Father’s Day Cards: Share Your Memories with Panini America & You Could Win!

If you're reading The Knight's Lance right now, chances are good that you're a collector. And if you're a collector, you've got them. Oh, how you've got them -- those heartwarming, never-forget memories of collecting with Dad, or collecting with your own kids as a dad, that instantly bring a smile to your face.

If you’re reading The Knight’s Lance right now, chances are good that you’re a collector. And if you’re a collector, you’ve got them. Oh, how you’ve got them — those heartwarming, never-forget memories of collecting with Dad, or collecting with your own kids as a dad, that instantly bring a smile to your face.

Certainly, all of us here at Panini America have them. And in honor of this weekend’s massive Father’s Day promotion, we’re going to share some of them with you now. After you’ve read ours, please share your own as a comment to this post. (And if you want to post a picture with your entry, that’s great, too.) Each day from now through Father’s Day, we’ll select one lucky winner to receive five 2012 Panini America Father’s Day packs.

But first, some of our favorite memories . . .

David Sharp, Panini America Customer Service Manager
Trying to wean my kids away from Pokemon cards is tough! I can usually draw them in by allowing them to touch and feel the cool patch and jersey cards that I get. This definitely has a wow factor over Pokemon.

Chris Reed, Panini America Marketing Manager
It wasn’t Father’s Day, but I will not soon forget my son Aubrey’s first trading card experience. I took my son to his first Oklahoma Sooners football game in October 2011. After the game, we went to the Sooner fan shop. Out of all the apparel, memorabilia, trinkets, etc., Aubrey’s “must have” item was DeMarco Murray’s 2011 Score RC.   I purchased the card, and remember thinking that I could probably have grabbed one from the office rather than pay $5 — but the memory wouldn’t be the same.

Scott Prusha, Panini America Marketing Manager
Collecting helped me and my father become best friends. We started going to shows when I was young and that led to us opening a shop together during my teens. For Christmas and my birthday, he’d always buy me one Rookie Card that I wanted. I still have them all and will never part with them.

Carlos Torrez, Panini America NFL Brand Manager
As the father of a 13-year-old boy, we always find time to visit our local card shop to open a few packs and talk sports. This Father’s Day will no different as we make our monthly trip to get our hands on some of the highly collectible cardboard created for this special day.

Jason Howarth, Panini America Vice President of Marketing
My first memory of collecting cards with my dad was opening a pack of cards and getting a Wade Boggs Rookie Card and later going to card shows to track down a Bo Jackson Rated Rookie.

As a dad, each year I load my kids’ Christmas stockings with Panini America trading cards. There’s something so special about watching them open their packs and seeing their eyes light up because they got their favorite Boston Celtics or New England Patriots player.

Mike Payne, Panini America Baseball Brand Manager
All of us have a story or six about great finds or great buys over the years. I certainly have some of those, but none compare with the simple time spent with my kids at shows when they were younger. Shows are becoming a lost art in our industry, but “back in the day” you could find a decent show within 20 miles on just about any weekend. Part of raising kids is filing away memories in order to take them out on another day, dust them off, and recall something good. I’m lucky my three – two sons and a daughter – cared enough to have spent that time with their dad. And they had fun, poring through bargain boxes and excitedly showing me how far their money went. All are in college now, and – not surprisingly in this iPhone world — cards are not the most important part of their lives. Funny thing about memories; you can’t put them in plastic sheets or in a One-Touch. But they remain the most valuable things I possess.

David Porter, Panini America NBA Brand Manager
Among my favorite childhood memories include sitting with my father in our family room in Topeka, Kan., with my baseball cards spread everywhere listening to Harry Caray and Jack Buck call the St. Louis Cardinals games over the radio. My dad taught me to keep score and regaled me with his favorite Cardinals stories when he was growing up in Cape Girardeau, Mo., the 1930s and 1940s. I learned about Stan Musial, the Dean Brothers, Enos “Country” Slaughter, Whitey “Crooked Arm” Kurowski, and the brothers Mort and Walker Cooper (Mort pitched, Walker caught). My dad realized what card collecting meant to me and was always encouraging me to continue. Eventually, he chauffeured me and my buddies to many card shops and card shows, always supporting my collecting.

Now that I have three sons who all collect, I understand what card collecting meant to my father was an opportunity to spend time with me, sharing something we both loved.

Keith Hower, Panini America NBA Brand Manager
Growing up, I knew every Saturday was baseball card day. Our routine, in order to give Mom a breather, was to head out with Dad, spend a couple hours away from the house — be it at the beach, the park, or some other fun random place — and end the trip with a few packs of baseball cards from the local corner store. Great memories. Thanks, Dad.

Chris Barr, Panini America NHL Brand Manager
My dad was the one who introduced me to hockey, and as we moved around the world while he was serving in the Air Force, he made sure we always had a satellite installed to catch the Flyers games and Hockey Night in Canada. He also contributed to countless trips to the local card shops so I could get more hockey cards. Thanks for everything, Dad.

Tim Trout, Panini America NHL Band Manager
My favorite memory was the arrival of a complete set that my dad had ordered. He was still at work, and they arrived in number order, as you would expect, but to a 7-year-old, they needed to be dumped out on the floor and sorted by team. My dad arrived home to find 26 piles of cards and a 7-year-old explaining that the cards weren’t in order — because the Cubs cards weren’t first in the box.

Now I get the opportunity to watch my 2-year-old son dump a box of cards on the floor and he just points out players wearing a Cubs hat, like his, and not too much sorting. But that time will come, and I can’t wait.

Ben Ecklar, Panini America Director of Product Development
I went on business trip with my dad and we would drop by the local Safeway to buy packs of baseball cards; we completed three or four sets that week. That’s how I got started. My kids are still young, starting to show interest and they love opening packs and looking for autographed cards.

Tracy Hackler, Panini America Hobby Marketing Manager
When I was much younger, my dad worked at a printing facility that produced those magical lenticular cards that usually wound up as prizes tucked snugly into the bottom of 7-Eleven Slurpee cups. Much to the delight of my older brother Tim and I, Dad would often bring large quantities of those cards home for us, a fringe benefit that kick started a lifelong love of collecting — and built an unbreakable bond — that my brother and I share to this day.

All these years later, Tim and I are fathers of our own — two boys apiece — who’ve spent so much quality time instilling the same memories and relationships that will no doubt have them fondly remembering forever all those times when Dad brought cards home to them.

***UPDATE – WINNERS ANNOUNCED***

Congratulations to our Father’s Day Blog Winners! Some great, heart-felt Father’s Day stories. It was tough to choose our winners! Thanks to everyone who participated.

The following winners please send us an email to [email protected] with your name, info, address, etc. so that we can send your prize.  Please put “Father’s Day Blog Winner” in the subject line.

WINNERS:
XstreamINsanity

Victor Pimentel

Bruce Sims

Nick Tumbokon

Seth M. Murphy

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110 Replies to “Father’s Day Cards: Share Your Memories with Panini America & You Could Win!”

  1. As a 15 year old kid whose dads cards were thrown away when he went off to college, I’ve had a bunch of great memories with my dad. The best was when we were walking around a flee market and I found a Johnny Bench card from 1970. Bench was my dads favorite player, so he was more pumped than I was that we found the card. He gladly bought it for ME, refusing my offer to give it to him. He still hasn’t gotten back into collecting yet, but maybe if I score some Fathers Day packs and we pull a card from the Big Red Machine he will get back into the “game”.

  2. As a long time collector I can still remember the thrill of ripping packs and finding cardboard gold as a child. My wife and I are expecting our first child and as such it has rekindled alot of my childhood loves, including card collecting. I have this year begun buying boxes of 2012 cards that I plan to one day open with my daughter to be (due in July) as a way to hopefully get her into the hobby and to show her what was going on the year she was born. Of course I could not help myself but to open some boxes myself! What a thrill and makes me feel 10 again. I love the hobby and love being back a part of it. Can’t wait to continue it on through another generation!

  3. One of my earliest childhood memories is of my dad buying me packs of baseball cards and us sitting at the kitchen table opening them together. The hours spent looking them up in the price guide and toploading them and putting sets together, etc.
    To this day we still buy eachother packs and singles. And opening them together is still a thrill. I would love to share a few of the special Fathers Day packs with him!

  4. My dad always felt cards were a waste of time and money. It wasn’t until I was an adult and he was in his 60s that I convinced him that it wasn’t. I did this by insisting he bust a couple boxes with me!! He was hooked as soon as he pulled his first giant. Over the years we really connected even more and had a very special relationship that was manifested by collecting. Sadly my dad passed away a few years ago but the memories of a 60 year old man lighting up at pulling giants card will be with forever. In those moments he was like a little kid and expressed remorse that he didn’t collect sooner. I cherish those times with my dad and am grateful that we could share collecting together as it definitely opened up our relationship for the better!!

  5. After begging my Dad to take me to a National Convention, he finally did in 1998. We drove to Cleveland from Western PA and had a great time, broke some packs of Prestige and got a couple Ryan Leaf cards stamped at the show. I still have those cards, great memories. Dad was in the Navy so taking the time to do this meant a lot. He was often gone for 6-9 months at a time.

    1. Dang, meant to say Chicago. So many Nationals, they all start to blend together. Panini, bring back the stamping machine!

  6. My mother actually bought me the first pack of cards I ever owner but it was my father that kept me going in the hobby. He took me to my first show,, first hobby shop and within a few years we had our own inventory to put out at some of those same shows. He eventually used a friendship he developed to get my mother a summer job with me at an LCS where I was doing most of the work and she was just handling the money. To this day we are involved in some sort of business project involving the hobby, using his selling expertise and my knowledge of technology and “the new stuff” as he calls it to give him something to do in retirement other than annoy the crap out of my mother (a great, year-round Mother’s day gift according to her). We have made plans to go to some of our old haunts for cards, share memories and hopefully make some more. Thanks for the contest and letting us tell our stories, happy Father’s Day to you Tracy and all the Dads out there!

  7. My father was a vietnam vet, who was shot, and 40 years later he died in my arms of CJD dirty surgical tools. He worked for the railroad, who drank alot of gatorade.One day he brought this set of cards home to me, because he knew i was a collector, they were a set of michael jordan cards. Even though they arent valuable that is one set i still have today, once in awhile i get them out and thank of my father, who was only 56 when he passed away. HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD. I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU. BRYAN SWIFT.

  8. Hi,
    When All-Star weekend came to Washington, DC in February 2000, I took my 8 year old son Aaron to Jam Session. At that time, they had vendor booths set up, like a mini card show. Aaron knowing that I’m a hugh Basketball Hall of Fame autograph and basketball card collector wanted to help his father’s collection. Suddenly, Aaron spoke a VIP tent at Jam Session and I followed him inside. The folks a American Express was about to start a three point shooting contest. The first person to hit a NBA three point shot will win dinner for two on All-Star Saturday night with Magic Johnson or Keven Garnett. Aaron got very excited and said, I can do it. I knew he had a good shot but really this was NBA distance. Well, I went to the three point line and missed my first attempt. As I was picking up my goodies that I gathered at the show, I saw Aaron pick up the ball and shoot a three that hit nothing but the bpttom of the net. We won!!! I started jumping around like an 8 year old, but my son was very cool about it. The person running the show asked which player we wanted to have dinner with and I begged Aaron to pick Magic, which he did. The night of All-Star Saturday night we went back and spent the entire evening with Magic while watching the games. I brought along my Upper Deck Dream Team sheet for him to sign. He was wonderful gracious and a very willing signer. I will never forget the that day and the time I spent with Aaron, now 20. My card collection grew, while Aaron went on to play High School ball for Westfield, Chantilly VA. A father and son moment to last forvever!

  9. My dad is no longer around to encourage and collect with me. But in his memory, I hope I get the chance to sit on our land and open some fathers day packs. Out would bring back memories of being a child and the great times we had. Gone but never forgotten.

  10. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6aH8GwWoWa0gHWpKgkclmNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

    Last year was my first father’s day (my son is now 18 months old), and as my father’s day present, my wife, son, and I went to the Cleveland Indians game. As part of the pregame show, when the TV cameras were showing shots of the crowd, they put us on TV (where my dad saw us). Then as part of a between innings giveaway, I won a prize pack that included an Indians fisherman’s hat that I am wearing in the picture that matches my son’s hat. One of neatest aspects of the day was that all the kid’s were given a free pack of adrenalin football cards (odd that it wasn’t baseball, I know) and instead of opening them like I would have wanted to, I decided to put them away for my son until he is older and will enjoy them. Once he is old enough, I will tell him the story of the day, show him the picture and then give him the cards to open to start him down the path of a lifetime of collecting.

  11. I was 9 years old when my brother and I first ripped some cards that my Dad had got for us at a gas station in Zanesville, Ohio. It was 1989 and I pulled a Michael Jordan Hoops All Star card and my little brother scored a Bo Jackson card. I will never forget how excited we were. We never cared how much a card was worth, to us they were priceless and we still have them today. Dad had no idea what he started that day. He could not go to the corner gas station without us begging him to buy us a pack of cards. Today I have a six year old boy who is a die hard Browns fan like his Dad. NOTHING beats the look on his face when he hits a Browns card. It doesn’t matter if its an auto/relic or a base card he loves them all the same and keeps them in his Browns Book. He is a constant reminder to me why I started to collect cards with my brother. Not to score on the big money hit or gamble on a Hobby Box to get the highly sought after auto, but for the anticipation and excitement it brought us when we scored our favorite players or teams regarding the value. If only I still had the mindset of a young boy. He has never been dissappointed in a box we have ripped. EVER! Me not so much 🙂

    Tim

  12. For my 7th birthday I had pink eye, which meant no school. My dad stayed home and we opened a bunch of baseball cards and spent the rest of the day sorting and putting cards in binders. I am back in collecting now and am going to surprise my dad with one of those binders this weekend, since I found them again recently!

  13. My dad noticed how much I liked basketball when I was a little kid and thought that I would like some cards. For my 8th birthday he bought me a box of 1998-99 bowmans best basketball. I couldn’t wait to open it. My favorite player was Vince carter so I was wishing for a Vince carter rookie card. A few packs in I opened up my most memorable pack: I looked intently at each card, and found a Vince carter rookie autograph! I was loved it so much and my dad was excited because he saw how happy it made me. With that one box of cards, he created a great hobby for me. I have been collecting basketball cards ever since. I don’t open any packs without my dad there to see what I get. It has been bonding us for the past 11 years and I hope it continues for a long time.

  14. When I was a kid my dad and I had season tickets every year to the local hockey team. After every game he would take me down to the locker rooms and we would wait outside and I would get my cards autographed. I have several boxes now of autographs from the early and mid 1990’s from hockey players. These are not worth anything in value, but to me these are worth more than any other certified autograph/patch/jersey card I have ever pulled. I can even remember my dad stopping by the local card store on his way home from work and picking me up a couple of boxes of hockey cards to open and thinking it was Christmas already. I no longer live in the same City as my parents, however whenever they come to visit my dad will still bring me a box of hockey cards from the same Local Card Shop that we used to go to together growing up. The memories and times together with him are worth more than any card I have ever pulled. This year we are going to Canada for a father’s day fishing retreat for a week. I still look forward with anticipation that he may have a box of cards when I get back home this weekend.

  15. My best memory actually happened at a show when I was a teenager. I was all into the Emmitt, Aikman & Irvin era of the Cowboys being in the mid 90’s. My dad took me to a show and I took some cards to get signed. Once we got there, of course all the lines were crazy for autos so I didn’t end up getting any but there happened the be some stars from the 70’s when he was a kid. One of those happened to be Charlie Waters. Getting to see my dad act like a little kid was awesome.

    On a more recent note, my son is 3 and likes to open cards w/ Daddy. Seeing his face when pulling any of the local players(and especially his faves like Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Dirk or Dez) is better than pulling any big hits we may get.

  16. My mother and father split when I was 9, so I didn’t get to do all the things a father and son should do together. No tossing the football, going to a ballgame, etc. When I had my son I vowed I would never do the same. We took out first trip to a ballgame a couple years ago to see the St. Louis Cardinals (my team) take on the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee. My son thought it would be fun to root against his pop’s team, and it was! From that day he has been a die-hard Brewers fan. I learned that no matter what your children decide they like or want to follow, that just being there for them is all that matters! I am now helping my son build his own sports card collection and collect all his favorite players… including his Brewers! It was a trip to the ballpark I will never forget. Just this last week he asked if he could take the scrapbook from our trip to school to show his friends all the pictures from the game! To all the other fathers out there, just enjoy the time you have… they get old so fast!

  17. My son isn’t old enough to be a part of the hobby yet, buy he soon will be. He was born in January of 2010. To commemorate the birth of my first son ( after three girls) I am trying to build a 2010 master set, along with any big RC’s that came out in 2010. I plan on giving this to him when he’s older, hoping that he will share the enjoyment this hobby brings to me.

  18. First you make Father’s Day packs and collectors get them for free for buying stuff they already normally buy, and now you’re giving chances to win some for free. Kudos to you all, and I loved all of your stories. I’ll try to keep my story short, but I’ve been known to be long winded.

    My father has never really been into the hobby. He doesn’t seem to understand why I would want to collect and keep cardboard pictures of athletes. He thinks if I can use them to make money, that’s great. He even offered to buy some boxes, have me break them open, and then sell them on eBay. I’m not that kind of person. I do sell cards I don’t need (and can’t seem to trade) to try and buy more cards, but I’ve also donated (last Christmas) 9000 cards to the local Children’s Hospital.

    Just like hudsonfan15, my mom was the one that got me into collecting. We used to have a booth on weekends at a local Trade Center and some weeks they would have card shows (or some regular booths sold packs). Well, when I was 8 I had to have Bladder Reconstruction Surgery and was down for about a month. My mom came home one day with a $1 pack of commons. I didn’t know they were common then, I thought everyone wanted them (this was 1992/1993). She knew I loved all sports, but basketball in particular. From then on, each weekend, when we sold anything, I’d ask for $0.25, $0.50 or $1 (there was a “tattoo” like vending machine someone had put cards into [they came out in horrible condition though], one vendor sold 1991-92 SkyBox for $0.50 [still one of my favorite sets of all time]). This didn’t help our financial situation (we were struggling bad), but she did it because no matter who I pulled from any of those packs, I was excited.

    I’m slowly trying to get my two boys (4 and 2) into the hobby by starting them off with Pokemon/Marvel cards. They always want to touch my cards, but I’m very picky on condition and they love to see how things bend. 🙂 My son has a binder for his Pokemon cards that he now keeps them all in, and whenever we go to Wal-mart, he immediately asks if we can get some cards. I recently purchased two boxes of 2011-12 Panini Past & Present for myself for my Father’s Day gift, and I’m going to break it live on BlogTV (inspired by Panini) with them. Not sure if I’m going to do it Saturday or Sunday, the LCS (if that’s what you want to call it, 2:10 away) is only open Saturday and I might take them to it. I’m going to sleeve all of my cards as I break them so they can see how to properly handle cards. It’s going to take a while, I know that, but it’s going to be well worth it with them. I may even grab them a few Pokemon packs for the break as well, so they can feel just as involved. 🙂

    1. XstreamINsanity that’s a great story. They will love Past & Present can’t wait to see the BlogTV piece.

      1. Thank you very much for choosing me. This made my Father’s Day even better. I couldn’t wait until Saturday to open the boxes, so I broke one of the boxes on BlogTV Friday night with my boys and grabbed them some pokemon packs (my eldest enjoyed showing people each pokemon card he got, lol). They liked watching me open my cards, but were more interested in theirs. I pulled a complete set from just two boxes of Past & Present. I pulled 5 Elusive Ink AU (Funderburke, Hardaway, Strickland, Willis, and Aguirre – wish he was in a Pistons Uni), 2 Games GU (Udoh, Bell), a 2011-12 Redemption XRCEE and best of all a 2012-13 Redemption for Pick #1. Then Saturday drove two hours to the LCS to get some packs and singles, got one Father’s Day pack (Musial and Ovechkin base) and was there for two hours though it felt like 20 minutes. My boys wanted to get into everything (felt bad for the shop owner) and I got them a pack of older cards as well for them to look at. They had a blast. Then yesterday we watched movies at home and some sports (Open and Thunder/Heat). This is just icing on the cake. 🙂

  19. Me as the dad has been a die heart met fan. Been to the 69 and 86 world series games and would always go after school to games. A couple of years ago I got my son into the game and he has become a huge fan as well. Not sure if its a good thing because now he is addicted to the mets and collecting their cards. Hahaha. Anyway I took him to his first game years ago at a game from the last season at Shea Stadium. Ill add the pictures. Later in the year and future I brought him to mets dinners where he met all the players. Going to the dinners he brought cards to get signed by the players. Thanks to technology he found out there were card shows in the area. And you know I had to bring him to one. I gave him 10 dollars and let him get one thing. While I for the love of the mets thought they had so much potential and wanted so many Beltran Reyes and Wright Autos. With his 10 dollars he found this pack with a guaranteed jersey card or auto. Forgot what It was. It was a couple dollars more so of course I gave him the extra dollars. And what he pulled, a david wright jersey card /25. He didn’t know what the /25 meant but he didn’t care. He was so happy and ill never forget that moment. For the next months he would also talk about the card non stop. Anyway since then he loves collecting and we got to card shows and have so much fun. GOOOO METS!!

    Here are the Pictures

    http://s897.photobucket.com/albums/ac172/jbmets95/

  20. to me i love collecting with my 6 year old son as i love when he picks out a pack or 2 and pulls a auto or relic card and to see his face and he is so happy when he does he is like daddy daddy daddy i got a hit and its just great to me that at 6 years old he is loving the hobby as much as i do.

  21. I never collected with my dad, I simply started collecting gaming cards such as Pokemon, Yugioh, etc. My favorite memory as a kids collecting cards was when I would go to the corner 7-Eleven and buy a pack of Pokemon cards with my cousin and I would get a holographic card and he wouldn’t. I have been collecting since and now I only collect sport cards. Thanks Panini!

  22. As a kid I loved collecting sterling sharp joe montana and Danmarino and all those good players and me and my dad loved doing it toga there. it was something we both loved to do together, too. And now me and my son collecting all the new ones and even some of the old ones together. We like collecting panini prestige and panini threads and also panini gold standard. My dad has kinda gotten away from it so I hope that I get the 5 panini packs and he gets back into collecting again. Cause I just collecting panini.

  23. My Father was a child raised in the depression and the only thing he had good memories of during that time was my grandfather playing Semi-Pro baseball and getting him Goudy cards of that era. Those cards all disappeared over time but even when the budget was tough around our household my father always had enough money to buy a couple of packs of cards every week and we would open them together. I now do the same thing with my boys and it seems to be the only time that the hustle and bustle of life slows down and we all enjoy ripping some packs and talking Baseball. (Grandpa still buys a pack or two a week also and hands them out.)

  24. When I was in middle school, the seasons I looked forward to most were spring and summer. This was because that was baseball season, which of course was my favorite sport to play. During these seasons every Sunday I would have a travel baseball game, and after each game my dad would take me out and buy me one pack of baseball cards.I wasn’t the best baseball player ever, however my dad still would go to every game rain or shine. My most memorable moment from this was father’s day in 2006 when I was 13. During this game I had the most important hit of my career. I hit my first (and only) home run. I was so ecstatic for not only hitting a home run, but doing it on fathers day through the sport my dad and I bonded with the most. My coach went and got the ball for me, I signed it “To Dad, Happy Father’s Day! I Love you. Love, Mitchell” and then dated it and gave it to my dad as a gift. To this day he still keeps the ball in a case on the dresser next to his bed. After the game, like usual, him and I went out and bought a pack of baseball cards and I pulled a card of my favorite player at the time, Jason Giambi.

  25. Last year i had gotten into a bad car accident were i had broken both of my feet and arm, so i was not able to do much! So my son and girlfriend decided that they were gonna surprise me with a football sports package so id be able to watch all the upcoming NFL games on tv which gave me something todo while healing and on top of that my girlfriend had dressed up my son as my favorite NFL player Michael Vick Helmet, jersey,pants and all and gave me a picture that he drew and put Daddys no.1 draft pick !! It put a smile on my face that i truly needed!!!

  26. Collecting has always been something that me and my father have done together, more so when I was a kid. We collected everything from sports cards to comic books. It was always a joy to have the ol’man take me to the local card store. That was back when you could get a pack of cards for under a dollar. It has been several years since those good ol days. I am now back into collecting and I am doing my best to get dad back in as well. Perhaps the upcoming Fathers Day promotion will be the coup de grace, to bring dad back into the fold.

    With that being said, I wish all dad out there, a wonderful upcoming Father’s Day!

  27. Ever since I was young my dad and I would make trips to the local card shop. He was always happy to buy packs for me as long as I was doing well in school. The best day ever was when he handed his collection over to me. This included cal Ripken jr’s rookie card along with binders full of classic redskin players. Now we just collect hockey and I’m sure my dad would love some packs! Happy fathers day!

  28. When I was a teen, I asked my dad to drive me to baseball card shows on weekends. He wasn’t much of a collector then, until he realized how much these cards were selling for at the show. Even since then , we’ve spent a lot of time together busting packs and boxes.

  29. First off, great promo at the card shops this weekend and what an awesome promo on here and to give us the chance to share a story or two with the ones we collect with or used to collect with. Getting some of these packs on here to share with my kids (4 of them plus one of me=5 packs :)) would be great and all of us would love to get them!!!

    First, I started collecting about 19 years ago at the age of 10. I collected all 4 main sports, Mighty Morphin Power Ranger cards, Dick Tracy cards, and other non sport cards. You named it..I collected it. I also had a huge collection of Ken Griffey Jr stuff. Including oddball items not just cards such as cheez whiz cans, cracker wrappers, empty oreo cookie wrappers, starting lineups, other figures, fake tattoos, posters, Becketts and anything!! I still have that stuff today! I collected many years with my father who now no longer collects because the hobby has become a little too evolved. But we still discuss sports and sports cards and I tell him about my hits.

    Now, I have four younger ones to start collecting with. My 3 are still a little young, but love collecting Panini’s Sticker books (great idea Panini as well)! Cars, Cars 2, Toy Story and so on. They have a few cards I have given them to start out with. Nothing too special yet since they are so young I didn’t want them to destroy them thats why the stickers are so great cause it teaches them how to treat things. I know they will follow into my footsteps someday. My oldest already has. He collects Panini football cards and sorts, trades, looks up their value and more right alongside dad. We spend time everyday doing so. Its a great bonding time! And time that we get to spend quietly together. And its fun. Not to mention its great to build the future of the hobby young. We even use the white filler cards and make our own “jersey cards and autographed cards”. Its a fun project and its doing cards.

    Just as my father got me into collecting, I know my kids will follow me. Its great to have something to do with your kids and it keeps em out of getting into trouble like jumping off from the furniture lol.

    I am now a die hard collector and i never would have started without my father. Thanks dad for getting me into a hobby I love and something I can pass down to my kids and I hope you have a great Father’s Day.

    (I wished I had a photo to attach of me and my oldest collecting to this but I don’t have one nearby right now)

    Happy Father’s day to the Father’s at Panini and I really enjoyed reading your stories!

  30. My wife and I adopted our son from China. Unlike my wife and other two children, I was having a difficult time connecting to Gabe’s birth country, So I started collecting something that is me and will connect me to China, sports cards of Chinese players!
    Collecting, sorting and playing with our cards is something Jordan (my daughter) and Jay and Gabe (my sons) and I do. Jay actually puts his Tigers and Brewers cards onto “teams” and has them play games! I felt that collecting baseball cards of Chinese players would help me learn about and connect more with China, give Gabe a built in connection to his birth county, a built in connection and activity with the Danielson family and a start to his very own baseball card collection!
    In 2006 and 2009 the “World Baseball Classic” tournament was held. There were cards produced of players from all 16 teams in the “WBC.” These were a great place to start collecting baseball cards of Chinese born players as they have a brief text on the back telling about the player’s highlights on their professional team in China, and have the Chinese flag on the card front!
    We also just started to pick up cards of Yao Ming. In addition to sharing the joys of this hobby to future generations, it is an awesome feeling to see Gabe’s face light up when he sees a card of a player from “my China!

  31. In late eighties to early nineties my mom And dad didn’t have a lot of money and my best experience and only experience with cards with my dad was we were flat broke and my dad took me at ten to the card store and we bought an entire box of the year befores donruss baseball I remember it was eight dollars he also bought a book for us to slip the cards in and build the set we never got it completely finished but I think I will this week my dad died at age 53 dec 03 2012 of a heart attack he is a huge whole in our hearts but was the man who taught me how to be a man that was my best box ever even to this day with all the great cards I have that box will always mean so much cuz he loved football go niners!! But hated cards and he did it to make his son smile and twenty years later even after his passing I’m smiling about it now 🙂

  32. My father and I never collected cards together. It wasn’t his thing. I loved the hobby so much growing up as a child that I wanted my daughters to experience collecting. I taught them early – if you like the player, the card, the shiny stuff – then value is in the eye of the beholder.

    She loves finding commons laying around and asks so sweetly if she can have them in her collection. I’m so happy that Panini took the time to include Michael Palmer in some products. Michael attended her elementary school and comes back to read to the students. We have a great time finding his rookie cards together. I told this story on another message board and the member surprised her with a Plates and Patches autograph. She was screaming when she opened it.

    I’m glad I get to be a father who can share these experiences with my children. Happy Father’s Day to all.

  33. My dad always took me to local card shows and shops whenever i wanted to go. He workes in engineering and would bring me home soft sleeves and plastic cases to protect them. He watched me grow up and on Saturday saw me get married. At the reception my dad suffered a cardiac arrest. He managed to come back to us and will hopefully be released saturday. It was a miracle and made me remember all the good things we did together!

  34. A few years ago I decided to get back into the hobby after years of not collecting. My main reason was the fact I was about to become a father and I wanted to start a collection I could bond with my son over. My sons about 2 and I’ve been a single father since he was 14 months old. I began to stray from collecting because of the cost. I had to worry more about diapers and food. Well, about a month ago my son came out of my bedroom with a common football card yelling “boot ball dada! Boot ball!” and ever since then I’ll get out my collection for him to oo and ah over. It took my sons curiosity to get me to remember what it’s about…not how much i spend…but the time we get to bond with him over even the most basic cards. He’s amazed that he can hold something with the “boot ball” players on it. And I’m thankful i can hold him while we enjoy something together.

  35. As a collector for almost 8 years now, I’ve come to enjoy chatting with my dad on all he knows about the sports I collect. My dad and my favorite team is the Detroit Tigers, we have been to many games and even the Winterfest to get some autographs. While in one line he spotted Clete Thomas and instantly bought a rookie card off of a person in front of us for me to get his auto. Now I know Clete isn’t a great ball player but its the memory of my dad buying this card for me. He has done many other things for me during my years of collecting but this is my favorite. I really hope to get him collecting by scoring some sweet Fathers Day promotion packs and maybe get some Tigers for him!

  36. Just like my dad, his mother, father and 4 brothers and 1 sister, I grew up in Brooklyn.
    As a child, going through my grandmother’s dark, sorta’ scary apartment building basement was an adventure. When I was 10, I called up all my courage and opened a locked closet that belonged to my Father’s older brother who had passed away a couple of years earlier from wounds sustained in Vietnam. The closet had always frightened me. Inside the walk-in size unit were several bats and a US Army Footlocker. I ran up to my grandmother’s apartment, grabbed my dad, and dragged him downstairs to the basement. I was so excited! We retrieved the bats…which I was thrilled to see were autographed, but they had been used so the autos were just smudgy-smears. But the Footlocker… I remember my dad saying, “What could possibly be inside this thing.” We pried it open and inside were stacks of comic books …and rubber-banded together Trading cards; Baseball and Football. I remember my father saying something like, “this is where they went! Im also certain that I caught him tearing-up, and his generation is not one for tears. We sat sifting through the cards and rattled off names that, at that time, I vaguely knew if at all; Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, Bert Campaneris, Duke Snider and Bob Lemon. Teams with names such as the Pilots and Senators were new to me.
    My father closed the lid of the locker, and told me that …my Kidney issues (that had me in and out of the hospital since birth) permitted my uncle to feel close to me in a way he didn’t with his brothers, sister or his 2 neices. My dad told me to take good care of the cards, they were now my responsibility. Better yet, my dad had been looking for a project that we could engage in together; we went from collecting G.I Joe figures to stamps to building a tree-house. This treasure-trove of cards, however, formed the nucleus of a collection that we began building together. We would go to the Luncheonette on Nostrand Avenue every Friday evening, after he got home from work, and he’d buy me 4 Topps Baseball packs for $1 TOTAL. Our card collecting ran up until I entered college. Ive never shared this entire story before… It feels good to have done so.
    So, my story is one of not just my father… but my uncle as well, who passed his love of Baseball and Football cards down to me as well!

  37. My eldest son who is 7 is a total fan of Carey Price. He collects hockey cards, but only to a certain extent and he’s never shown a huge amount of interest in breaking packs UNLESS there’s a Carey Price inside. He’ll look at me opening packs and if I happen to pull one out, I know he’ll ask me to break the next one open because he can pull out an even better Price card. Unfortunately, the next pack rarely ever has one in it.

    For his last birthday, I made two special packs for him containing nothing but Carey Price cards that he didn’t already have. He was ecstatic about the pack containing nothing but his favorite player. I asked him if he was feeling lucky and wanted to try another pack. Of course he said YES. The second pack was of the special kind. All of his cards are either commons or high-numbered parallels. He doesn’t mind that fact, he just loves them because of who’s pictured on them.

    He opened the pack, looked at me with sad eyes. He said I think my luck ran out, there’s just two cards in there. I told them they might be the best cards he’s ever pulled and that he wouldn’t know until he looked at them. His eyes widened when he saw the first one, a game-used jersey card of Price. He ran around showing it to everyone who was there to the point that he forgot to check what the other one was. I brought him back to the table and asked him what the second one was. He said he didn’t know, so he picked it up from inside the back and I swear he must have raised the dead with that scream. If anything, the jersey card didn’t exist anymore, it was completely out of his mind. What he had there now was a 2010-11 Crown Royale Scratching the Surface autographed card of his hockey hero.

    To this day, the card is inside a one touch and sits on his dresser where he can always see it and look at it.

  38. When I was deployed overseas in 2008 when I was in the US Army . My wife and son got to together all my favorite stuff , and made me a video , sent along pictures . It was a great surprise and took my mind off being in a combat zone for the rest of the day . You may not think thats a big deal , but if you have ever been overseas you know 24 hours can seem like a week or two .

  39. I was recently profiled on the Knights lance and I believe that article told my story. I started collecting cards again when my son was born. We are die hard Pittsburgh Steeler fans and my son can verify that. It is such an awesome sight to see when my 7 year old son gets more excited about a Steeler base card then pulling an actual jersey or autograph card. My son loves Heath Miller so it was a double bonus the time he pulled a Heath miller jersey card. Its a wonderful experience to have with my son since my father did the same thing with me. We would open packs, sort all the cards and make team books. We would read the stats on the back of the cards and really enjoy the time we spent together.

  40. So many memories of my Dad and I when it comes to collecting cards I can’t pick just one. We would go every Sunday to card shows at the local Holiday Inn when I was a kid. I can remember buying boxes upon boxes looking for the elusive Billy Ripken card or looking for and Andre Dawson card I needed for my collection. We would also drive down to St. Louis for 3 day shows when I was younger, a tradition that continued until he died before my 32nd Birthday. I remember the 1995 National in St. Louis, we stayed at the same hotel as the autograph guests. Dave Winfield, Steve Garvey, Andre Dawson, Jesse Barfield, Muhammed Ali, and Ernie Banks are a few of the guys we met that year. Since then, we met at least 100 athletes over that time frame. We would buy boxes upon boxes and open them in the hotel each night we were in St. Louis. It was so much fun! I’ve continued collecting since he has passed and it really hasn’t been the same. Still fun, but something is always missing. My wife became pregnant after my Dad died and she bought me a box of cards for my first unofficial Father’s Day. I immediately got goose bumps when my autograph hit was Bobby Richardson, my Dad’s favorite player as a kid. Scary huh? Miss You Dad and Love You and Mom Very Much! Thanks for the contest Panini, brings back lots of memories.

  41. When I was a kid my Dad went to Indianapolis for a training. Upon his return he gave me a signed Don Mattingly card (my favorite baseball player growing up) that he had picked up from a local hobby shop. Like a lot of guys he was never real big on showing emotion, but to this day that card is a reminder of his love and caring. Today I share my passion for the hobby with my daughter, who is almost four. Currently she is more excited about Panini stickers than the cards, but she likes helping me look for Dolphins and Penguins as we sort through a pack. I’m excited about the day when she has her own favorite players to chase.

  42. My dad used to take me to a 7-11 convenience store, whenever we drove into the city. We didn’t go there to dine on day old hotdogs, or sip a pepsi slurpee. We went for the hockey card stand. To this day, I still remember the smell of the 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards, flavoured with Bubble Gum. My biggest hit from the epic 7-11 store was a 1991-92 Pinnacle B Mario Lemiuex card. My dad bought me the pack, and I was stunned to see such an insert appear. The plain black and white card was valued at $100 back then. This makes me think of how far the industry has come, in inserting game-used memorabilia, and autographs into packs now-a-days. It also makes me think about how the relationship with my dad is still very strong, and still heavily influenced by the sport and hobby of hockey. Somethings never change.

  43. i remember growing up me and my dad me go to the local flea market every weekend and buy random packs every so often we would pick up a box and it was the greatest thing in the world to me i always hoped id get the better cards than my dad did. Didn’t happen that way alot but it was still fun…Also i used to go with my grandfather to card shows all around the Northeast to get baseball autographs right now i have about 12 binders full of HOF Baseball Player Autographs that i will never get rid of

    After getting out of the hobby i got back into it at the end of last year and ive started a few pcs and im glad i got back into the Hobby

  44. When my 8 year old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia I had to spend many days and holidays at the hospital. To pass the time of day one Fathers Day I bought a box of basketball cards and took them to the hospital for her and I to open and we made up a fun game guessing what player or team would be in the pack we were about to open. It was a good way to introduce her to the fun of collecting cards. Even though she did not survive her cancer. I will always cherish the memories of the years we had together opening boxes of cards and just spending time together enjoying a fun hobby we both came to love.

  45. The first MLB game I ever went to was fathers days in 1993 during the Rockies inaugural season. Back then, they played at Mile High Stadium and had seats for $1. Naturally, just earning a $5 a week allowance, I bought two of those seats. Also, the stadium allowed coolers to be brought in. So before we left, we cooked up some brats and beans for food during the game.

    The Rockies were playing the Padres that day. I cannot remember the exact inning but Fred McGriff came up to bat and hit a foul ball right to us. My dad got it and gave it to me. He recommended sending it to the Padres and see if Fred would sign it and return it. Well, it took two months but Fred did sign it and that’s all it took. He became by favorite player in baseball and eventually would become my personal collection. If it wasn’t for the fathers day in 1993, I never would’ve fell in love with the hobby today!

  46. As a very young child in the early ‘90s, my mom worked nights—so each weeknight, it was just me, my brother and my dad. He’d take us everywhere with him! Each weeknight we’d be at various card shops around our city, watching him open packs & opening our own, as well. Later in the evenings, we’d play games of catch or basketball. Games of basketball would be played to 100, 2-on-1 (my brother and I vs Dad) with a child size basketball, on the hoop lowered down to 7 or 8 ft. My dad would spot us a 50-0 lead, but when he’d eventually get out in front, we’d force him to flip the score. He’d still end up winning, and in the process would be dunking all over us. For some reason, we’d still believe we had a chance to win every game.
    I remember all the signed jerseys, sports cards and various memorabilia he had in the house growing up. My parents split up when I was 8, which forced him to sell pretty much all of it. We’d still go to card shops each Saturday, but as the ‘90s was ending and with card prices increasing to a few hundred/pack, we fell out of the hobby.
    My fondest memories with my dad don’t involve cards or memorabilia—but I do have sports to thank for those memories. As I was entering high school and taking basketball quite seriously, I decided to go to a high school on the opposite end of the city from where I lived to play. It was about a 40-minute drive, depending on traffic. My dad would drive me to, and pick me up from school every day. We were in the car with each other for at least an hour and a half each day, for close to 200 days a year, for 3 straight years. And most importantly, he came to all of my games.
    Those were some fun rides; just thinking about them brings a smile to my face. Never did he complain about having to drive me around so much, to school and various practices all night. He didn’t complain about the all the money being spent on gas. He didn’t tell me I wasn’t allowed to go to school across the city. He genuinely enjoyed doing everything for me, and I find that absolutely incredible. I appreciated it at the time, but now being older and looking back on it, I appreciate it even more. My father is the most selfless person I know, and I wouldn’t trade him or our relationship for anything in the world.
    (My team won the ’07 AAAA Provincial Championship [up in Canada, that’s the equivalent to a State champ] my senior year—here’s a photo of me, my older brother & my dad after the game: http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc493/MJC_SCF/Champs.jpg)
    Fast forward to spring 2009, and I purchased one card off of eBay, the first card I had purchased in close to a decade, and upon its arrival my dad and I got back into the sports cards/memorabilia hobby. We’ve been steadily purchasing Panini products & singles since then; he’s a life-long Lakers fan, I’m a Nuggets fan—here’s a photo of a handful of some of our favourites in our collections: http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc493/MJC_SCF/Panini.jpg

  47. My parents used to take me to the card shop when I was younger and we would always go for raffles and to have a good time. It started with Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh and everytime I got bored off those games (childish short attention span) and picked up baseball cards then football and basketball, my Dad would always so you are going to quick so why bother doing it. I guess he did not understand how opening packs and being part of the hobby whether it be yu gi oh or a panini product is all one addiction. Every since I started collecting baseball and basketball my parents are kind of suspicious of me (I am 16). I get a ton of boxes in the mail from sports card websites and I open boxes of cards and sell the ones that do not fancy me to open more. My parents do not understand my weird sport card addiction but are funny about it. My uncle is addicted to sports cards and all he ever talks about is how his collection is worth 1000’s of dollars. My parents and family all think he is so weird but I understand it.

  48. Guess my favorite memory is a good time ago when I was a kid. My dad picked me up on a Saturday and took me downtown to the local shop at the time and we looked thru boxes and boxes of cards and picked up a couple Yankee cards and few packs of what was out back then. Remember pulling a Jim Abbott Rc and was so happy ( told you it was a longtime ago). Since then my dad has pasted away from losing his battle with Cancer but when my stepmom gave me some of my dads things there was a few cards in it and my only homerun ball from little league when I was a kid. I didn’t even know my dad had it. We weren’t close when I was growing up but I dud know he always was there for me when I needed him. I try to be like my dad to my kids now. My son and even daughter love to go on card hunts for me and try to find me new Virginia player cards. Just the other night we watched highlights of current NBA guys and had to show my son the greatest player to play highlights. He said I want his card so I went to bedroom and gave him a Jordan in person auto to put in his collection. Should have seen the look of shock on his face. Happy Fathers day to all the dads.

  49. My most memorable moment with my kids was when i took my 3 daughters!! Yes, three daughters to there first Baseball Game our team the Pittsburgh Pirates vs the Dodgers. I thought it would be rough, but it wasn’t!! My oldest Ashley got to meet some of the LA Dodgers!!! Took some photos and had a blast!! Even though I never had a son to share these moments with, my girls were just as memorable, And I will charish all of those memories forever!!

  50. I was born and raised in Maui and was always a huge fan of football and I remember always buying packs of football cards and collecting players that I knew from watching games on TV. The other unknown players often ended up in the spokes of my BMX. That is until I went to my first probowl on Oahu. This was the first time I could actually meet the players and collect autographs but I didn’t bring any cards not knowing what to expect. But, this was the start of my ever growing collection.

    I am now a dad with two wonderful boys. They are still to young to appreciate collecting but, I look forward to the day I can break packs with them. To me that is the wonderful thing about card collecting. You make new wonderful memories one pack at a time. Thanks for everything Panini and Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there!

    Aloha,
    Len

  51. My Dad never collected cards and never really took me to cardshops or cardshows but im so happy im able to involve my 2 daughters in this great hobby. They started opening packs with me when they were both just 4 and 6 and we havent stopped since. They are like their Dad and only get really excited when they pull an auto or mem card but mostly the autos. They know so much about sports like who the big rookies are each year and what team they play for and even know what the jersey numbers are of all the big players, and thats all because of sports cards (and a little SportsCenter)LOL. Every Saturday we go to our local cardshop and we buy 2 or 3 or maybe 4 boxes and then we go out and so our usual Saturday night fun night like a movie or putt putt and after we are done with all that we go upstairs and open our boxes together. Every big pull comes with a great memory with my kids that i will never forget and hopefully they wont either. My daughters are my world and having them in my life, well, everyday is Fathers Day to me. Im sure this Fathers Day we will create some more great memories as we open some boxes and Fathers Day Packs thanks to all you guys at Panini! Happy Fathers Day to all you guys at Panini.

  52. all i can say is that if it was not for card collectin my son and i would not have a relationship,,he brought home a pack of cards and we both started to look at them and we were like this is fun,,ever since we do r weekend pack rip..and that has brought us so close cause he looks forward to doin this with me,,before this he was gettin into trouble with the school and other places but sincewe have been collectin together he has not gotten into trouble since..thank u card companies for bringin us closer together..even if i was not to win,,i dont care i have my son back..thank u..

  53. Sadly, my dad wasn’t into sports and never really did much with my sports card habit. But one day, when I have children, I will introduce them to sports cards, or even My Little Pony cards or something like that that’s popular if it’s a girl. Cards will be involved somehow. Just hope it’s a boy one day!

  54. My first card convention was at the Local high school gym when I was 11 years old. My father took me to score some packs and browse some of the tables. I remember pulling a 1991 O Pee Chee Premiere Nolan Ryan “7 career no hitters”. I was stoked because the card paid for the cost of all my packs. As we stepped out, I noticed huge chunks of ash raining from the sky. This was the day of the infamous Oakland Hills Firestorm of 1991. While this is just and hobby and is meant to be fun and entertaining, the cards are just material items. 25 people lost their lives in those fires and I cant imagine the families of the 3800 homes which were also destroyed. It made me thankful for everything I have and not to take your everyday life and possessions for granted.

  55. I can remember it was quite a few years back my son was six years old 12 years ago(I am a huge hockey nut and been playing hockey for many years even to date)….well I decided to pass a little hockey on to my son and took him to his first old timers hockey game at the Verdun Auditorium where else can you go to see stars like Gilbert Perrault ,Marcel Dionne, Guy Lafleur ,Steve Shutt,to name a few all in the same day….well to make a long story short it was intermission time and I went to take my son to get a few dogs and a drink the next thing I know my son is calling me telling me come here dad and he starts running I run after him naturally what happened next surprised the heck out of me he stops in front of this man and he goes I know you you are the greatest player to ever play the game and he took off his hat and asked him could you please sign my hat the man said with a surprised look gladly with a chuckle …..I was shocked because my son being just 6 years old recognized from hockey stories that my dad and myself had told him none other than “The Rocket”Maurice Richard I am sure I don’t have to tell anyone what type of icon he was being from Montreal….that was my sons first autograph a moment that I will cherish for ever and it was the start to his collecting days still to date we compare our hits whenever we pull something great….I still have a picture in my bucket of his hat he had signed hopefully I do this right and you can all view it…..
    [IMG]http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv343/ty4orce2/Hockey%20auto/aaa2.jpg[/IMG]

  56. My dad didn’t collect but on occasion, he’d let me tag along on one of his trips for his errands and let me do some trading at the card shop. He’d always tell me to make enough money to pay for lunch.

  57. The first time I opened any packs of sports cards was when I was about 6 or 7 when my dad got me a handful of football ‘rack packs’. I wasn’t too familiar with football at the time, basketball was my favorite sport, but when I started opening those packs and pulling players like Emmitt Smith cards, my dad was like thats a great player to pull. He got me excited, and every card after that, I would ask my dad about each player. He’d sit down at the kitchen table telling me about all the players and team, at that point, I peaked some interest in football. The next time we went to the gas station (which was the only place that carried sports cards at the time), he saw me glaring at basketball cards and knew. So with as little money we had at the time, he bought me several packs, and I pulled our hometown hero Shaq. Ever since then, I was hooked. The best moment as an older adult who still collects was probably three years ago, I turned 24 on my birthday, my girlfriend bought a box of basketball cards. I didn’t open those cards that day (which is rare since I’m too anxious to hold on to open cards), but I waited til my next day off to visit my mom & dad, where I wanted to see if my dad wanted to open the box with me. He of course was excited to, and since he hasn’t touched any new age cards with memorabilia or autographs, he was in for a surprise. About 5 packs in, my dad pulled an autograph card, and not just any autograph card, but he pulled an on-card Kobe Bryant jersey auto, and he knew who exactly that was, and man was he in shock. That became my first Kobe auto, and one card I could never trade or sell because of the moment. Every now and then, my dad asks if I have opened anything new, which is always exciting to talk about.

    Happy Father’s day to all collectors out there!

  58. Me and my dad use to bust boxes back in the day all the time. Some of the best times we had were busting and completing the ’94-’95 Score Hockey set. Heck, we even went up to Canada just to be able to collect the ’93-’94 Panini Hockey sticker sets since we couldn’t find them down here in the US! 🙂 Still have a wrapper from back then, but can’t remember where I put the sticker set. 🙁 Have to look around for it sometime soon. Anyways, we still both occasionally bust some boxes when we have the chance. Busted some of the ’11-’12 Score hockey. Still have to finish checking all the cards to see if we have a complete set after busting 3 boxes.

    Happy Fathers Day to all the dad’s out there! Thanks again Panini for being an awesome company for giving people a chance to win some packs so that they will be able to share them with their dad and/or their kids.

  59. Well me and my dad always collected sports cards together, i remember plenty of shows and hobby show trips. Looking for Shaq RC, and anything Yankees. Know that he’s not around, i keep the passion for collecting alive with my 4 year old daughter, she is really good at finding me hotpacks in boxes and loves your Disney Princess Sticker Books. Im actually a dealer at little local North East PA Shows, heres a pic of us getting ready to go to one of the shows.[IMG]http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee380/astrocreep81/317006_2103671348992_1928154368_n.jpg[/IMG]Thank for making some great products, i’m never disappointed in any product i get from you guys, and its nice to think you care about all of us dads out there who collect. Thanks and Happy Fathers Day to all of you guys at Panini, keep up the good work.

  60. They are some super nice cards Tracy.. and Panini of course. When I think of my father and collecting, it always make me think of my first and favorite memories. My whole family was always into Sports, and Im mean really into them! My older brother got me hooked to the 89 Donruss baseball cards and introduced me into one of my favorite players to collect, even as of late. Well, anyways my dad always worked long hours and even most weekends. He always promised me that we’d get to a show and I could show him my hobby and how much I really loved it. It wasnt fathers day but it was the weekend before my birthday. I was woaken up early that saturday morning by my pops. “Well come are you gonna get up”. Naturally I got rite up, just happy he was home. He said you ready to check out that card show you been telling me about. Man, I cant tell you guys how excited I was. A day with my best friend, and too top it I get to show him what now it my life long hobby. So sure enough we headed to this show, it wasnt nothing like one of these major show’s now a days. Just a small show with maybe 20 stands or so. That day, I had the best day ever and he ended up buying not one but 2 Barry Bonds 1987 Donruss cards. One because it was my favorite card, and he wanted to have one of his own. I thought that was really special and will charish them memories forever. Of course I still have the card and even though its nothing crazy in value. I can always look at it and just reminsce on a great great first couple years of collecting. Now a days, I try to get the little one into the hobby and he is still a bit young, only being 5. He def loves to look at my collection with me, and talk about whats on that card and how cool they really are. Well, thanks for bringing up fathers day stuff Tracy, once again Im reminded of how much my dad means and Im glad I got to show him something I love. Thanks Panini for sticking together all the years, if it wasnt for you guys. I might not have got to share that great time with my pops.

  61. Collecting as a kid, my dad would take me to Triple Play, our local card shop and to card conventions downtown. He didn’t understand collecting but always supported my hobby. My son was born last Fathers Day so no gift could top that. I first took him to the card shop the day that the 2012 Hoops came out to get a pack. My son’s first card was Jeremy Lin’s first card in a Knicks uniform. Great way to start collecting with my son.

  62. My dad got me into collecting when I was around 6 even though he didn’t collect and I have been doing it ever since. I have my wife hooked and have started 2 small collections for our daughters. My fondest memories are when my dad would read a player ‘s name off a card and I would tell him the team, position, and number of the player. We would do this at dinner in resturants and when we where invited places with friends. NEVER WILL FORGET MY FATHER AND AWESOME CARDBOARD TIMES, LOVE YOU POPS!

  63. Since I started collecting cards later in life I never got the chance to bust any boxes with my Dad (rip and Happy Fathers Day to the Greatest Dad I could of had)!!! He would of been into it though and would of enjoyed knowing that I was having a good time with it. I have gotten my 6y/o daughter into collecting cards and whenever we go into a Target she is the one I have grab a box off the shelf or a couple of loose packs out of the bin. We have fun going to sporting events to get my cards signed by the players on the cards and she likes to meet and talk with them when possible (it is surprising how many NBA and MLB players are so nice and friendly to little girls). Great times and memories spent with my daughter and Panini has been a big part of it all. Thanks and Happy Fathers Day to ALL!!

  64. This thread is full of so much WIN. Awesome to see everyone sharing their experiences where normally they might not have.

    While growing up I lived with my mother and my step dad was an ass so never got anything really as a kid (Might explain my collecting as an adult). One holidays I remember going to my dads place (other end of the country) and after a hike up to the newsagent I had my first ever pack of trading cards that we sat down and opened together Being into motorsport it was 1993 “Hi Tech” Indy car cards I still have them kicking around here somewhere. It was not until 2010 at the ripe old age of 25 I discovered the wonderful masterpiece that is Panini Studio. Now i’m just biding my time waiting for my son to be old enough to start ripping into packs.

  65. My Dad was never really into collecting (we never found anything in common) and he rarely bought me things. I’m 28 and he’s bought me two gifts to date, a Chicago Bulls jacket, which 15 years later is still too large for me (although very comfy lounging around in) and a box of 92/93 Basketball.
    The memory of busting that box is a special memory for me, it was one of the funnest things I ever did with Dad, a rare moment shared with him and it started a collecting habit that continues today.

    Now I have an 18 month old daughter and one of the funnest things for me is giving her empty packs during box breaks and watching her enjoy the sound they make crumpled in her little fingers. I hope one day she might share my interest in the hobby and I can share similar memories with her in future.

  66. Back in 1999, I had to get surgery done to remove a piece of skin from my back which the doctors said could be cancerous. When I woke up from the anesthesia, my Dad had bought me 4 packs of hockey cards. There was no denying that we are both avid hockey fans so he bought me those packs to try and cheer me up and to save his then 12 year-old son the boredom of reading Good Housekeeping or People magazine. I pulled a Teemu Selanne insert card which we both talked about for days afterward. That led to us discovering eBay and eventually putting the set together with one another. My Dad and I talk on the phone every Sunday afternoon to discuss the previous week and more often than not, one of the topics that usually comes up is our latest pulls and pickups of the week. Little did either of us know that that Selanne card would lead to a great bonding experience 12 years later and for many to come!

  67. I am Scott Prusha’s (Panini America) Dad. When Scott was growing up we opened packs by the tons. Scott and his sister opened packs and sorted cards on a regular schedule. Now that my kids are all grown up I have found myself opening packs with my grandkids (Scott’s little girls). My daughter calls it a “Right of Passage”. Scott have a happy father’s day.
    Pops

  68. I can’t share a story of my father and I collecting cards, for the simple fact that I grew up without one. I do, however, remember going to the card shop with my grandfather and he would buy me packs or rookie cards of Mark Grace, my favorite player as a kid. We would go once a month after I had saved up my allowance, which was usually never enough to buy more than 2 or 3 packs of cards. I was a kid, I had to buy candy too. So, when we would get to Steve’s Baseball Card’s in Bowling Green, Kentucky, I would look to see if he had any new Mark Grace cards in his display case. Sometimes he would have one I didn’t have, but more times than not, I wouldn’t have enough to pay for it. My grandfather would always make sure I got the one I wanted and always a couple more packs to open on the ride home. He may not have been my dad, but I learned a lot from him about how to be a man and how to show love to those that are important to you. I love you more than you will ever know Pa. Being a father of a 3 year old daughter now, I hope she eventually wants to collect cards with her old man, but right now it’s ballet classes and LaLa Loopsie. She likes to sit with me sometmes and look through daddy’s cards with him, but having the attention span of a 3 year old, she doesn’t last very long before she is off doing something else. I love having her in my lap, sharing that father daughter time with her. I’m sure she will eventually want to collect with daddy, because she always wants me to give her a card to play with. She loves it when I let her have a pile of base cards to play with. I usually end up having to go around the room picking them up, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Here’s to being a dad. Happy Father’s Day to all us proud papa’s out there.

  69. The best memory I have was a few years back when Prime Cuts was released for the 1st time in years. I was back home visiting my dad, and for old times sake we went to the local hobby card shop. The guy had 2 boxes/packs left but had them put aside. I asked if we could bust them, and the owner checked with his other store to see if he had more, and he did so he let us open 1 of them. THE BOX TOPPER WAS THE TY COBB 1/1 CUT AUTO! Signed in green ink!! I NEARLY FAINTED (i think i may have cussed)!! It was the coolest moment I have had in collecting! And I was soooo glad to share it with my dad!! Great contest thanks for having it!!

  70. My father was the one who introduced me to collecting as he was a big collector in the 80’s and 90’s but like most, I disappeared as I became a teen/young adult. When I found out I was having my own son, I thought, wouldn’t it be great to pass on a hobby I loved so much as a kid. My son is 18 months old now and my father has passed away, but this hobby and sports in general are creating a wonderful link from past-present-future in our bloodlines.

    My son Jackson is a very special person in my life, and much of that is because of the bond I know we will share over sports cards, the same way my father and I did so many years ago.

    Here are a couple pictures of Jackson, and myself

    http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/ac186/Seth_Murphy/Family%20Pictures/3cc541d5.jpg

    http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/ac186/Seth_Murphy/Family%20Pictures/48a05d52.jpg

    http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/ac186/Seth_Murphy/Family%20Pictures/1cf275aa.jpg

  71. My dad we have memories from sports weve played together and when he took me out to the little leagues. But one of the coolest times was when i pulles a miles austin 3 color patch auto #ed to 5, and him being a huge cowboys fan he jumped up right out of his chair and to give me a hug, and that is something special.

  72. My father wasn’t really into collecting cards, until i started to ask him if i can have him buy me packs of cards instead of giving me money. From then on, we started collecting cards together with his knowledge of some old greats and my knowledge of the super stars now, helped us form great one two punch. My fave moment of card collecting was when we went to a jays game and passed by a card machine. I asked him for a dollar so i can grab a pack of nba hoops cards. At first he was hesitate because he didn’t trust, we would get anything good but once we opened the pack and saw the cards we got, we couldn’t stop and wasted about another 50 dollars and about the first three innings of the game. That would be my fave moment and 1st moment of us collecting cards together.

    I would like to thank everyone and also Panini America for letting me share this moment with you guys and also for a chance of letting us win 1 of 5 packs.

    Nick Tumbokon

  73. My father and I never saw eye to eye very often when I was a kid growing up. For a matter of fact the only time I can remember ever getting along with my dad is when we were collecting sports cards. We had a huge collection of vintage 1950’s thru 1980’s. I went to college in 1994 and my parents got a divorce in 1996. When I came home my whole collection was gone. My dad had sold it all without saying anything to me. I was devastated. I still to this day wish I had everything I had back then. It would be great to share all of those cards with my son today. I have been trying to get a nice collection going for him again, but cards are much more expensive then they were back in the 80’s. I really wish we would get some more card shows going on around Nebraska. We used to go to card show’s almost every weekend during the summers. So collecting cards can bring a father and son closer, even when their relationship is strained.

  74. I remember my dad taking me to Kansas City to watch Bo Jackson play. Then he took me to Texas to watch the rangers and we got some of the players autographs and those were the days. I plan on doing the same with my kids so they can have the same memories as me

  75. I’ve never really had the opportunity or ability to buy packs/boxes whenever I wanted to so holidays were always when I got my special little treat. Growing up, coming from a broken family was rough at times but when i would get something I loved (cards) from both parents it seemed to make things easier. Nowadays it’s me raising the family. Things still stay the same with the inability to purchase what I want, when I want, but the holidays are different just the same. Birthdays, Christmas and most definitely Father’s Day. My old lady usually organizes it for each of the three kids to give me one box. With all of them, the kids included, knowing that it’s a passion that I’ve carried on since I was just a child and it’s the thing that they use to honor me on special occasions just as I was when I WAS a child, it brings a smile to my face that can only be replicated by very few things in life.

  76. Mine wasn’t with dad but with my Grandpa.He always watched Cubs games on WGN Network and I was right next to him most of the time.He brought a box of 85 Topps to me for us to open together.Then and there he told me something that will stick with me forever.He said “It doesn’t matter how much a card is worth all that matters is what you think of the player and what he has done for the game.If his card is worth a bunch of money,and the guys a jerk,would the money be why you wanted that card?Then your not a collector.”I stll live by that to this day.It works in life too if you think about it.

  77. I have both my 6 year old son and 11 year old daughter collecting now. It’s so amazing to see there face light up when they open that pack and see the cards that they get. They love when I get out all my old cards from back in the day and see how cards have changed so much over the years. The wife doesn’t really get it yet, but thats why it’s a fathers and kids hobby. Now I have my fingers crosses that they have some cards for dad on fathers day. Pray for me. 🙂

  78. I will never forget the first NFL game i was able to take my son to see. I am a huge Bengals fan and since the military puts me all over the globe and never around Ohio, i have to settle for an away game when i can afford it and am lucky enough to be near a stadium they are visiting.

    Anyway, I was stationed in Mississippi durring the 2006 season and the Bengals came to New Orleans. I had to go-and my son was five so it was time for him to get a taste of the LIVE GAME experience. I was able to save up enough to buy 2 tickets for the first row right behind the Bengals bench. Not only were these the best seats i have ever had at a big leage game but i ended up sitting right next to chris henry’s (ex Bengals Wr – R.I.P.) high school QB. So when the Defense was on the field chris would come over and chat for a minute or two. I told him that this was my sons first game, and chris asked if he could hold my son while i take a picture so my son would never forget his first game. Now i was in shock because most of the Athletes would rather not be bothered but he was all about having fans and giving Bengals fans their money worth. I would attach the picture but when he passed, i took my #15 jersey with his nickname “SLIM” that i bought after that game and had a plaque made with the photo and two of his rookie cards.

    Well thats my most memorable sports experience so far. My son doesnt really remember it as well as i do and now he’s a Panthers fan some how, so that peice will stay with me until i am gone. Hope every one enjoys my story and can have a similar experience with their father or son. (If you are curious, the Bengals won 31-16)

      1. Wow thanks! Even though i am currently deployed, it should be a great day when they arrive. It will be the first time i get to watch my son open cards on skype. (Might make me jealous though, lol) I will open plenty when i get home for Christmas!

  79. I know that I have a little girl and cant wait til she is old enough to start opening packs. Right now I just let her pick them out the box for me, but just that alone brings a huge smile to my face!

  80. Well what can i say but i never knew my father and so my uncle was my father figure to me, he taught me to fish and how to grow up and be the best man i can be. That was until he died of a heart attack back in 1999 i took in all that he taught me and will never let him knowing he is watching over me. I moved over here from Australia in 2004 for work and in 2009 met this wonderful woman with a boy who is now 5 years old. We married in 2010 and now have a son together who is nearly 2 and these two great boys i am going to teach what my uncle taught me how to be great boys and grow up to be wonderful men. My 5 year old stepsons dad is a total bust in his life. He doesnt have nothing to do in his life, doesnt pay child support or buy clothes or nothing but spend his money on himself or his own trucks. We have just had his dads visitation taken away due to his father being caught on to catch a predetor and well that just shows what father his dad is. That hurt me just seeing that this young man will never have that relationship between his dad and himself. I do everything with this boy collect cards, fishing going to sporting events and well lately have involved him into playing baseball and he loves it. This boy will never miss out on anything because i never did. Even though through blood this boy really isnt mine i treat him like he is. I try to be the best dad i can be but i know deep down that i am not perfect and sometimes cant afford what i would love to get them but i go without to give them what they need. I know that they will be both be great boys and men.

  81. I’ve taken my 13 year old daughter to the card shop with me since she was a baby & we’ve both developed a great friendship with the owner who has literally watched my kids grow up collecting with dad.

  82. My favorite memories are going to the Cubs home openers with my father in winter gear with temps close to freezing and a chance of snow. The concession had plenty of beer but easily ran out of hot chocolate and coffee. One of us would wait three inning to get a warm drink and by the time they finally made it just say it was like eating chocolate bars. Just say we now know better and what for the warmer temps. That wait is a bit more bearable than waiting for a World Seiries Championship.

  83. My Dad took my brother and I to the Anaheim convention in 1991 I believe. It was nuts! Line wrapped around the convention center 3 times and fire marshalls were regulating who could get in. We waited 3 hours. My Dad treated us to Sandy Koufax autos and I got my very first Jackie Robinson card at that show.

  84. I was brought up collecting panini sticker books with my father, I couldn’t wait for fridays we would go to the local grociery store and my dad would buy me 20 packs of stickers and we would come home and fill up the books, My dad would give me the doubles and i would trade them with friends at school for ones i needed it was so much fun and I still have the sticker books my fondest memories of my father it always brought us together for hours of fun i will be a memory i will cherish the rest of my life. now I have passed on this collecting passion to my two young boys 6 and 10 years old they always pick my packs for me and they love opening packs and the even now who the good players and up and comers are they even have there own cards which I put in top loaders and booklets for them to show of to there cusins they are so proud of it and that is what makes me happiest of all, the even know to give daddy his Marty Broduer cards. Even today I went to my LCS to pick up some packs to get some Fathers Day packs saddly the had run out but I still bought a few packs I went to buy a pack of Titanum and my youngest was with me there were 4 packs left I took them out and asked him which one He said last one dady I took it and opened it and I got a Jimmy Hayes RC 39/39 jersey numbered and guess what my son did after I showed him the card he put his hand up and gave me a hi-five that made my Fathers day, thank you Panini for the everlating memeories.

  85. Without my dad, I would never be the collector I am today. My dad introduced me to the game of baseball, and took me to many Oakland A’s games including a few on father’s day. I still have fond memories of those games and even the trips on BART to get there. Its sonething I hope to share with my own kids one day!

  86. my dad and i collected football cards when i was a kid. when he died i was 10 and my mom deciced that the football cards where not worth any thing and threw them away when we moved.when i got older i started collecting cards again and now im trying to get my children in to the hobby

  87. I was fortunate to have two parents that nurtured my desire for collecting. After they split they definitely spent what time they could helping me find new hobbies to spend my time and express myself.
    My grandfather owned a small comic book store so that is what I collected first, but once I discovered baseball cards I was hooked! My mom and dad were able to spend time with me at card shows and they each had little collections going.
    Over the years my interests changed but when my daughter was born those partying ways went away and I was reunited with my childhood desire, baseball cards.
    My daughter is almost three, and she already wants “daddy’s cards.”. Its definitely fun and exciting to be able to share my childhood experience with her now.

  88. The time my dad and I flew a kite on a very very windy day out over the river as we lived nearby. The kite got so high up as the wind carried it so high we could see it no more and then my dad cut the string, was a memory I’ll have forever

  89. My 6-year old daughter hasn’t fully caught the collecting bug yet. She has had a blast filling up a couple of Panini sticker albums though. In spite of that, it has now become a tradition, at my daughter’s insisting, that we head to the yearly card show held on Father’s Day. We make the trip as a family and as I head off to the show, the rest of the family grabs a table at the hotel’s dining area for the Sunday brunch buffet. Once I’m done checking out the show, I’ll join them for some food. Once she gets older, I’m sure that she’ll be heading into the shows with me.

  90. I remember fondly Dad bringing those 1967 & 1968 Topps baseball and football packs home for me to open. We didn’t have much money, but between coaching my Little League Teams and those occasional packs of Topps, Dad and I formed a common sports love that continues today. I remember when we moved to Little Rock going to the Arkansas Travelers baseball games. The big star of the team at that time was Jose Cruz. Dad’s office was right next to the stadium and being a workaholic, he often couldn’t take me because of work. Other times, money for tickets was not available, but he stood in his office parking lot with me for hours and we would listen to the game and wait for foul balls, which I would chase down. I can still hear his laughter and encouraging, “Get it boy!” every time that ball would fly out of the stadium. Today, we bet two liter sodas on games and spend hours talking about the highlights and “what-ifs”. Dad, you’re my hero! Thanks fr all the memories, but more importantly, thank you for your love. I love you Chief!!

  91. Congratulations to our Father’s Day Blog Winners! Some great, heart-felt Father’s Day stories. It was tough to choose our winners! Thanks to everyone who participated.

    The following winners please send us an email to [email protected] with your name, info, address, etc. so that we can send your prize. Please put “Father’s Day Blog Winner” in the subject line.

    WINNERS:
    XstreamINsanity

    Victor Pimentel

    Bruce Sims

    Nick Tumbokon

    Seth M. Murphy

  92. My dad always hated when I collected so I tried to get my girls into it…It worked with my oldest Emma..She’s crazy for Uswnt soccer..At least it’s something we can collect together!! Happy Father’s Day to everyone!!

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