Your first card memories

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SymphonicMetal

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I was wondering what other Bench members first sports card memories were, be it a particular set or player. Something or someone caught all of our attentions at one point that got us started in this hobby.

For me the first recollections of cards were the 1965 Topps and Philadelphia football issues. I caught the card bug at a very young age as the 1965 football season was the Fall term of my 1st grade year. Even though I ended up being an AFL kid, I really preferred the Philadelphia cards. The Phily cards had the natural backgrounds and the players all looked like tough guys. The AFL cards were oversized and had a solid color background which made the cards look cartoonish. Odd how Philadelphia had a far superior design on their cards then Topps did back then. I really liked the Topps design the next year with the wood grain TV set look but for my first memories the Philadelphia cards of 1965 took the cake.

And it is very strange the cards I remember the most from back in 1965. It was not Unitas, Jim Brown or Starr. It was players like Rudy Bukich, Walter Beach, Tony Liscio, Ben Wilson, Dick Lynch ad Brady Keys. IIOn the AFL side none of the players made much of an impression on me. I knew I had some of those cards but I’d be lying if I claimed to have tons of Joe Namath Rookies. All those Topps and Philly cards got thrown away so it would not have mattered.

The first baseball cards I remember were the 1966 Topps and I have always loved that set. Again the odd players I remember most were Albie Pearson, Joe Pepitone, Willie Horton, Sam McDowell and Ken Berry of the White Sox (not to be confused with Ken Berry who played the captain on the sit-com F-Troop the same year!).

The first basketball cards I remember were not even the cards but rather the paper insert rulers from the 1969-70 Topps basketball set. The one I remember most was Wes Unseld which I pictured below. I never owned that Unseld Ruler until 3 or 4 years ago when I bought one at a garage sale.

http://www.tradingcarddb.com/ViewCa...9-70-Topps---Rulers-22-Wes-Unseld?PageIndex=1

But all of those early cards were thrown away as was the case with so many other collectors. I sure they were not in mint condition by any means as I looked at them constantly.

I’m curious as to what others first memories/recollections of sports cards was?
 
I can actually remember the first cards I ever got. They were 1979 Topps football. the strange thing is that I do not even collect football cards now. I specifically remember the 1979 Topps Earl Campbell. But I was hooked from then on.

Another great memory I had was when my dad bought some cards off a guy he worked with. He paid 90.00 for all of them in 1987. It turned out they were 1953 Bowman Colors. And one of them was the Mickey Mantle. It looked like it just came out of the pack. I sold it at a show in Ohio for 1000.00. I kind of wish I had that card back but I had a fantastic time with that grand.
 
I have vague memories of '59 and '60 Topps baseball cards, but my forst concrete memory is the '61 set. Growing up in Ridgewood, Queens, I was a Yankee fan and had suffered through the ignominious loss to the Pirates in the 1960 world Series. I distinctly remember buying packs from the Adams sisters' candy store on Seneca Avenue and how mad I was that Topps would make Dick Groat the # 1 card!

Boots
 
Got hooked later in life....my nephew was into Griffey jr and Daryl Strawberry ....and for his birthday.....brought a box of the Fleer and pulled two Griffey Jr rookies for his birthday! Been collecting every since....Best regards, David
 
My brothers keeping their 70s cards in metal lunchboxes.

My sister keeping a 1984 Fleer Darryl Strawberry RC in her pocketbook.

Overlooking 86-87 Fleer Basketball packs to buy 86 Topps baseball at the local Cumberland Farms.

Reading the backs of my brothers' 70s cards,seeing the stats and wondering why some of these guys weren't bigger stars since I never heard of them before seeing their cards. Some names that come to mind were J.R. Richard,Ralph Garr and Al Oliver.

Setting up for my 1st card show in 1990 with a couple of friends. One of them bought a 1986 Donruss Canseco RC for $100 and the other bought one with a stain on it for $65.

If I think of more I'll update my post. Good topic here.
 
My brothers keeping their 70s cards in metal lunchboxes.

My sister keeping a 1984 Fleer Darryl Strawberry RC in her pocketbook.

Overlooking 86-87 Fleer Basketball packs to buy 86 Topps baseball at the local Cumberland Farms.

Reading the backs of my brothers' 70s cards,seeing the stats and wondering why some of these guys weren't bigger stars since I never heard of them before seeing their cards. Some names that come to mind were J.R. Richard,Ralph Garr and Al Oliver.

Setting up for my 1st card show in 1990 with a couple of friends. One of them bought a 1986 Donruss Canseco RC for $100 and the other bought one with a stain on it for $65.

If I think of more I'll update my post. Good topic here.

The prices on the 1986 Donruss cards were crazy. I remember being at a show in Ohio where I grew up and seeing someone pay 20.00 for the Cory Snyder rookie. I was also in a card shop in Orlando and watched the store trade a mint 1961 Topps Roger Maris for the Canseco rookie.
 
The prices on the 1986 Donruss cards were crazy. I remember being at a show in Ohio where I grew up and seeing someone pay 20.00 for the Cory Snyder rookie. I was also in a card shop in Orlando and watched the store trade a mint 1961 Topps Roger Maris for the Canseco rookie.

I once had a 1968 Topps Tom Seaver (probably close to EX condition) that was given to me by my mom's boyfriend that I traded for some Donruss Frank Thomas insert #ed to like 5,000 in the late 90s. I've since picked up another Seaver (in nicer shape) just in case he ever asks about it since I never told him I traded it lol.
 
I fully blame my mom was around 10 years old my mom for some reason decided to buy a shoe box full of baseball cards which were 75 Topps so when I got home I had to share them with my brother -Later in middle school 7th-8th grade my math teacher Mr Loper had a baseball card collectors club which he taught me a lot about the hobby like no rubberbands around cards - He also took my brother and I to our first baseball card show and the week after beg my mom and dad to take us to Philly to another show and my mom was like OMG look at this-all these people collect baseball cards? -My mom even used to put my cards in numerical order lmao
 
Great topic...

First time I can remember baseball cards, was 5 years old, went with my parents to a neighbors yard sale. They had two items for sale for $5. One was a grocery bag filled with cards - still remember that a 1973 Roberto Clemente was the card sitting on the top of the pile. The other was the tabletop hockey with the push pull movement.My dad told me get the cards, I will be happier. I was 5, I wanted the hockey. One temper tantrum later, dad was lugging the hockey game home. Proving once again, parents are right 99% of the time!
 
I know my dad bought me cards on 1973 and 1974, but my first real memory was in 1975 having a Fred Lynn RC. ROY, MVP, World Series team thought I had the best card in the world!
 
My mom would bring me to the local card shop when I was very young to look through the penny/dime boxes. I would look through the cards for hours...

When I was in fourth grade (in 1999), I brought treats to school. I had extra, so I brought some to my former teachers. Among them was my first grade teacher, who had a “prize box” for kids to pick through on their birthday. There were some oddball toys in there as well as some baseball card singles. For my prize, I found a 1995 Topps Traded Carlos Beltran RC. At the time this was a $40 card as it was shortly after his incredible ROY campaign. Jackpot!!!
 
I don't remember a particular card, but remember well going to the card shop next door to my Aunt and Uncle's beauty parlor while Gram would get her hair done! So many cool looking cards, and had a ton of fun seeing all the great Cub and Bear players in the 80s!
 
I remember putting four (FOUR!) '62 Mantles in my bike spokes at once - I hated the Yankees even at a young age!

Wish I had them back now...
 
I guess the first memory of cards was in 1975, I was 6 years old and my dad and 3 brothers were going fishing early on a Saturday morning. We had stopped for bait and dad gave me a couple dollars, I remember getting 8 packs of 1975 Topps for the 2 bucks and some change for tax. I opened them in the dark and would glance at them when a light would hit us from oncoming traffic. Probably was and still is my favorite set and have been working on it the last couple weeks, Still need about 100 cards if anybody has any for trade plmk.

Thanks,
Dennis
 
It was 1980 and I was 8.

I was with my dad and he stopped by a local convenient store to buy a pack of Salems.

He gave two quarters to buy bubble gum.

For some unknown reason I bought two packs of Topps baseball. The first card? Johnny Bench with the pennant screaming REDS. Not knowing anything about baseball, I asked my dad if it meant the Red Sox (I grew up in suburban Boston). He's a native of Ohio and instantly told me that it wasn't. Anyway, this single purchase led me to read everything on the backs of them and yes I became hooked.

On my wall I have 5 of my most treasured cards...the three 1983 Wade Boggs RC, a 2010 Arthur Rhodes (a gift from my then 7 year old daughter from her collection) and in the center of of them, a wrinkled, well-worn 1980 Johnny Bench.
 
I was 10 years old in 1986 and there was a store downtown that had a basement devoted to toys. They also had a promotion where you received $1 off for every A on your report card.

One of the things I picked up was a baseball card collection starter kit. It had some pages and one of those big, puffy, oversized binders and an assortment of cards to start your collection. I also picked up a couple of packs of 1986 topps. Pulled a mike Schmidt card.

Unlike the rest of you, I d8dnt really keep up with the sports cards. The only store o.oiwner in town was a bit of a jerk, and by 1990 I was fully into comics instead.

Wasn't until 2001 I got back in because of the jersey and auto craze. Had some awesome cards that first year. Sometimes I miss the cards I had to sell. Sometimes I love the hobby, which has gotten way to big for it's britches, sometimes I hate the hobby and my quasi-abscession.
 
I was 10 years old in 1986 and there was a store downtown that had a basement devoted to toys.

My hometown had a store just like that with a basement devoted to toys. It was a Woolworth's type store called Fishmans's and the builing is still there and is now an art gallery in our downtown area.

This Fishman's store is an old memory of when I got back into card after my 1960s cards were all thrown away. In 1973 when my interest in cards was rekindled, Fishman's had a huge bin of loose baseball cards for a penny a piece. Unfortunately they were 1972s and I was interested in the current 1973 Topps issue. There had to have been 3,000 1972 Topps baseball cards in this bin and I had no interest. I have no idea if they had high numbers, mid numbers or low numbers but even in the worst case scenario that they were Series 1 cards I still could have had multiple Carlton Fisk Rookies, Willie Mays, Yaz and League Leader cards for a penny a piece. THe 1972s must not have sold well because these cards were taken out of their packs and put in this big bin.

Oh to have a time machine! LOL
 
The store in my hometown was called Veach's. Matter of fact, it just went out of business last year.

Now, I was 10 years old in 1986, and didn't really know any of the players that well. My parents took me into the local card shop after I started collecting, and my mother spotted a Johnny Bench card. I loudly proclaimed "Who's Johnny Bench?" Mind you, my hometown was less than 2 hours from Cincinnati.

I've also heard stories from my grandmother about her brother, who collected cards when he was younger, and had a ton of Mantles (I've heard about a dozen '52s, but that's probably exaggeration) that my great-grandmother threw in the fireplace while cleaning out the basement one year.
 
My first baseball card was a 1984 Topps Brett Butler.

I remember being 5 years-old in Elizabethton, TN and watching the Braves on TBS with my dad. Brett Butler was my favorite player because he was the fastest on the team.
When I went to visit my older cousin in Reidsville, NC he gave me a 1984 Topps #77 Brett Butler.

The first pack I actually bought was a pack of those over-sized 1984 Donruss Action All-Stars with my grandfather at an A&P in Columbus, NC.
 
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