What was your first set?

[hcv123]

I didn't yet "collect sets", but had plenty of cards in 1973 - as many as would fit in my pockets to flip for colors or scale during recess. Other kids spent all their money at the corner coffee shop on candy - I spent most of mine on packs of cards - heck, you even got gum with them! I apparently had a bunch of cards from 1972 ( I was 5 years old) which I clearly remember trading a whole box of years later for some comic books at a comic book show - live and learn! I had TONS of cards from 1975 and remember a local discount variety store had 2-3 huge dump bins filled with rack packs - my sweet grandmother would generously buy me a bunch everytime we went food shopping at the super market next door. I really loved the radical change in design from the 1974 ards although for flipping purposes top or bottom color needed to be declared ahead of time. The first year I recall actively trying to collect a set was 1978 - I don't remember much else, but Billy Almon of the Padres was the final card I needed to finish it.