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

I will start this show with two simultaneous experiences in the Spring/Summer of 1949 when I purchased a 1-cent LEAF pack and a 5-cent BOWMAN pack.

The BOWMAN pack had 5 cards in it. I put Reynolds and Vander Meer together in my BB card album since they both pitched 2 no-hitters within one season.
At age 10, I didn't know much about Wagner, but I guess I had enough respect for him since I did not insert his card in my bike's spokes :)

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



https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...VanderMeer.jpg ------------ https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...leafwagner.jpg


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Ted, I literally cherish every time you post stories or photos of cards you’ve pulled over the years. Still the only person I’ve ever encountered who has pulled a 52 Mantle.

I started a thread a bit ago about the cars that got you hooked. I pulled an 87 Topps McGwire in the first pack of cards my mom ever bought for me. That’s still my most meaningful.

Love ted
 

I remember going to the local candy store .buying 1971 topps packs lots of them.then the supers,ahh the gum ..goiing to the schoolyard and flipping them. Man how many Clemente's did i have..The candy store is a condo now sad

I know I pulled 10 or 11 Eddie Murray rookies. I traded them all to a classmate for a 1962 Mays around 1980. I pulled a Smith rookie or 2 in 1979 and still have them in a 2500 count box. I guess I need to go looking as an Ozzie Smith rookie sold for $222,000 plus tax the other day. I'll think on it some more and check back this weekend.

Awesome Ted!
 

Incredible Ted!

My 1st experience was asking my mom for $1.05 for something at "school" and then buying 7 (15c) 1976 Topps Baseball Packs. Got a Rooster Rick Burleson as my first card ever! Instant Sox fan! :) Sorry Mom for lying about the $1.05! :cool:

Attachment 444182

On the way to school in 1959 I swung by the neighborhood Utotem on my bike and bought a pack of 59 Topps and slid the unopened pack in my shirt pocket to open later. Bill Henry the relief pitcher for the Cubs at the time lived in my neighborhood and his son was on my little league team. I wanted a Bill Henry card but it had been elusive for me. Some time during the school day while I was sitting on the can I opened the pack and wallah there he was.

I had some fun earlier tonight, pulling my late childhood binders out of the box they'd been for about 15 years, while sitting in a storage unit. Most of these were pulled from wax (or plastic) with exception of the Topps Traded rookies.

My earliest wax packs were the 1980 Topps my dad would occasionally get me from the lunch truck at his work. Still have that early early childhood collection stashed away... most all with "Ian" written on the backs.

I was given my first pack of baseball cards in 1975. I remember that. It was at my friend's birthday party. Her dad gave me the pack. I loved those cards and looked at them often. I think I still have them somewhere.

I started really buying packs of cards in 1978 when I was 7 seven years old. I really loved the look of the 1978 Topps cards (and still do today). I remember buying another pack in early 1979. I guess I hadn't learned at that point when the change over in packs went from one year to the next, but I realized that the cards in the pack in 1979 weren't the same great looking cards that I got the year before. I remember being sad about that.

My most memorable pull from a pack was a 1980 Topps Willie Stargell. It was one of the last cards that I needed from that set. As a Pirates fan, I was super excited. I opened the pack in a dark car after just buying it. It was really hard to tell in the dark, but I was pretty sure it was Willie Stargell. I was so excited. I will never forget that feeling!

Here are my cards I cut from the back of a cereal box back in 1962 (I came back later and cut off the players photos). Also the only remaining Topps card from my original collection 1967 Vic Roznovsky.

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=28679

At the four way intersection outside of our subdivision, there was a 7-Eleven on one corner and a Stop-N-Go on another. My brother and I would go down every week to see if they got the new series of Baseball cards in. If they did, we would each buy a box with the money we saved from our allowance. In 1967 we completed the first 6 series, but they never got the 7th series cards in. In 1968 we were both able to put together complete sets from buying packs.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1887/2...00a551de_w.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dfd59955_n.jpg

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

Hey Guys.....this is becoming a "fun" thread.....keep your stories rolling in.....THANKS :)


One more story on the 1949 LEAF's......

Our nearby neighbor (2 blocks away) from our street lived Phil Rizzuto, so there were many avid BB fans collecting these cards in the Spring of 1949 in Hillside,
NJ. We purchased these cards from the corner Candy store and also the nearby Pharmacy. So, there were plenty of wax-packs available. But, we had a problem.
The backs on these LEAF's read "collect 168 cards". So we kept spending our pennies and nickels, but not getting anymore than 49 different cards. LEAF played
a "nasty" trick on us kids by skip-numbering the cards.
Anyway, we compared notes (cards), and came to the realization there were only 49 subjects in this series.


Of the twenty HOFers in the entire 98-card set of 1949 LEAF BB, the Indians dominate with these five HOFers......


Spring series

"MVP in 1948" **
http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...udreau25xb.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...oudreau25x.jpg.http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...eGordon25x.jpg



Summer series cards (short-prints)

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...afPaige25x.jpg..https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...eafDoby25x.jpg..http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...AFFeller25.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...fPaige25xb.jpg



** Note.... Trivia: What is special and unique regarding Lou Boudreau's MVP award (December 1948) ?



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

The one that stands out to me was in the late summer of 1978. We lived in a small town in northern Michigan and shortly after I turned 12 that July I rode my Huffy down to the corner store and picked up a wax pack of Topps baseball cards. I sat on the bench outside and opened the pack and there it was...John Wockenfuss! The last Tigers card I needed that year. I hopped back on my bike and sped home. I ran in the house shouting "I got Wockenfuss! I got Wockenfuss!" Then I noticed a stranger sitting with my parents at the kitchen table. That day my parents sold our house and we moved 250 miles away. When I look back I always consider the end of my childhood being that year when we moved. To this day I have bittersweet memories whenever I look at that card of Johnny B.

great stories ted. they keep getting better and better.

The happiest part of this story is that your stall wasn't out of TP and you still have the cards!! :D

Leave it to Ted to pull a Honus Wagner in his first pack of cards. :)

My first pack was 1984 Topps. My parents probably bought it just to shut me up in the grocery store. Little did they know what they started. The only card that I still have from that pack is a Dave Dravecky. No scan available - it's somewhere in my parents' attic, hundreds of miles away.

Years later, c. 1991, I would buy 1981 Donruss cards from the LCS (I think they were $2.50 a pack). Usually threw out the ten year old gum, but one day my brother wanted to try it and he cut his tongue. I did pull the Rickey Henderson though.

1962 Topps - 6th series. I remember it like it was yesterday. I bought a few 5 cent packs and have been addicted ever since. I also have vivid memories of going to the A&P grocery with my Mom. While she shopped, I sat on the floor in front of the Jello boxes looking through every box for Cardinals.

Touching story...it could almost be a scene from a great movie, it has such the range of emotions to it. Imagine the reaction of the stranger at the table when you came running in shouting "I got Wockenfuss!", and then your reaction upon realizing that a big change in your life was on the horizon. Joyous, awkward, hilarious, and poignant at the same time.

Thanks for sharing! I don't think anyone else could have a better John Wockenfuss baseball card story.

Brian

My first memories of baseball cards were opening packs of 1965 Topps. I remember getting these iron on transfers with the cards. My mom took a t-shirt and covered it front and back with them.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...990cf8ab_w.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b3afbefd_w.jpghttps://live.staticflickr.com/1887/4...d30f8731_w.jpg

We never had the Supers here, but I do recall high number rack packs. Some of the header cards were an actual card. It's amazing how many cards from that era were badly cut when watching youtube videos.

I ended up buying two of the 1947-66 exhibit cello packs from a sealed box in 1993. There was one with Mantle on top!

I ripped both packs and got Mantle, May's, and Musial. I was ecstatic as a 15 year old pulling a mantle rookie (photo)

The strangest pack opening I ever experienced was walking away from the drugstore in 1980 and finding every single card in it was Dave Winfield. Literally a pack full of Winfields, with nothing else but a stick of gum. Too bad they weren't Rickey Hendersons. Oh well. I'm sure I've picked up more over the years, but here's some pages from my old album that still houses them...

Attachment 444518

1960 wax box opening
 

1960 Easter Sunday, Dad shocked me by giving me an unopened wax box of 1960 Topps...opened the whole box...Mantle series, remember getting one Mantle at least....dont recall what else...and no, I don't have the Mantle any longer, but I kept it until the early 80's as I recall...something like receiving that wax box as an 8 year old card collector you dont forget

Bruce Perry

That was a good one. Clemente, Koufax, Aaron, McCovey RC. Though you probably didn't realize how good at the time.

I watched two nationals dealers open a 1960 cello box from the same series in the early 90's..most cards were way off center as I recall

Bruce Perry

To recap all of our childhood dream, it might make sense to buy packs that already has star card showing like these....

69-70 Topps tallboy with Alcindor RC showing
https://goldinauctions.com/LotDetail...entoryid=73259


86-87 Fleer Jordan showing
https://goldinauctions.com/1986_87_F...-LOT79741.aspx

The first packs that I purchased were 1973 topps and I continued to buy packs through
1979. There were two stores in our small town that carried them and
my best friend and I would go over town after school and buy a few
packs at each store.

I still have a few hundred cards, I had a lot more than that but I'm not sure
what happened to them. The majority of them aren't in great condition due
to handling and flipping them as a kid, anything earlier than 1973 I won
flipping or I got them in a trade.

I remember how strange it seemed to pull cards of the Toronto Blue Jays
and the Seattle Mariners in their 1977 expansion season.

Attachment 444772
Attachment 444773
Attachment 444774
Attachment 444775
Attachment 444776

Lou Boudreau was a player/manager, if I remember correctly.
I started buying packs when I was 5, in 1960. Some of the first cards I remember were the Topps You'll Die Laughing cards, which were a 1959 issue. I guess the local neighborhood store still had some in 1960. I also was buying the Spook Stories in 1961.
Of course I was also buying baseball and football.
1962 was the year when I really started buying very strongly.

I don't have strong memories of any pack I opened. I do remember often trying to cram about 10 sticks of gum in my mouth at once.
In 1960, the biggest card in my neighborhood was the 1960 Fleer Football Billy Cannon Rookie card. He was a legend to us.That was the card we were all looking to get.

Added some photos. Some gems here.

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

Wayne......you remembered correctly. You are the Trivia King.

If I remember correctly....Boudreau is the only player/manager ever to be awarded the MVP.


Furthermore, the MVP awards were announced in the first (or 2nd) week of December 1948.
Which tells us that these LEAF BB cards were NEVER, ever issued in 1948. PSA is misleading
the hobby by labeling them a "1948" issue.

Thanks for your response.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Not just PSA. Many collecting guides over the years have labeled the as 1948-49 as well.

There were probably a bunch of Padres fans scratching their heads and wondering why they can't find a Dave Winfield anywhere.

Mickey Cochrane was the Tigers Player Manager in 1934 when he won MVP.

It was the of late summer 1952 and our neighborhood gang, heavy into cards of course, knew the last series of those incredible new Topps cards were being distributed in our area and might even even now be sitting in our main outlet, the local drug store. Gathering our meagre resources, with some even pleading for an advance on their allowances, we rushed the store and, lo and behold, there were the shiny packs all lined up, as if waiting for kids like us. I had brought 25 cents, exactly half my weekly allowance, and quickly bought 5 packs. We all then gathered under a giant oak tree, opened our packs and started trading. Three of my packs had nothing notable, but the 4th had a Pee Wee and the last a beautiful, thank you Lord, Jackie. Since I was a Dodger's fan, I was thrilled and ran all the way home to show my Dad.
Funny, sometimes I can't remember my telephone number, but I recall that day with total clarity

Boudreau's MVP announcement was the last week of November.

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

OK guys

Here is the Quintessential wax-pack scenario......

A cool day in the Fall of 1952, a day I still remember quite well. My neighbor, Johnny, tells me that our neighborhood pharmacy has the TOPPS Hi# cards available.
By then, I had 270 cards (of the 310 issued). I was not interested in completing the set. I just wanted to have all the Yankees in it, especially Mickey Mantle.
I had a Quarter in my pocket, so we went to the pharmacy and I get 5 packs. The first 4 packs I opened had mostly Hi # commons and semi-stars.
I carefully opening the 5th pack, I slowly shuffled thru the cards, and lo and behold, the card in the middle was Mickey.

All five of these cards are the original cards out of that 5th wax-pack. This wrapper is not the original one.


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...wrapper100.jpg


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...mmantle52t.jpg . . . . https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...ermspenc_1.jpg
TED Z

T206 Reference
.

About 16 years ago, my son had a handful of 1984T cards on the desk in his room. I asked where he got the cards and he said he found a box in our garage and opened a few packs. Apparently he found a box of 1984T wax baseball cards I had put away and opened a few packs. He said the gum was stale.

As a child I would buy packs of cards with my allowance at "The Little Store". I would walk with my friend Joey Mari on Wednesdays with my dime allowance and buy two packs of cards. I always wanted to get an empty box, but was to shy to ask the store manager if I could have one. I remember one day in 1970 when packs were 10 for 10 cents, I opened a pack and there were only six cards. I was not too shy to go back in the store and demand the missing four cards. He gave me a new pack but took the six I had from the original pack.

Go back a few years to 1967, I was five and lived across the very busy street and 100 yards away from the store. I have a distinct memory of walking down to the store with my dad and sister. We each got a pack of cards. Mine were 1967 Red Sox stickers, I think my sister may have got monkey cards. I can remember her dropping her gum onto the sidewalk and crying, my dad picked it up and took it home to wash off and give it to her. I remember this as yesterday and know the "exact" spot this happened. So my first pack consisted of three 67 Topps stickers. Only one survived childhood as I put it on my Mikey Mouse Club toy box. Many years later I completed that set. Attached picture #1 is that card from my first pack, picture #2 is me with a 1970 Reggie Smith and my sisters.

So in my youth in Central California, one of my earliest memories are of food issue cards like Hostess, Kellogg's, etc.

BUT the first card we chased was the 1981 Granny Goose Dave Revering, who was traded to the Yankees shortly after the release of the set. Card pulled and or destroyed so it became a tough short print.

I pulled one really nice example. BUT after someone offered me a stout $40 for the card, I sold it as that was incredible money at the time for a greasy card. Never had another another until many years later. I collect that card mostly to remember the fun of the chase and capture.

I only need a PSA 2 and a PSA 3 to have a complete run of the card. No 10's exist.

Not all BB cards are from wax-packs, some are from wax paper Bread packages
 

In the Fall of 1947, we experienced one of the most exciting World Series ever played. My sister and I carefully opened up Homogenized Bond Bread
packages for BB cards of Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, or the new rookie sensation..... Jackie Robinson.

True rookie cards......

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





1947 wrapper......


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



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Super cool and how rare that a kid would keep the cards all this time and that his orients didn’t trash them like they did my Dad’s

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

Hi Chris

The real credit goes to my Aunt.

In 1959, my dear Aunt Anna lived alone. We had a big house, so I convinced my Mom to have Aunty move in with us. My Aunt was a proverbial "pack-rat".
In 1960, I enlisted into the US Air Force. While I was there (4-years), my Mom decided to clear out my room. I was very fortunate, though, my Aunt saved
all my BB cards, Lionel trains, and Stamp collection. Furthermore, she was smart enough to store all of these "goodies" in our home's attic.



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Ted,

I've said it before, I'll say it again, these stories you tell are a real treat. Hearing about the Hobby back then and seeing these cards is incredible. Everyone on the whole has been sharing fantastic stories.

I was given a bunch of 90 topps packs when I was a kid. My first foray into cards really. I pulled the Rookie of my Favorite player, Bernie Williams. I still have the card, I'll update with a scan of it when I get home. Not even close to the most valuable card in my collection, but a priceless memory for me!

- James

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

Hi James

I appreciate your kind words. And yes, Bernie Williams was a great Centerfielder with the Yankees (16 consecutive years).

The first World Series I saw (as young kid) was the 1947 Yankees vs Dodgers. In my opinion, this 7-game Series was one of the most exciting ever.
The Left Fielder for the Yanks was Johnny Lindell. He was amazing both in the field and at bat (Batted = .500, Hits = 9, RBI = 7 in 6 games).

I cherish his rookie card (1947 BOND BREAD). It was one of the very first Baseball cards in my collection.

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

TED Z

T206 Reference
.

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

We young kids were very pleased in the Spring of 1951 when we tore open the BOWMAN waxpacks
to see larger cards and with the player's names on the front of them.

I cannot show you a 1951 BOWMAN wrapper. But I do have a seldom seen 24-count wax-pack box.
This box is actually 3-dimensional. I scanned it in 2 dimensional form, so I could easily post it here.
And, you could read the lettering on it.


---------------------------http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...nWaxBox17x.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...nWaxPkBoxS.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...axPkBox50x.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...xPkBoxSinv.jpg
---------------------------http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...axBox17inv.jpg




http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...hiteyFordx.jpg . . http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...edWilliams.jpg

1st series ------------------------------------------------------------- Mid-series



http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...iersall50x.jpg

Hi # series



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

My contribution pales in comparison, but I pulled two future Hall-of-Famers from 'one' of the first packs my Mom allowed me to buy at the local A&P.

1964 Topps Cepeda & Santo.

Of course, the actual cards are long gone, but I've replaced them - a few times.

Hi everyone. First post here on this forum although I've been reading a lot of threads over the last year since the covid shutdown resulted in a lot of free time and re-started my avid childhood hobby! (thanks to all who have posted great threads to help me with my collection) Anyway, I thought this would be a good thread to use for my first post.

My entire childhood centered around baseball and as a kid living in the middle of nowhere at 9,000 ft in the Colorado mountains there wasnt a lot of baseball to be played so I collected cards, especially loved 30s/40s era players. I can remember spending an entire summer getting paid $0.25 for each tent worm branch I removed from properties in preparation for a trip to the Denver lowlands to buy my prized 1940 Play Ball Mel Ott (terrible condition in retrospect!).

Skipping over a long story, in 1995 the Texas Rangers drafted me and by Spring 1996 there were photographers at Spring Training scheduling photo sessions of prospects. I thought well there's no way a 5th round pick is going to end up on a card but it was super cool that a group of industry reps from my childhood hobby were interested enough to take photos so I of course agreed.

Sitting at home that winter in 1995 and focused more on my workouts than my card collection, I opened up the mailbox and in it was a package from Bowman. I thought it strange since I hadnt ordered any cards or boxes recently. Inside was a letter from Bowman, a (small) check from Bowman, and a lot of 100 cards... with me on them! 1996 Bowman #150. Floored.

More to the specifics of this thread on memories of opening packs of cards as a kid... So after seeing that Bowman had made a card of me, I immediately got online (think AOL dialup) and ordered a box of 1996 Bowman. What are the chances, I thought, that I would actually get one of my own cards in a pack in that box? So I got back online and ordered another box just in case. They happened to arrive the same day and I sat down at my kitchen table to unsealed the first box. As I had done starting in 1985, I picked the top pack in the upper right corner of the box out of superstition. Unbelievably my card was in the very first pack I opened! Given that collecting cards was such a huge focus of my childhood, that moment of tearing open a pack and seeing my card was without question one of the top 10 memories of my life.

Here's the card (now completely worthless, haha!)

What a great story! You must have had a pretty exciting life thus far if that's only top 10.

That's one hell of a first post. Welcome to the board.

By the way, check out Mr. Gallagher's numbers in 1998 in hi-A ball. Must have been a fun year.