My New Obsession!
Before I start gushing over childhood Kenner Starting Lineup memories,give this video a click.Is It not the most 80's sounding thing ever!?!This could have easily been a G.I. Joe theme song.
Isn't It great!In fact ,all of their commercials were pretty damn epic.And now,on to the post...
Kenner 1988 Starting Lineup MOC /1990 Bo Jackson Loose |
The first line of Kenner Starting Lineups came out In 1988.At that time,I was still into G.I. Joe but transitioning into baseball fandom.Baseball was kind of Ideal for me as I was able to watch real,live heroes play out in front of me on my television screen.Each with their own super power! Jose Canseco(my favorite player at the time) could hit a baseball a country mile. Bo Jackson had a cannon for an arm and guys like Dwight Gooden and Nolan Ryan were masters of deception, every time they went out on the mound and racked up strikeouts.I was already into action figures so In my world ,the stars had definitely aligned when these figures came out.A very belated thank you to Kenner ;)The truth Is,I liked these figures a little too much.Yeah,the next part of this story involves things I did to obtain them that I'm not particularly proud of.I was young and impressionable,and when an older friend of mine told me that all you had to do was remove them from the packaging and walk out of the store with them,undetected,I was In.I know, not cool.I don't put the blame on him as I was old enough to make the right decision and chose not to. My collection grew ten fold.One day ,my cousin and I got greedy and went back to the same store multiple times and that's when they busted us.I had Joe Dimaggio In my coat pocket and my cousin had a hooded sweater on, filled with Tiger handheld games ,lol. I shouldn't be laughing , but looking back on It now I find It somewhat comical.If there are any kids reading this ,please don't try this at home.It's not cool to steal,from anyone or anywhere at anytime.Earn your shit ;)
I got It bad from my parents .And then one day ,while playing at a friends house ,his phone rang.He picked It up and said It was my dad on the phone.My dad was kind of excited on the other line as he went on to tell me how he had found a bunch of those Starting Lineup figures I liked so much on clearance.He picked up 5 figures for me and wanted me to come home to check them out.Poor dad had an eye for sales but certainly not for baseball players :( Most of the figures were commons .I seem to remember alot of Cleveland Indians being In that mix.Pat Tabler,Mel Hall.Anyways, you gotta love and admire the man for trying.I certainly didn't deserve them.
So here's the back of the packaging.As you can see I'll be in over my head If I try to go after every last one of these figures. I'm mainly going to be picking up personal favorites and ones I had a kid.Some will be loose ,some in packaging.
If you haven't gotten a good look at these before,check out Bo Jackson.He was one of the few to have a player accurate head sculpt.This is probably because this figure Is from 1990 I believe.The earlier run of figures were pretty generic looking.
So ,yeah,shameful memories aside,I'm pretty obsessed with these figures right now.I'm trying to pick up as many of the first run MOC as most are pretty cheap these days.Some of the more expensive ones I'll probably pick up loose and spend less.Well.that's all for today kids,and remember "To be a winner ,be strong and ready to fight......and don't shoplift!" ;)
I am not a sports person but even I had Starting Line-ups as a kid lol. One day I hope to get some from the teams that I support (due to living in those cities for a time): Atlanta Braves, SF Giants, SF 49ers, and Atlanta Falcons to name a few.
ReplyDeleteThey're fun little figures ,even If you just want them for nostalgia's sake.I have a strong attachment to these three particular figures because I grew up a Mets fan,first and foremost,before moving on to the A's and then circling back to the Mets.I still follow the A's ,though,and hope they beat the Yankees tonight !
ReplyDeleteI'm not big into sports, so Starting Line Up was never my thing....But....That commercial was epic!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge SLU collector. These days I actually like the cards more than the figures themselves, but I still have about 5 of these displayed in my classroom and another 10 to 15 displayed in my office.
ReplyDeleteThe cards are pretty expensive when you buy them as singles on ebay,like 5 bucks a pop.I would imagine it's probably cheaper to buy them in lots.
DeleteI still collect the Bo Jackson SLU figures. These were great! My favorite set of all-time though has to be the 1992 Dream Team Olympic Basketball set.
ReplyDeleteI need an 88 or 89 Jordan,bad!I already have a Heisman collection SLU of Bo Jackson ,naturally I went after his baseball figure.I need his Raiders figure now.
DeleteUnbelievable how many Starting Lineup figures Kenner made. Speaking of "appropriating" figures via five finger discount - the book Collect Them All! Confessions of a Recovering Action Figure Thief by Kurt Vonn Gutzman is a hysterical account of young Kurt and his brother during the Kenner Star Wars days where their obsession turned to theft. It is a funny and quick read.
ReplyDeleteHilarious!I guess Kenner just had that effect on kids,lol. gotta check that out sometime.
DeleteGlad you are getting something you love. I never cared much for sports myself.
ReplyDeleteReal life heroes in costume ,man ,you can't beat that ;)
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