I bought baseball and football cards in 1973, but I didn't really work on trying to collect cards until 1974. At the time, the baseball packs had 10 cards and they were 10 cents each. After school, I used to walk from our elementary school to the library where I'd do homework, read, goof off until my mother was done with work and could pick me up.
Before the baseball season began, I had a dollar bill from work I'd done in the yard that weekend. I saw the baseball cards, and I bought nine packs. With tax, it was 96 cents. When I got to the library, I opened the first pack, Dave Parker was the first card. I had no idea who he was unitl getting that card. With the 1974 set, I was hooked for life.
As a side note, I think I must've bought about 150 packs of those 1974 cards. In each pack that year, Topps included a random team checklist. I never, ever kept those checklists. If they didn't have a number on the back as part of the set, I didn't see any reason to keep it. Now, I wish I'd kept those checklists. Getting the full set is about $25 or $30 on eBay. I could've had the full set and plenty of trade bait.
I love to trade! Check the top paragraph of my profile to see my general trading desires. If you're uncertain about what trade I might be willing to take, just drop me a note and ask. I'm sure we can work something out.