50 years ago I was a few weeks back from my first major convention, the Anaheim show at the Hyatt. I'd been to monthly meetings in Garden Grove, but this was the first one with sellers from all over the country.
By todays standards it was much smaller than the National, but had a large variety. I saw my first '51 Topps All Stars and Turkey Reds, was shocked how small Tatoo Orbits were, and got to hold a card that was almost 90 years old, an Old Judge.
I'd worked most of the summer at odd jobs, so was able to come home with handful of '50's Hall of Famers (I remember a '53 Topps Feller and '54 Bowman Campy), a few '58 Bell Brands and stack of '54 Redhearts that were a buck each. Splurged on a '55 Topps low number set and a box of '30's baseball matchbook covers. T206's were still under a buck and you could stumble upon a Bresnahan or Clarke for that price.
Condition wasn't really a thing, just eye appeal, and while some of the sellers were really pretty mean to kids many more were incredibly kind and generous.
As school started I was already counting the days until the '75 show, and building the war chest. '75 show was even better.
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