Nat, thanks for the welcome!

ASF123, yep that was a crazy season... was seeing the ball well all year, no slumps. Got me onto the 40 man the next year and an automatic invite to Big League Spring Training. As a 1B, I was over there with Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro that spring - not a bad couple guys to learn from! And yea, "top 10" also includes wedding day, day my kid was born, etc! Certainly my top baseball card memory though!

Started collecting as a nine year old ...
 

Started collecting when I was nine years old. Still have all my wax-pack pulls. One of the only toys my Mom saved ... in shoes boxes in team sets with rubber bands.

We didn't have much money growing up, so I remember collecting glass bottles throughout the neighborhood to get the return deposit, and spending the money on cards at the local neighborhood grocery store (all done by bike).

Ted, I was going to try and be funny and ask what the first T206 was you pulled from a pack, but then I thought about it and figured you were probably smart enough not to smoke when you were a child. Ha - I'm pretty sure I'm on your heals so it's hard for me to laugh at my own age. Love the posts!

Fun time....Show-n-Tell us of experiences pulling cards from wax-packs in your youth
 

In our neighborhood in the Spring of '52, the BOWMAN cards were available before the TOPPS. My allowance had increased as I was now 13 years old,
and was mowing our lawn, shoveling snow, etc.
So, I spent all my allowance buying BB cards every week. I purchased enough BOWMAN cards to complete the 1st Series of 72 cards. And, had plenty
of duplicates to trade with my buddies. This was important because when the TOPPS cards became available, the kids in our neighborhood went "wild".
Our local stores could not keep in stock enough of these BOWMAN and TOPPS cards......1952 was a banner year both of these Bubble Gum Company's.
Speaking about "Bubble Gum"....
I have to tell you this, BOWMAN's gum was much better than TOPPS gum. BOWMAN had a tastier flavor and you could blow bigger bubbles with it.


1952 BOWMAN wrapper

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...nWrapper25.jpg



http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...sMantle50x.jpg


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...raMusial50.jpg


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Fun time....Show-n-Tell us of experiences pulling cards from wax-packs in your youth
 

Hey Fred

Look, I'm still "reeling" from a year ago when you posted the Fred Dunlap (Detroit) "fantasy card" of yours.

So, any other attempts that you may try to bewilder me with is just a laugher :)

Take care....ole buddy.


TED Z
.

Player/Manager
 

I didn't notice in Ted's post, the back of the Lou Boudreau card had the answer to Ted's trivia question. It said Lou Boudreau was the only Player manager to be MVP. So Leaf had it wrong, too.
So there were two MVP player/managers. Very interesting.

Last packs bought
 

I mentioned earlier in this thread that I had no memories of who was in the first pack I bought. I convinced myself to stop collecting in 1970. I was too old to keep doing it, or so I thought.
Then in 1973 I was in a drugstore and I saw they were selling rack packs. I had never seen a rack pack before, so I bought a few packs. I got two 1973 Topps Pete Roses and one Roberto Clemente.
Those were the last packs I bought until I returned to the hobby in 1988.

I opened an unopened Piedmont pack and pulled a t206 around 20 yrs ago... i know i know... no one would believe me and I didn't expect to pull t206 from it neither. There were no cellphone or easy access of video recorder back then so I didn't tape it. Anyways... i have been quietly buying that specific piedmont packs and hope to open them all one night when I got really drunk. :)

I don't have much left of my childhood pack pulls but I do have a few: 1976 Hank Aaron, 1980 Rickey Henderson come to mind. I have quite a few cards from my childhood and early adulthood but those were not pack-pulled. As an adult I've had terrible luck busting packs. The only really good card I've ever pulled is this one:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...size/Jeter.jpg

Fun time....Show-n-Tell us of experiences pulling cards from wax-packs in your youth
 

I sometimes wonder, if I just had started collecting cards when I began going to Kindergarten, I would also have these gems in my original collection.
There was a nearby Candy Store on our way walking to school back in the early 1940's.

BLONY Bubble Gum.....1941 Play Ball and R164 (1942-1943) cards

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...layballgrn.jpg https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...playballor.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...lltwjd1943.jpg
TED Z

T206 Reference
.

C'mon Chris. How do you leave us hanging like that?!! Who was the player you pulled from the Piedmont pack?

Fun time....Show-n-Tell us of experiences pulling cards from wax-packs in your youth
 

Reflecting back on hobbies in my youth, I regret not continuing Sportscard collecting after 1952. I moved on to stamps, coins, cars.....and Girls :)

I favored the BOWMAN cards, and I wish I had continued into 1953. Especially, the BOWMAN Kodakchrome color BB cards.


1953 BOWMAN wrapper.

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...erReese50x.jpg.http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...nMusial50x.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...ntlesnider.jpg
TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Fun time....Show-n-Tell us of experiences pulling cards from wax-packs in your youth
 

Some of the fondest memories from my youth are from the year 1949. There were some great movies that year..... The Sands of Iwo Jima, Samson and Delilah,
Twelve O'Clock High, The Monte Stratton Story (Jimmy Stewart does an excellent portrayal of a BB pitcher in the 1930's....check-it-out).

It all began with the 1949 LEAF cards, then followed by the 1949 BOWMAN cards. My memories of collecting these BB sets are still clear in my mind. I've written
articles on the LEAF set and BOWMAN set (read about them in the OLD CARDBOARD, Issue #9....and BASEBALL CARDS MAGAZINE, Spring 1983....respectively).


............ extremely rare 1949 PCL wrapper .................................................. ................... regular 5-cent 1949 wrapper


https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...nwrappergb.jpg

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...manmusuial.jpg . . . .https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...Paige50x_1.jpg



https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...hburn1949b.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...JRobbyPSA5.jpg
........................ Rookie card ........................



V---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rookie cards ------------------------------------------------------------------V

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...dSnider25x.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...SislerDoby.jpg



4th Series....complete 36-card sheet
https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...riesheet75.jpg


Hey Guys,

Thanks for sharing your fond memories with us of when you started collecting Sportscards in your youth. And, let's continue hearing some more stories.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Fun time....Show-n-Tell us of experiences pulling cards from wax-packs in your youth
 

I have received several requests for the BASEBALL CARDS MAGAZINE (Spring 1983) edition. I do not have any extras to give out. And
unfortunately the late (and great) Bob Lemke is no longer with us. Perhaps, some of the big name Book Stores can get you a copy.
This issue also includes a great 8-page article on the T206 set by Lew Lipset, so it is well worth getting this magazine.

My buddy from the Smokey Mountains area of North Carolina, Ralph Triplette, and I combined our research. We submitted our article
to Bob Lemke. Bob was very impressed with our story as it resolved a long-standing mystery in the hobby regarding the 12 variations
in the 1949 BOWMAN set. Bob published our 6-page article in his very popular BASEBALL CARDS MAGAZINE.

Between Ralph and I, we have (or have seen) 6 of the 7 uncut sheets (36 cards each) which were printed in the production of this set.
The elusive 7th sheet has never been seen. On display here is my simulated version of it that I constructed in 1982. The 12 variations
in the 1949 BOWMAN set are re-printed subjects from earlier series in this set were included on the lower rows of the 7th sheet to fill
in the spaces in BOWMAN's 36-card sheet.
The evidence Ralph and I have is in the form of overprinted backs (7th series bios on 5th series cards), which reveal to us of the exact
placement of 34 cards (of the 36) on this sheet.


. https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...ANsheet7th.jpg


https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...dsMagazine.jpg.https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...ardsMagP52.jpg


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

I remember pulling that first tobacco card out of the pack. Luckily I had my iPhone 1 with me and took a pic! Just kidding ;) I just wanted to compete with Ted! :D

I remember first buying Topps wax packs in 1969. No matter how many I bought with my brother and our combined allowance money, we could never get a Mantle. But we did get probably 8-9 cards of some nobody called "Rod Carew". Who knew?

I was even more into cards in 1970, and remember pulling quite a few major stars like Hank Aaron, Brooks Robinson, Mays, Clemente, and even Johnny Bench, just to name a few. I loved the gray borders and clean look compared to 1969 Topps. Just to get those took a lot of buying. Once I made the mistake of opening a pack right outside the drug store. Another kid, watching me thumb through the cards, had the temerity to tell me, "They all stink!" And he was right!

In 1971 I was even more impressed by the black border design Topps put out. But for some reason, my interest waned at that time, and it didn't return until age 16 when a good friend of mine told me there was value in old cards. Up until then I had no idea that old cards could even be bought! So starting in 1976, I began buying 1950s HOFers in great condition. The first mail order I placed included a 1958 Topps card of Brooks Robinson for 75 cents. It seemed a bit expensive to me at the time, but at least I didn't have to suffer the disappointment of opening pack after pack only to find scrub after scrub.

I had big plans during the summer of '77 when I landed a job toward the end of the school year at the local GNC store stocking shelves. I was calculating how long it would take me to save up for two baseball sets I was planning to buy: a 1956 Topps set ($300-NM) and a 1958 Topps set ($100-EX). I was going to get the '58 set first, but they laid me off due to summer cutbacks, so it never happened.

In '78, I was off with the Marines, and really didn't get back into the hobby again until about 2002.

Fun time....Show-n-Tell us of experiences pulling cards from wax-packs in your youth
 

Hi Rob

Thanks for posting your story, "Gyrene".....and thanks for your Service to our Country.

I was a "Fly-Boy" (USAF) in the 1960's. Speaking about the 1960's.....here you go......
a normal 1969 Mickey Mantle card; and, an extremely rare blue variation card.
I've never seen another 1969 MM like this one. These are my only 1969 cards.



https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...Mantle50xx.jpg ---- https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...eMantle50x.jpg


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

while not as dramatic, Ted...this one in sterlings current auction is kinda blue?

Fun time....Show-n-Tell us of experiences pulling cards from wax-packs in your youth
 

Hi Pete

Please excuse the pun, but it "pales by comparison" :)

My Mantle has a "deeper rich blue" color.

And, really Pete....I acquired this card 35 years, and I have searched for another MM like it since then.....to no avail.

Or, for that matter any other 1969 gray background card having this type of blue background. It really mystifies me.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Ya I suppose..."it's a lighter shade of pale!" I suppose yours is "Some kinda blue!"

The things that keep us up at night!!!!!

wax
 

gr8 stuff fellas! found an old picture of me pulling "Wax" from my Xmas stocking 1967!

enjoy...

Attachment 447961

Hey Rob,

Glad you reached out to me on NET54 the other day. It was great talking to you yesterday! Your memory is so much better than mine, but I do like the story about us going to a card shop looking for Babe Ruth cards back then.

Rob and I, living in different neighborhoods, were bused to Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School, back when race-integration busing started. We became quick friends. I have a school class photo from back then of us, so I sent him a copy.

It's funny that we both joined the military in 1978, both collect sports cards, and have been on NET54 since 2011/2012. Rob saw a few of my posts, where I stated I was from Syracuse, NY, graduated from Henninger High School, so he thought "could this be the same Tony Baldwin I went to elementary school with?" He reached out to me on NET54, and turns out, yes I was. We talked for over an hour yesterday, and it was great to catch up on what we've done over the years.

We will now keep in touch! What a great experience! I don't want to create a new post, but I would like to hear if any of you have had the same experience. Either someone from your past who reached out to you on a site you were on, or you reaching out to someone from your past.

Again, thanks for reaching out Rob!!!!

Thanks, Tony

We’ll miss you, Ted. Thank you for taking the time to write (and show)the things you posted here.

*********

Check out the Mantle pack in post 36. An image nearly as legendary as the man who posted it.

Super common story

87 topps on Christmas morning

thx
 

thanks for resurrecting this amazing thread. Wonderful read.

Here are some Ken Griffey Jrs I pulled from packs in my youth. I also have a display of 80s/90s unopened packs to show these vibrant eye candy designs. I open these up occasionally with the kids, brings me right back to my youth and time spent with my brother at our local card shop.