Sports Cards and Gum (old school)

Dru Edwards · #1 05-13-2021, 02:11 PM

Anyone remember the good old days when you would buy a pack of sports cards and get gum in it? I bought a lot of NHL packs so there was a lot of gum. Most of the MLB/NFL/NBA cards I have came from buying complete sets so no gum.

How about tearing off the strip of gum and ruining the back of the card?

Your experiences and thoughts?

Acousticado · #2 05-13-2021, 02:51 PM

Yep, I remember. I had many cards from many sports and tended to use them in kid games where you’d spin toss against a wall to see who could get closest, leaners, knock down the other kid’s leaner, etc. Lotsa fun! That and marbles. Of course, the cards would get quite damaged, but that didn’t matter. Never cared about collecting entire sets.

In the 1965-66 NHL season, Topps came out with the “Tall Boy” set of 110 cards where they were probably 1/3 taller than normal cards. A Gordie Howe example is pictured. I think the NHL was the only sport they did this for. For whatever reason, I collected those ones and ended-up back in the day with 96 of the set. My set was not high-end mint nor were they graded, but about 7 years ago, I decided to find and buy the remaining cards and sold the complete set for US$2,750. Minus the approx. $250 it cost me to buy the remaining cards, I net $2,500. Not a bad ROI. I took good photos of them all so I can collage and frame if I ever want to.

I recall chewing the gum, whether fresh or stale.

RP · #3 05-13-2021, 02:53 PM

Dru: Once more you've brought back a really old memory. Now I feel 71....

Dru Edwards · #4 05-13-2021, 02:55 PM

Tom, the Tall Boy sets are before my time but wow, what a great set to have.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acousticado

Yep, I remember. I had many cards from many sports and tended to use them in kid games where you’d spin toss against a wall to see who could get closest, leaners, knock down the other kid’s leaner, etc. Lotsa fun! That and marbles. Of course, the cards would get quite damaged, but that didn’t matter. Never cared about collecting entire sets.

In the 1965-66 NHL season, Topps came out with the “Tall Boy” set of 110 cards where they were probably 1/3 taller than normal cards. A Gordie Howe example is pictured. I think the NHL was the only sport they did this for. For whatever reason, I collected those ones and ended-up back in the day with 96 of the set. My set was not high-end mint nor were they graded, but about 7 years ago, I decided to find and buy the remaining cards and sold the complete set for US$2,750. Minus the approx. $250 it cost me to buy the remaining cards, I net $2,500. Not a bad ROI. I took good photos of them all so I can collage and frame if I ever want to.

I recall chewing the gum, whether fresh or stale.

RP, I'll just say "You're Welcome"... not for feeling 71 but for the great memory.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RP

Dru: Once more you've brought back a really old memory. Now I feel 71....

catdaddy · #5 05-13-2021, 04:11 PM

All of my friends and I collected Topps baseball cards when we were kids. Bought them one pack at a time at the local drug store. The gum was a thin wafer, the size and shape of the cards in the pack. I never had a problem with the gum sticking to any of the cards because it was coated in a light layer of what must have been powdered sugar which acted as a kind of protectant.

What I remember most about the gum was that it was invariably dried out and when lifted out of the package broke into shards which we had to shovel into our mouths quickly in order not to lose too many of the pieces falling to the ground. We dutifully chewed the dried pieces, and after a while and enough saliva was incorporated into it, the gum was okay, but before it softened up those pieces always had some sharp edges that could jab your gums. Ouch!
At times the gum was so dried out and stale that we were forced to spend our allowance money on Bazooka Bubblegum to get our bubblegum fix. The Bazooka Gum never disappointed.

jnidoh · #6 05-13-2021, 04:55 PM

Dru, in 1959, I was 8 years old, living in New York and collecting baseball cards of my favorite team, the Yankees. All my friends also tried to fill out their collections but no one had a Mickey Mantle.

Went with my parents to visit my grandfather and aunt in Pa. They lived at the end of an old dirt road in the middle of nowhere and still had an outhouse in lieu of a bathroom. There was an old country store where the pavement turned to dirt and I often wandered down the road to get a candy bar or a popsicle from the gentleman that stood behind the counter in his soiled white apron. One day I had four nickels and passed on the treats to get four packs of Topps baseball cards with the year old bubblegum.

Back at the house I opened each pack and was stunned to find not one or two, but three Mickey Mantle cards in those precious packs. Imagine a 40 year old winning a thirty million dollar lottery, that's how an 8 year old with those cards felt. When we came home, I was able to trade two of them to fill out the rest of the league for my collection.

61 years later, I can still remember that day and how I felt when I opened those packs.

john

Gitfiddlemann · #7 05-13-2021, 05:19 PM

Boy Dru, you really know how to hit those memory buttons.

I definitely remember those, from my earliest recall days. Reading your post brought me back to the moment when I couldn't wait to open the flat package and get hit with that first whiff of bubble gum. It had a slight sugary coating on them as I recall. Almost a "cardboardy" smell too, but in a good way.
My first memories are cards like these, with our local heroes on them:

Ahh, to be under 10 again....

stokes1971 · #8 05-13-2021, 05:41 PM

There was a Topps warehouse in my neighborhood back in the '60's that caught fire.After the fire was put out there were mountains of crates of card packs in the street.We all cleaned up on cards and more importantly, the gum that was almost always stale and brittle was now smoke flavored.mmmmm

JonWer · #9 05-13-2021, 05:57 PM

As a kid, ruined a good number of baseball cards by connecting to a clothes pins and flapping through the spokes of our banana bikes, all to make a crazy noise.

Cabarone · #10 05-14-2021, 12:23 AM

Man, y'all sure brought up some memories...I remember the baseball ones had checklist cards too so you could mark off the ones you had...

And it was a real treat if you actually got a fresh stick of gum....

Mr. Paul · #11 05-14-2021, 01:29 AM

My neighbor have me a shoe box full of cards in '65, still have them. I should look into selling them, they're cool but I like guitars better

I only added one card, a Tom Tresh cut out of a cereal box.

RedJoker · #12 05-14-2021, 08:25 AM

While we could always get baseball cards at our local general store, it was always a treat to get them during a visit to Grandma's house. In our kid logic, since she lived in northern Kentucky, we had a better chance at getting our favorite Reds cards at her local store.

westview · #13 05-14-2021, 08:34 AM

Wow! This sure is jarring a memory. Topps baseball cards.
Mine are still with me up in a storage closet. Now I need to look through them.

I remember having Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Ernie Banks, Willie Mays,
Pete Rose, Hank Aaron, and who knows what else.

Remember some cards had action photos and team pictures?
Even some managers. On the back were the stats and even a small comic picture.

jpd · #14 05-14-2021, 10:16 AM

Started in 1958. my favorite shoe box full were the 1961 Detroit Tigers...and the gum!

Riverwolf · #15 05-14-2021, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonWer

As a kid, ruined a good number of baseball cards by connecting to a clothes pins and flapping through the spokes of our banana bikes, all to make a crazy noise.

Yeah.
Don't remember hockey cards in rural Oregon.
We did collect pro football cards back then.
I remember the gum, good stuff!