For me it was so long ago and when I was a kid I have no idea. Plus my earliest memories of card collecting are at a very young age before I recall opening packs.

^same

Very cool. I don't know the exact first card, I was 4 years old. I do know the first set, which was 1988 Leesley Bigfoot. I do, however, know what my first NBA card was, and even the date. It was February 14th, 1996, Valentine's Day. My Mom worked in my school (5th grade) and a lot of us collected trading cards, However, I was the only one who collected NASCAR and Non-Sports, everyone else was into the NBA. She wanted me to be able to trade with my friends so she bought me a pack of 1995-96 Fleer Series 2...little did she know, more than 20 years and 89,000 different NBA cards later, I'd still be collecting and it'd still be a major, major part of my life! This was my first NBA card. All these years later, I'm the only one of that group of friends who still collects, I think. I'm friends with most of them on Facebook but there are a couple who are not on there and I've lost contact with.

Nice story Billy. I like that Sam Cassell card because its design nicely reflects the 90s popular culture/taste imo. Sam was a pretty good guard too!

Like captkirk42 and DarkSide830; it was 50 years ago and I don't remember.  I can remember taking my weekly allowance to the local 5 & Dime and buying packs.  I can remember "playing" with the cards.  But no recall of actually opening them. The first card I can ever remember owning/possessing is a 1963 Topps Astronauts #32 John Glenn.   I was only 3 when they were released, so I imagine my father gave it to me. Through some miracle I still have it.

Clyde "The Glide", what a great player to have as a first card. I don't recall the first one for me, but I do recall the first card ever on my Want List as a 5th grader was the 1966 Philadelphia Bob Hayes RC (I didn't know it was an RC at the time). I didn't come to own it until about 32 years later when I purchased it with proceeds from a Jerry Rice I had pulled from an '86 Topps pack.

I can't say for sure the first one I saw in the pack, but it would have been 1981 Topps baseball, and in my mind the card was Dick Ruthven.  I can't prove it, but it's the one I remember.  Truthfully, I can't even remember the first card I saw in a pack of 2020 Topps Gallery that I opened a couple hours ago.

On my tenth birthday, I asked for some sports cards to start a collection and my dad bought me a card lot of 10 miscellaneous 1996-97 Fleer basketball cards and the first card I pulled was Kevin Garnett #216. Still have that exact card too. It had water damage, but the 1996-97 Fleer set is still my favorite 1990's design (if anyone has a 1996-97 Fleer Steve Nash for sale or trade, please let me know).