Well … I know my first baseball card pack must have been purchased from the Friendly Market which was conveniently located at the crosswalk (with crossing guard!) on the way to school in our first school year in a new town. That was the spring of 1976. I’ve since joked that every pack I opened that year contained an Enzo Hernandez card, but Pepe Frias was a common visitor, too. But the … very … first … card? Whooo … that’s a tough ask. I’d love to say it was George Brett or Gary Carter or even Rico Petrocelli … and I do remember getting those guys fairly early on. I can tell you the LAST card … that was Pedro Borbon … 21 years later as possibly the greatest Christmas present ever from my then and still lovely bride. But what the heck … we’ll let Enzo grab the glory.
Sounds like a fun journey with that set! For what it’s worth, I didn’t open my first baseball cards until 1981, but I swear *somehow* the 1976 Topps Pepe Frias was in every pack that year.
One day my father bought a box of 1986 Topps and let my brother and I open packs and chew gum one afternoon. I would open the pack, cram that pink tab into my mouth, finger through the cards and only pausing on the Braves because that's all I knew. Then I'd hand the cards to dad who would go through them more slowly and talk about Ozzie Smith and Nolan Ryan.
He was building a set, but would let us have doubles. My brother got the Mets cards, sucker, buncha nobodies like Dwight Gooden, Strawberry, Gary Carter, but I got Bruce Benedict, Pascal Perez, and Gerald Perry. My number one card would've been, of course, Dale Murphy. It wasn't a dynamic card, but anytime my baseball coach told us to take a knee, I would adopt that '86 Murphy pose and hope he'd recognize me as the same sort of player: https://i.etsystatic.com/10605402/r/il/03cd1b/1143461109/il_1080xN.1143461109_mhi8.jpg
I got my first set of Topps 1968 baseball cards from my neighbor’s nephew. He gave me some of his doubles. I’m not sure which card was first, but I consider the Topps 1968 Dave Wickersham card as my first ever card.
Earliest card I remember pulling from a pack was a 1970 Frank Robinson, card #700. It obviously wasn't my first card, as this was the last series and I started buying cards from the 3rd series, but it's as close as I'll ever get to naming a first card. Still love that card, along with #500 Aaron and #600 Mays.
Well … I know my first baseball card pack must have been purchased from the Friendly Market which was conveniently located at the crosswalk (with crossing guard!) on the way to school in our first school year in a new town. That was the spring of 1976. I’ve since joked that every pack I opened that year contained an Enzo Hernandez card, but Pepe Frias was a common visitor, too. But the … very … first … card? Whooo … that’s a tough ask. I’d love to say it was George Brett or Gary Carter or even Rico Petrocelli … and I do remember getting those guys fairly early on. I can tell you the LAST card … that was Pedro Borbon … 21 years later as possibly the greatest Christmas present ever from my then and still lovely bride. But what the heck … we’ll let Enzo grab the glory.
Sounds like a fun journey with that set! For what it’s worth, I didn’t open my first baseball cards until 1981, but I swear *somehow* the 1976 Topps Pepe Frias was in every pack that year.
One day my father bought a box of 1986 Topps and let my brother and I open packs and chew gum one afternoon. I would open the pack, cram that pink tab into my mouth, finger through the cards and only pausing on the Braves because that's all I knew. Then I'd hand the cards to dad who would go through them more slowly and talk about Ozzie Smith and Nolan Ryan.
He was building a set, but would let us have doubles. My brother got the Mets cards, sucker, buncha nobodies like Dwight Gooden, Strawberry, Gary Carter, but I got Bruce Benedict, Pascal Perez, and Gerald Perry. My number one card would've been, of course, Dale Murphy. It wasn't a dynamic card, but anytime my baseball coach told us to take a knee, I would adopt that '86 Murphy pose and hope he'd recognize me as the same sort of player: https://i.etsystatic.com/10605402/r/il/03cd1b/1143461109/il_1080xN.1143461109_mhi8.jpg
That’s sort of an iconic Murphy shot in my eyes. Sound like you guys foreshadowed today’s Mets-Braves bloodbaths.
I got my first set of Topps 1968 baseball cards from my neighbor’s nephew. He gave me some of his doubles. I’m not sure which card was first, but I consider the Topps 1968 Dave Wickersham card as my first ever card.
Good on the neighbor’s nephew. That Wickersham was a rough way to start — glad you stuck with it! :)
Earliest card I remember pulling from a pack was a 1970 Frank Robinson, card #700. It obviously wasn't my first card, as this was the last series and I started buying cards from the 3rd series, but it's as close as I'll ever get to naming a first card. Still love that card, along with #500 Aaron and #600 Mays.