy isle searching racks. My first pack had Steve Garvey on top and also remember looking for Rose & Reggie. My first set to finish was the '80 FB. Trading with friends (age 7) and waiting months to finally pull a Mike Haynes All-Pro. Or maybe it was a trade? Boy were those cards ('80 FB) ugly!

I also remember a neighbor giving out '79-80 Topps Hockey wax packs on halloween. Weird. Wish I had hit that house a few more times....

Thats awesome! Most of my cards as a kid came from the rack packs that i searched endlessly in the candy aisle at giants in maryland.

[Chris Counts]

In the spring of 1970, when I was nine, my mom sent me to the grocery store to buy some vegetables. As I walked into the grocery store, I was awestruck by a box of baseball cards. At the time, I knew little about baseball, although I collected other stuff, like bugs, Hot Wheels and Odd Rod stickers.

For reasons I can't explain, I spent the money my mom gave me on several packs of Topps baseball cards. I can remember getting a poster of Ollie Brown in the first pack and one of Willie Davis in the next pack. As I was walking home, my father passed by in his car and offered me a ride home. I explained to him what happened and he was surprisingly sympathetic. He drove us back to the grocery store, where he bought my mom the vegetables she wanted — and he bought me several more packs of baseball cards ...

From that day on, I lost all interest in bugs, Hot Wheels and Odd Rods ...

[vintagechris]

My first packs were 1980 Topps FB(I actually loved them then and now). I used to go to the mall where my Mom worked when we had breaks from school.

Like most kids then, I spent hours and hours playing video games. One day on my way to the back of Woolworths where the game room was, I noticed the packs of cards. Bought a couple and was hooked.

From that day until about 1987, My Mom would bring home two packs of cards everyday from work. Mom was a big part of my love for collecting cards. She passed a couple years ago from a long battle with cancer, so I have very fond memories of all those packs Mom bought for me in the 80's.

[djrhanover]

The year was 1959 when I bought my first pack of cards from Mack's, the corner store in my neighborhood. I was seven years old at the time and had all of a quarter, my entire allowance, to spend on cards for the week. Although I don't remember any of the '59's that I got that day, I do very vividly remember finding this 1957 Yogi Berra card in the gravel alley on my way home. I couldn't believe my luck. She's a beauty, and I have had it ever since.

[GrayGhost]

This is an AWESOME thread. Some great stories and memories. Keep em coming.

[brass_rat]

This thread is great, thanks to everybody for sharing. Chris, I can only imagine you looking at veggies and then the cards, back at the veggies, then making a "tough" decision...haha.

I remember my very first pack was 1987 Topps (I was 7 at the time)...it was during a summer camp visit to the batting cages and the associated arcade. I was really excited and promptly went home to tell my parents that I now collected baseball cards.

In the early 90's my mom would take my sister and I to the mall and to the local card shop, Extra Innings. I'd use my allowance to buy a box of cards, I vividly remember the yellow boxes of 1990 Score and green boxes of 1991 Score. My family would order pizza for dinner and watch the four shows that made up TGIF on tv, and I would open my cards. Great times...

Steve

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

In the spring of 1970, when I was nine, my mom sent me to the grocery store to buy some vegetables. As I walked into the grocery store, I was awestruck by a box of baseball cards. At the time, I knew little about baseball, although I collected other stuff, like bugs, Hot Wheels and Odd Rod stickers.

For reasons I can't explain, I spent the money my mom gave me on several packs of Topps baseball cards. I can remember getting a poster of Ollie Brown in the first pack and one of Willie Davis in the next pack. As I was walking home, my father passed by in his car and offered me a ride home. I explained to him what happened and he was surprisingly sympathetic. He drove us back to the grocery store, where he bought my mom the vegetables she wanted — and he bought me several more packs of baseball cards ...

From that day on, I lost all interest in bugs, Hot Wheels and Odd Rods ...

[slantycouch]

Love all these stories! So good.

My favorite memories of opening packs are the ones my mom would get for me and we'd open together. She always was into my hobbies whatever they were. She was as excited as I was when we'd pull the last card needed for a set. I submitted this story to another site a few years ago, but I think it fits well here too:

My somewhat unhealthy obsession with baseball cards began in 1987. After purchasing my first card -- a 1986 Sportflics Pete Rose -- from my neighbor, I was hooked. Spring came, and the green and yellow boxes of cardboard gold arrived in our town. Don Mattingly, in my eyes less a baseball player and more a deity, was on the box. It was fate. Sure, those wood borders were ugly as sin, but I couldn't have cared less. How does an eight-year-old kid scrounge up enough money to attempt to build a 792-card set, you ask? He runs to his mother and begs, that's how. I did my share of chores that summer. Dusting. Vacuuming. Sweeping. But my mom's weakness was breakfast. She loved going out and enjoying her morning coffee, eggs and toast. I knew that if I went with her, she'd always surprise me with a few packs. I know now she just wanted to spend time with me, and if she had to bribe me a little, so be it. After my mom passed in 2004, I found a box of 1987 Topps neatly hidden in our basement where countless Christmas presents had undoubtedly been nestled over the years. One more reminder of those fun summers with my mom, Don Mattingly, and a whole lot of stale bubble gum.

[abothebear]

I remember walking down the main street with my best friends on the way back from the dime store opening up the '85 Topps packs we just bought hoping for the team USA cards. I don't remember it so vividly because of the cards I pulled, but because of how cool it was to be downtown unsupervised as a 7 year-old and buying cards myself for the first time. I think I got an Obie McDowell.

[Matthew H]

Originally Posted by sycks22

It was in the early '90's and when we went to a local card shop and there was sitting a '84 Topps pack. It was like $10 or something which is pretty much a house payment for a 10 year old kid so I took the plunge. One of the first cards was the Mattingly rookie. It was jumping up and down like crazy and still remember that day. I think it booked around $30 at that time. Great times.

My story is very similar to yours Pete. The pack I bought in the early 90's was 1985 topps, I paid $8 and found an Oral Hershiser

I was a young Dodger fan and bought the pack in hopes of finding the card... Good times indeed.

[Kzoo]

Originally Posted by sycks22

One of the first cards was the Mattingly rookie. It was jumping up and down like crazy and still remember that day. I think it booked around $30 at that time. Great times.

My memorable pack opening experience was buying a wax pack of '84 Donruss from a card shop up in Flint, MI. for around $10 or maybe more. This was in the late '80s and the Mattingly RC was HOT!! I was lucky enough to get the Mattingly in that one pack and my buddies couldn't believe it......and the two guys working at the shop really couldn't believe it as they looked at each other in disbelief.....almost as if one guy was mad at the other guy for missing that card when he searched the wax packs. I was excited, they weren't so much.

Matt