Starting Lineup Sundays

Before I started this silly little blog a year ago I spent a fair amount of time deciding if I had enough topics to write about to keep my blog churning.  I didn’t want to write a handful of posts and then run out of things to talk about and fade away.   I knew I had a couple of safety nets to fall back on if I got desperate for material.  One was eTopps, and the other was my Starting Lineup Collection.  eTopps was a great material source because they had new card offerings almost every week.  I’ve also managed to find enough other things to talk about that I was able to keep my Starting Lineups on the bench.

    

However, with eTopps basically shutting down and becoming a non-source of material for me it might be time to call on my SLUs.  And why not?  These things are so cool.  I don’t understand why there isn’t a greater demand for them anymore.  That used to not be the case.  In fact, there used to be conventions centered on Starting Lineup figures.   

They’ve been out of production for years now, and replaced by the larger, more detailed McFarlane figures.  I find the SLUs a far superior collectible.  Maybe it’s because they are similar in size and function to the Star Wars figures that shaped my childhood.   Anyway, my SLUs are all in boxes at the moment.  I tried to get the lovely wife to let me “wallpaper” one of our bedroom walls with the ones I kept in the blister packs, but shockingly she didn’t go for it.  I guess pictures of our children and paintings are OK, but beautiful blister packs of toy baseball players don’t meet some arbitrary standard of taste.   Oh well, she can’t stop me from showing them off on my blog:

 Daarryyyllll...... Daaarrryyyllll..... Daaaaarryyyylllll...

This was the first figure I bought.  The first issue of Starting Lineups came out in 1988 and was mostly regionally distributed.  Some players had a national distribution, and luckily for me I was able to find all of the Mets that were made in 1988 (I can't find my the Howard Johnson, but I have it somewhere).  That was my team back then.    

I had no interest in keeping these in the blister pack, and wanted to display them out of the package in my room.  I had about 20 of these things lined up along my dresser.    I also had a huge cardboard stand up movie poster of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3” in my room as well.  Man, I was a loser. 

Wooooo Pig…. Soooie!!! Part 2- More Swine

There was just too much Razorback goodness left off my first post.  Plus, I just couldn't resist showing the best part of the gift from AJ of the Lost Collector:

Take it from me, the resemblance is uncanny.  I'm going to try to get the lovely wife help me incorporate this picture into my blog header.
Now, more Hogs:

Matt Jones.  I really hate that his talent didn't translate to the NFL.  In college, he was a total badass.  I still enjoy watching youtube clips of him tormenting Texas at Austin several years ago.   I hear he is living in this area now, but I have no idea what he's doing.  Maybe we'll bump into each other sometime and hang out. 

The lot also included a nice little set of Kevin McReynolds cards.  He's probably the greatest Razorback baseball player ever.   He was before my time at Arkansas, but I loved watching him with the Mets for a few years in the late 80s.  The closest I've come to meeting him was when he was checking into a hotel where my friend worked the front desk.  He got an autograph for me and said McReynolds was really nice.  Quiet, but nice.

Like Steve Atwater, Foster went pro just before I came to school.  He had a short career, but did lead the league in rushing in 1992.   I don't have anything interesting to say about him, but I'm still glad to get the cards.

Finally, this lot included several All-Time Hogs that I as of yet didn't have cards.  It's been a lot of fun going through this huge lot of cards from AJ and seeing something new each time.  Thanks again buddy!