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

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by campyfan39

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

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
.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by tedzan

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

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Seven

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

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.



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[tedzan]

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.


---------------------------

---------------------------




. .

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





Hi # series



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[clydepepper]

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.

[atomic175]

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!)

[ASF123]

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.

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