First Pack of Cards

[Gorditadogg]

Deertick that is a bittersweet story.

I was 9 years old in 1966 and I liked Mickey Mantle. I used to ride my bike with my friends to the IGA in South Jacksonville IL and buy packs two at a time. I bet I bought a hundred packs before I gave up, never did pull a Mantle. Of course I didn't know how the series' worked back then, by the time I started buying packs they were already done with series 1 and were selling series 2 and 3.

I did visit my cousins later in the year and they had some Mantles which they traded me for Mays and Rose cards so I eventually got my Mantle. They also had some series 7 cards because I traded for Gaylord Perry.

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[drmondobueno]

I remember seeing a Dentist who was carving the remnant of a tooth to make way for the next generation. Usually at the end of a visit the dentist would offer a sucker but this trip he had a pack of baseball cards in his candy drawer and he said I could have them. I remember the pack was wrapped in clear cello and the top card was a Billy Williams Topps Rookie All Star card. I thought that was cool as hell and did not know who Billy was but he had to be good if Topps said so! Lol!

So it was on. The closest store was the once upon a time New Star market about a mile away up the highway. And I picked up a few ‘ 61 packs before the 1962 rack packs showed. They were a lot of money for a kid with no allowance and lawns to mow were few and far between- it was too hot and the soil was just terrible. So, whenever I got my hands on 29 cents it was a trip to the market in the morning- it would get around 117 in the afternoon, a death walk we would say- and scrounge through the packs to grab one with a Mantle The Switch Hitter Connects...to this day I love the In Action and Leader cards. I think I had 14 Mantle Connect cards at one time.

One of the first things I did when we moved to the garden city of San Bernardino (I prefer El Centro) in 1963 was scope out the local stores, the closest was R &S Liquor on Del Rosa Blvd. the Safeway down on the corner never carried cards that I could find. Seemed to remember the 1963 rack packs went up in price to 39 cents and I thought that was just too much! Did not like the looks of the ‘64 set but later bought as many 1965’s as I could get.

I was the kid who would not flip cards but would trade marbles for cards. Who needed marbles at eleven? A neighbor across the street would take an erasor to his duplicates and draw in phony eyes, noses with boogers and Frankenstein stitches onto faces. I still have one of his cards. Terry Bain was a 20th round pick , I think by Kansas City, in 1972 or 1973, and passed a few years back. I remember his giggle whenever he saw one of these cards.

The things you remember...

[campersmd]

First pack was from the complete 1969 Topps box that I purchased for $1.20 with gift money in 1969. I still have the marked checklists from that box.

[JustinD]

For the Gen-xer’s who remember those awesome rainbow colored Topps Fun Packs at Halloween, mine were 1978 Close Encounters of the Third Kind in my trick or treat bag.

Started a many, many years long hobby…good job Topps.

In that same vein, I found Pokémon Halloween fun packs this year. I handed them out with the candy and couldn’t believe the kids excitement. I hope it grows for a few of them like it did for me.

[jethrod3]

I think someone bought me a pack of 1971 Super Baseball at our local candy store in NY, but it wasn't until 1972 that I got a cello pack at the Walgreens after we moved to FL. Since I'd actually started collecting cards in 1970 though, about 15 years ago I treated myself to an opened 1970 wax pack. Spent about $50 on that pack, and when I opened it, I was astonished to find a mint Mays and Rose in that pack!

[cornhusker]

First baseball pack was '77 topps cello from a gas station outside of Hershey, PA. I remember there was a Larry Bowa card and I thought he was one of the coolest because in school our teacher used him as an example in an inspirational talk. Something along the lines of chase down your dreams kind of thing because Bowa had been cut from his high school team multiple times yet persevered and was a star player for the Phillies. I don't remember the Phillies being all that good at the time but it was great doing the bus trips from the sticks where i lived to Vets Stadium to see them play.
Had to stretch the quarter allowance back then to pick up those cool blue border Star Wars cards too. Man, they were cool. I sold most of my childhood cards when I was at college so I had $ to wine n dine my lady friends. Was able to re-acquired those SW cards in really nice condition recently. Kinda funny to be chasing the same cards at 55 that we were trading as 5-year old kids. Ha

[philliesfan]

I have no idea of the first pack I opened as I had a lot of late 1960's cards and a few from 1970 in my prime of collecting. Then the cards magically disappeared......thanks mom. When I was about 14 or 15, I bought a pack of 1975 mini's and pulled a Yaz. I still have those cards from that pack.
Bob

[nolemmings]

1966 Mankato MN, Ben Franklin store at the Tempo shopping center. Rode my bike the 2 1/2 blocks, pulled a Sandy Valdespino in the first pack, although it may not have been the first card.

Also would have bought '66 Philly gum and Topps football later that year at the same place, but don't remember the players in the first pack. Do remember Jerry Sturm's card though-- look at it sometime and tell me as a 7 year-old kid that the card would not make an impression (you decide the impression). Seemed like he was trying to fly through the clouds-- I still chuckle when I see it.

[Fred]

My brother started around 1964, he's 7 years older than me and I think I my first pack was around 1971 or 1972. You'd think that if it was 1971 I'd remember because of the black fronts on the cards.

My brother kicked the habit pretty young when he figured out girls were more fun to play with than cards.

I no longer buy packs (ok, rarely) so my knowledge of all these shiny, limited, 1/1 and other crud is foreign to me. Perhaps that's a good thing because I'd rather chase the old stuff than have a 1/1 shiny card of the flavor of the month that resides in a TPG holder with a 10 on the label. I still have a hard time understanding that obsession.

What happens if you pay $100K for flavor of the month and the player gets popped for PEDs and no longer produces at an incredible rate that gave them flavor of the month status? Holy crap, when I think about people paying out that kind of money for shiny and new I think about all the vintage I could buy with that money. I digress...