First collecting cards as a seven-year-old, I thought the 1952 Bowman set was the greatest thing since the Lone Ranger - and to some extent, Tonto. But, since Topps products had not yet penetrated my part of the market, I bought as many '52 Bowman wax packs as my 50-cent lunch stipend would allow. It was astounding to occasionally see a strange mutant-looking card with a name placard instead of a signature in the collections of older kids, but hard for me to wrap my tiny brain around the concept of card sets from way, way back in 1951, let alone even earlier. Years later, the '50 Bowmans still seemed like just a truncated precursor of the '51's.
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