2 MINUTE TOY BREAK !

I knew at some point I wanted to  start an NBA Starting Lineup collection but I wanted my first figure to be this one right here.... It took me a while to pick up this 1988 Jordan figure due to the fluctuating prices he was going for on eBay. I was finally able to find him for a decent price ,along with another one i'll be posting about In the near future. To me ,this figure Is beyond great! It's a nice representation of  a young Michael Jordan , hair and all! The only thing missing Is the arm band. Now,most would argue that Kenner should have posed him going In for the dunk . I can understand that , for obvious reasons. I ,personally , dig the reverse layup sculpt. They were ,IMO, just as amazing to watch as his dunks were.

I can take George Brett off my Starting Lineup want list.This one was hard to come by as most are being sold new for upwards of  20 to 25 dollars.I got this banged up Brett for about 4 bucks.Not the cleanest specimen but the majority of the sculpt is still crisp and intact.At the least he will be a placeholder until I can find one in better condition.But I can live and die with this one If I really have to.

OZZIE "THE WIZARD" SMITH                                       

So I got the final piece to my 88 A's team,Dave Parker.I knew it had the giant 1988 edition sticker on It and had planned on removing It.A task I will undertake later on tonight,a post on that forthcoming.What the ebay item pic didnt convey was the paint smudge on the inside of the packaging which appears to have come from the bill of the baseball cap 🤨Well,i only paid 4 bucks for it so I shouldn't complain.These Dave Parkers sell for about 20 bucks carded and 12 to 15 bucks loose,so.Ive looked online and found out that lighter fluid is good at causing a chemical reaction that makes old sticker price tags come right up without damaging the card back.Of course ill be trying this on 30 plus year old sticker so im pretty much planning to fail.As far as the smudge goes,im stuck with it.Unless I detach the blister and yadda,yadda,yadda.If the cardback was in better shape i would have tried it.Ill be doing a follow up post on my sticker removal results so stay tuned! ...

Yes my friends,more Starting Lineups.I could literally eat a bowl of these fucking things with milk ,I'm so hooked on them right now.New arrivals include Mark McGwire and Carney Lansford.For those of you that didn't know (I think Fuji knows,not sure) ,I was a huge Oakland A's fan growing up.The Mets were my favorite N.L. team but overall I was an A's fan.That all changed when they decided to trade Canseco but that's a whole 'nother subject. Still,even today I could name pretty much everybody on that  mid to late 80's squad including bench players. You guys probably know who Mark McGwire Is already but Lansford might be new to you.Carney Lansford was the A's third basemen and primarily batted second In the lineup ,after Rickey Henderson.He  had one of the more intense batting stances In the game.Fidgety might be the best way to describe It.Lots of line drives down the third base line,the occasional homer and crazy glove work ,just a fun player to watch.Hi...

This is what I'm working with so far. My most recent pick ups are Mike Schmidt,Roger Clemens and the rest of the Mets players that I needed to complete the team set,some loose and some carded. 1988 was a great year for baseball.You could argue that alot of the guys were juiced up but so were the pitchers. And even more remarkable were the pitchers who weren't juicing that still managed to put up great numbers against some of baseballs most herculean hitters. And yet another great Starting Lineup commercial ...  

To Be A Winner... I seriously can't get the damn theme song out of my head.For the last week or so It's been on replay. I've found myself scouring ,these last couple of days,for 1988 Starting Lineup figures,loose or MOC.I think It's the fact that alot of these figures just weren't available to me as a kid due to them being sold based on team location.For instance,I grew up In Upstate NY so we got tons of Mets and Yankees players. I think this would change in later years as I remember a lot of  other teams being readily available and on the pegs from 1989 and on. You know you're in trouble when you start marking figures off on a checklist.This was done with paint on the cpu ,I didn't want to write on the card backs.It's a little hard to see but the ones I currently own have the box next to them filled In.As you can see I have a looong way to go. Here are my newest acquisitions. From Left to Right - Ozzie Smith,Ozzie Guillen(just realiz...