How long you collected as a kid ?...

[the Rock]

Ah,yes...the days of youth! My first packs were Topps baseball in 1968. Only bought two or three packs. Still have that Ryan rookie after all these years. My friends got into collecting in 1969 so that was the first year of real collecting. 1970 was the heaviest year of collecting among the group and the only year that I bought a whole box(with a friend) to open. I can still see us sitting on his bedroom floor taking turns picking and opening packs. We had more Yaz than we knew what to do with! 1971 and 1972 were also pretty enthusiastic collecting years. Collecting started to fade in 1973 losing out to HO slot cars and a beginning interest in rock music and stereo equipment. My best friend quit collecting in 1973. I still collected some into 1974. Maybe ten to twenty packs purchased that year and that was the end. No purchases in 1975.
Football cards were collected mostly in 1969, 1970(again peak year), 1971, and 1972 was about the end. Basketball in 1969 through 1972, and Hockey in
1969. I put the whole thing away in 1974 and never looked at it again until the mid-eighties. At least the cards were still there. Those early collecting years were a great time of my life.