Favorite Pack Pull

[JailOJohn]

Feeling the need for some nostalgia…What is your favorite Wacky you ever pulled from a pack in the wild??? Why did it mean so much to you?

[Paul_Maul]

Eight or nine years ago I bought two 7th series gumless packs at the Allentown show for $15 total. I opened them at the show and pulled this:



I submitted it to PSA and got this:



I traded it to another collector for what I considered to be a nicer PSA 9 Grime Heavy and about $500 worth of other graded wackys.

That was always one of my favorite aspects of PSA grading: the ability to turn very little into quite a lot.

[Paul_Maul]

The above has nothing to do with nostalgia really. While I wish I did, I have very few specific memories of opening packs in 1973, when I was not even 7 years old.

[freetoes]

Feeling the need for some nostalgia…What is your favorite Wacky you ever pulled from a pack in the wild??? Why did it mean so much to you?

I've told the story a few times over the years, but my first purchase was most memorable. I was already familiar with Cheapios, since it was so common (Robert Sibley had one stuck on his desk; he colored in the white lettering in "Fortified With Iron"). Chef Girl-ar-Dee and Escuire were new discoveries, and Wormy Packages was my introduction to the concept of self-parody. Brute 88 and Freetoes then rounded out the lot.

[MadMike]

My favorite pack pull was when I pulled a Kentucky Fried Fingers sticker as a kid. That was the coolest thing ever. For that reason, it still ranks as my favorites today.

[JailOJohn]

Kentucky Fried Fingers is one of my favorites because it took me like 20 packs to get it. That, and the disturbing image of a chicken with glasses on the bucket!

[koduck]

Halloween 1969. I was 5 years old. I got a wacky die cut pack in a treat bag. Lavirus was the first card and I was hooked forever after.

[bandaches]

The above has nothing to do with nostalgia really. While I wish I did, I have very few specific memories of opening packs in 1973, when I was not even 7 years old.

I am with you, I have very little recollection of opening packs except for one of the very last packs I ever opened.  I was still collecting series 6. Bought a blue pack at my little corner shop hoping to fill some needs and it had series 7 stickers.  I distinctly recall being disgusted to get MT fink and Caged which weren't on the series 6 checklist.  Seems I didn't get a series 7 checklist so I had no idea what was going on but after buying a few more packs and continuing to get series 7 meaning I was never going to complete series 6, my wacky pack collecting ended.  Never saw series 8 or later til rediscovering wackys.

[Paul_Maul]

I also stopped collecting after series 7. And actually, I remember very distinctly buying two 6th series packs in the spring of 1974. The four stickers were Fruit of the Tomb, My Sink, Soft Head and Blisterine. The first time I learned about Knight’s Move I remembered those two packs and went and looked at the uncut sheet, and sure enough it was consistent!

[bandaches]

I also stopped collecting after series 7. And actually, I remember very distinctly buying two 6th series packs in the spring of 1974. The four stickers were Fruit of the Tomb, My Sink, Soft Head and Blisterine. The first time I learned about Knight’s Move I remembered those two packs and went and looked at the uncut sheet, and sure enough it was consistent!

I guess My T fink and Caged follow it too!  To this day, I dislike those two titles just because they disrupted my series 6 collecting.

[Paul_Maul]

While I remember most of the titles from series 6 and 7 I think I had started to become more interested in ‘74 Baseball when I first saw it in late January. So it makes sense that I was pretty much mentally checked out after series 5 but just kept buying wackys out of habit through that spring.

[Soremel]

This bad boy, right here! Toward the end of summer vacation, in 1974, I had opened numerous 10th Series packs, all containing "Pupsi" checklists, but never pulled a Pupsi from those packs. A few days before school started, I had purchased a handful of packs from the "Candy Man" who drove through our neighborhood. The last of those packs that I opened contained "No Pupsi" checklists, but contained a Pupsi sticker! I remember literally shaking as I rode my 10-speed as fast as I could to get home and put my newly found "grail" in its new home. And, yes, the sticker in the photo is the sticker that I pulled from that pack back in '74!

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[bandaches]

While I remember most of the titles from series 6 and 7 I think I had started to become more interested in ‘74 Baseball when I first saw it in late January. So it makes sense that I was pretty much mentally checked out after series 5 but just kept buying wackys out of habit through that spring.

Would series 7 have been summer of 1974?  I think once i got back into school in  sept 1974, that contributed to the end as very few kids in school had wackys, it was mostly my neighborhood friends who collected.

[Paul_Maul]

According to Greg’s 1-16 timeline series 7 and 8 were both out in the summer of ‘74.

[bandaches]

This bad boy, right here! Toward the end of summer vacation, in 1974, I had opened numerous 10th Series packs, all containing "Pupsi" checklists, but never pulled a Pupsi from those packs. A few days before school started, I had purchased a handful of packs from the "Candy Man" who drove through our neighborhood. The last of those packs that I opened contained "No Pupsi" checklists, but contained a Pupsi sticker! I remember literally shaking as I rode my 10-speed as fast as I could to get home and put my newly found "grail" in its new home. And, yes, the sticker in the photo is the sticker that I pulled from that pack back in '74!

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Has a firm pattern been confirmed on whether pupsis would be found in packs with pupsi-less checklists?  I had a pile of single packs from the same source that I believe were pupsi packs as I have an unopened pack with Pupsi clearly showing thru the wrapper.  I wonder if these packs all have the pupsi-less checkist.

[Paul_Maul]

That would not seem to make much sense. One would expect an overall pattern of pupsi/pupsi checklist moving toward no pupsi/ non pupsi checklist. Evidently anything was possible in between, but it’s possible that the sticker was pulled first and the checklist changed only later. That seems like what happened with Bum and Choke. Yet George’s pull shows that the opposite was also at least possible.

[Soremel]

That would not seem to make much sense. One would expect an overall pattern of pupsi/pupsi checklist moving toward no pupsi/ non pupsi checklist. Evidently anything was possible in between, but it’s possible that the sticker was pulled first and the checklist changed only later. That seems like what happened with Bum and Choke. Yet George’s pull shows that the opposite was also at least possible.

To add to the confusion, one of my neighbors had purchased a full box of the 10th series about a couple of weeks prior to me finding my Pupsi. His box had 48 packs, with 48 "Pupsi" checklists, and not one Pupsi sticker was pulled from that box.

[Soremel]

According to Greg’s 1-16 timeline series 7 and 8 were both out in the summer of ‘74.

I'm wondering if actual release dates and regional distribution (when boxes were actually stocked on shelves) could have taken a part in some of the geographical overlays/delays? In northern Massachusetts, I was collecting the 7th series while still in school, in early spring. I remember buying a full 8th series box on June 29th of 1974. The reason why I remember this so clearly, was because my mother reluctantly bought the box for me on the way to a wedding of some friends of the family. (I opened most of the box in the back of my parent's '72 Volvo station wagon on the way home after the ceremony!)

[bigtomi]

To add to the confusion, one of my neighbors had purchased a full box of the 10th series about a couple of weeks prior to me finding my Pupsi. His box had 48 packs, with 48 "Pupsi" checklists, and not one Pupsi sticker was pulled from that box.

This seems to support Dave’s statement that the sticker was probably pulled first…which does make sense to my simplistic mind. Checklist accuracy was not Topps’ strong suit.

[drono]

Has a firm pattern been confirmed on whether pupsis would be found in packs with pupsi-less checklists?

I had two or three Pupsi stickers growing up, and none of my checklists had Pupsi on them.  I never could afford to buy more than about $0.50 - $1 worth of packs at a time, so my purchases probably came from multiple boxes.

[mikecho]

I got started with the 2nd Series, and my favorites were 8-Lives and Putrid Cat Chow. In the 3rd Series, it was Crakola Crayons and Drowny and in the 4th Series it was Dampers.

[faustxxx]

    Same here, second series was my first experience with Wacky Packages. The first sticker I laid eyes on was Hurts and I was hooked. I didn't know about the first two pulled Choke Wagon and Bum Chex when I bought the fourth series until the run was at the twelve or thirteenth series when a school friend wanted to trade for my beer can collection. It was a rather large collection of cans and the stickers I got some had his name written on the backs of the earlier series, that is when I was placing them together making complete sets that I had a Bum Chex left over and was freaking out looking at all the checklists over and over. I eventually lost all of those childhood stickers along with my rather extensive sport cards over time from moving all the time. After rediscovering them I had opened my sports memorabilia store and people would bring in their cards sometimes with other stuff like Wackies. Long story here I am today still loving to relive all those memories every time I look at my collection.

     Matt

[Swiski]

The only memorable pack pull for me is Taffy cat food from the 14th series, but it wasn't for my collection. Years before, my older brother gave me a lot of his extra stickers from all the previous series. He bought many 14th series packs from several stores, but he never was able to get Taffy. So one Saturday we went shopping at the hobby shop at our local mall, and they had 14th series packs on the shelf. We both bought packs, and one of the packs I bought had the Taffy, which I gave to him.