Sports Cards, Video Games, Basketball, and Starting Lineup Figures. Those 4 things basically defined by childhood. They were without a shadow of a doubt the most important things in my life (besides family and friends of course) when I was a kid. Starting Lineup collecting, though was for me one of the more interesting, unique, and more fulfilling hobbies that I had growing up. The "thrill of the chase" so to speak. From 1991 until 2001, I collected these "sports superstar collectibles". At first, as just toys, then as I got older as collectibles, before giving it up for good right before the lineup crash. Over the next few weeks, I'll be doing a multi-part series on my history with Starting Lineups. The beginnings, personal stories, the heyday, and sadly, the end of what was truly a great hobby to be in. The series will be divided up as follows
Part I: The Beginning Years: 1991-1995
Part II: The Collecting Boom: 1996-2000
Part III: Kenner loses it's NBA License to Mattel
Part IV: Other Kenner influenced collectibles
Part V: The Fall of Starting Lineups
I will always have great and fond memories of Starting Lineup Figures and I hope you will find this retrospective entertaining and for those who collected or still collect Starting Lineups, interesting. It's a fun personal recollection of the little sports figures that ruled from my childhood up to my teenage years. Hope you will enjoy!
I'm really looking forward to this series. I had quite the collection at one time. Almost all are gone now, but I'll still pick up a card here and there.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I've been really busy with Work and Christmas shopping, I'll probably have part one up sometime next week!
ReplyDeleteWe also played those action (or should I say, sport) figures with my friends when we were kids. Using those toys, we imagined ourselves as baseball players at day ... and superheroes at night, hahaha. If only someone would bring back those toys in these times along with the players, especially basketball and baseball.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Bastow