The second year I collected cards was 1971. Even though I was only 10, I quickly decided (and still believe 41 years later) that black-bordered cards are a bad idea. So I trimmed the photos out of countless '71's. Amazingly, without the black borders and with the corners of the photos rounded (that's the way they were printed), they look exactly like cards from the 1969 Topps Super test set, which I always liked. Mine actually came out nicer than the '69 Supers because the '71 set has so many great actions photos. It also has the nicest shots of Connie Mack Stadium I've ever seen on cards (with apologies to the 1955 Bowman set) ...
Another thing that was common for all us kids in the early 70s to do was to draw sideburns, long hair and mustaches on players. Many of the pictures on cards were old, so we were merely updating the fashions depicted on them. Once we saw Oscar Gamble's afro, it was all over ...
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