I bought my first pack of baseball cards in 1970 at 9, and by 1973, I was deep into vintage cards. I recall it started when I picked up a 1968 Mantle at a garage sale in my Orange County neighborhood for a penny. Next came a neighbor who sold me a bunch of 1964s. He had a few 1957s as well, which blew my mind and really got me going on old cards. By the time I went to my first card show in 1974, I had acquired an example of every Topps card back to 1953 from literally knocking on the doors in my neighbors ("Hi, you wouldn't happened to have any old baseball cards lying around?").
Next, I sent away for a 1952 Topps Johnny Mize from Larry Fritsch, mostly because I loved the image of it I saw in his catalog. I didn't pay more than a quarter for it. Then my dad took me to Goodwin Goldfadden's shop, where I met a very crank hobby legend who clearly didn't like kids or cards, but he sold me some of the latter.
My first card show came in 1974, and I spend all my money at the first table on ex-mt T206s: $1 for commons and $3 for stars. I bought a Nap Lajoie, a Mordecai Brown and a Hal Chase. The seller was John Parks, who started the old monthly card club shows at the Walton School in Garden Grove. The shows were later moved to a rec center in Fountain Valley. Those shows were amazing, although curiously, nobody was interested in pre-war cards, although I recall buying a high grade '34 Goudey Gehrig for $30, and some thought I was nuts. It was all about cards from the 1950s. The older guys were mostly in their 30s and 40s, and they chasing the cards their mothers threw away. Nothing was considered more desirable than 1950s regionals like Stahl-Meyers and Hunters and cards that weren't available out west. Bell Brands and Mother's Cookies were also popular. I liked getting my cards in nice shape, and some thought that was weird. I was a glorious time.
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