[jtulliakat0628]

Just wondering how many collectors here still have the very first card that they ever recieved or the card that got them into collecting. Would love to see them and maybe a few stories to go with it.

This is my first. I remember I was 9 and it was my birthday. I always grew up with my Uncle having a really ridiculous Ted Williams baseball card collection. My uncle was telling me all about his collection (he is too cheap to even let me touch them,lol, not kidding) and for some reason when I saw all those collectibles and cards that he had, it really got me intrigued to start my own. I begged my dad to take me to a card shop in fort worth that my uncle had told me about because I wanted to get a Pudge Ivan Rodriguez baseball card. Well, we get to the card shop and the guy that worked there was telling/showing us his rookie card. I just had to have it! I am sure my dad paid WELL over book value for the card but hey, a fathers love is a fathers love! Anyways, here is mine.

[sonnyday]

Framed and sitting on my shelf. No monetary value to it, just nostalgic. Plus he looks like dracula!

[jtulliakat0628]

I VANT TO SUCK YOUR BLOOD! Nice card man! He looks like Dracula's twin.

[phillies816]

Don't have the first card I got but I do have a story on starting collecting. Started when I was 7 or 8. Had to do a report on a book of my choice in 1st grade and for whatever reason I chose a book about Lou Gehrig. Read the book and enjoyed it even in 1st grade. Then saw a Saturday afternoon game in 1985 (on NBC I believe) between the Angels and the team I just read about, the Yankees. I was hooked and took a particular liking to Don Mattingly. I saw kids in school with baseball cards and asked my dad if I could go with him when he went to get his cigarettes and lottery and saw the 1985 Topps box and begged my dad for packs and got them. Of course got a Mattingly. Didn't know they had value so I would staple them to cardboard pieces sorted by team. Got a few packs here and there until 1987 when I started to save any money I earned or got as gifts and began buying as much 1987 Topps as I could...and I was off and running in this hobby. I'm 33 now and still root for the Phillies, Yankees, and now the Dodgers until they eventually fire Mattingly. To this day I still vote for Don Mattingly as the AL All-Star 1st Baseman with one write-in vote per year. To sum it up, Don Mattingly is the main reason for my love of baseball and collecting.

[seaw0lf]

My first card was this Topps Whittey Ford. I saved my allowance for weeks and when I went back to the card shop they still had it so I laid out my hard earned cash for it. Ive had this card for over 25 years, others have come and gone but vie always held onto it! I recently had Whitey sign it about a month ago to, so now I have the memory of meating the player that got me started in the hobby!

[gotopes]

I still have it, in a grading sleeve for some reason:


I was only five when I got this card, and actually heard the story from my dad a few months before he passed away. He quit drinking when I was five; he was able to quickly drop a lot of the habits that helped him keep drinking in the first place, except for one: every Friday evening he would still get the itch to go to the liquor store down the road from his work.
At first he would go and just not get out of his truck, but that would stress him out, so he started going inside but gave himself just enough time to get a soda for himself and a pack of cards for me. I remember getting them, but being unsure what do with them until I saw this one. The Angels were our team and having a photo of a player I'd seen belt a home run on TV made me feel like I was carrying around some secret magic card. From then on I was hooked, and my dad never got tired of me rambling on about player stats or hometowns or birthdates.

[joe callahan13]

I don't really remember what my first card was, although I am sure I don't still have it. I got into it when I was a kid and saw my cousin's vintage collection. I know he had a ton of great stuff, but the one in particular that stick in my head was an old Roberto Clemente card.

The one however, that really got me serious and my favorite card I have ever owned was a 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig. Unfortunately, I had to pay for my own college and my full time $7/hr job wasn't cutting it. It broke my heart, but I had to sell it. I am thinking about buying another one now to replace it. I will just have to find one in better condition. :-)

[dorkypunkrockerguy]

1989 Donruss Will Clark lost it at a Rangers game after getting it autographed

[sesfan01]

I don't really remember my first card, but I'm sure I still have it. My first vintage card was a 1972 topps Willie Mays and I still have it in the case it came in.

[philliesguy]

the first 2 i can rememebr having that got me hooked were a 1983 topps mike schmidt, and an 87 topps will clark.
i still have the will clark, but i think as a kid i traded the schmidt to one of my neighbors for a nolan ryan card.