Have you ever or do you currently collect sports figurines as part of your card collecting hobby?
For the most part, as a child, the figurines I had were Star Wars (they were infamously everywhere), G.I. Joe, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers as well as those green army men, of course (I remember loving the soldier with the bazooka).
What can I say?! I was a child of the 1980’s!
I don’t recall having anything in the way of sports figurines around to play with…I guess we (my friends and I) would make believe in the film, comic, cartoon and military universes with toys, but when it came to sports we would just go out and play the game in some form.
Are toys just for kids?
I guess that quickly begs the question: is card collecting just for kids?
First of all, we know the answer to those two questions, along with nearly all the variations to those questions is a resounding, no!
Anyway, while out of the package, the Starting Lineup figurines could be considered “toys,” McFarlane and company have created a line of figurines that are, for the most part, affordable artistic statues. Either taken out of the box and displayed or, for the collector, left in the box and displayed tacked up on a wall or on a shelf, frankly they’re inspiring.
I don’t have all that many McFarlane or Starting Lineup figurines, but the few I do I really appreciate. In fact, I’ve started getting into the ritual during baseball and hockey season of moving the loose few on my work desk back home, near the television, so while I watch a game I can also enjoy whatever figure related to either baseball or hockey (not that sports fans and card collectors have any such rituals).
Starting with hockey, then baseball and ending with the one football figure I have in my collection, here’s what I’ve got thus far:
The loose Jean-Sebastien Giguere above is the regular away/white jersey version from Series 7 (2004).
The boxed version below is the variant home/eggplant jersey from the same series.
This Ryan Getzlaf below is pretty cool. This is from Series 26 (2010) and was released as an exclusive “Collector’s Level,” this one being of the “Bronze” level, i.e., out of only /3,000.
The Patrick Roy below from the NHLPA Series 1 (2000) was produced with five water bottle variations. I have the black-lid (there’s a white lid version) green gatorade water bottle version. While Roy is in Colorado’s colors, this series featured generic NHLPA uniforms, so that’s cool.
Patrick Roy is one of those giants of the sport who his fans have had numerous releases throughout McFarlane’s long Sport Picks series.
The following Guy Hebert Starting Lineup is, from what I have gathered, from Starting Lineup’s last hockey series, from 2000.
The Hebert is a great figure, with the duck-wing helmet and a card to match, though in a contrasting jersey color.
This Teemu Selanne is from the 1997 release:
At first glance the 1996 release below may look like another eggplant Anaheim Ducks release, but look closer:
Yep, that’s Brendan Shanahan from the Hartford Whalers.
Like I’ve said about these figures in general above, I don’t have all that much Hartford Whalers cards in my collection, but I do occasionally chase down one of the cards that are either of a player I’m interested in adding to the collection or due to particularly strong photography.
1995 Topps #135
1991 O-Pee-Chee #391
…or it’s of Giguere and there’s an autograph on it and, perhaps, a 3-color jersey patch say, for instance…like this:
2009-2010 Upper Deck SP Authentic #RR-JG 58/100
Ha! “Like this…!“
Reminds me of:
On to baseball.
I have two loose McFarlane figures, the first of Tony Gwynn in the Series 7 (2010) white variant uniform:
…but I also have the Cooperstown Collection boxed in both versions, the variant:
…and the regular release:
The other loose McFarlane figure I have is, along with the variant Giguere and Gatorade variant Roy, one of my three favorite figures:
Willie McCovey in the quite rare San Diego Padres variant uniform! This, like the Gwynn above, is from the Cooperstown Collection, but this one is from Series 8 (2011). As there are only 750 of these variants, mine is 568/750 and loose, the year it was released, I got it for a steal. I mean, these things go upwards of $50 now, that’s crazy!
My favorite Starting Lineup Padres figure I have is this one of Benito Santiago:
The above is the 1991 release, but he’s in nearly the same position for the earlier, 1988 release, though for that figure I believe his uniform is gray, not white.
The next SLU figure is of Fred McGriff from 1992 and includes a poster!
You know, come to think of it, a number of these SLU figures had posters and I’ve never seen one unfolded! Have you?
My last SLU baseball figure to share is this Gary Sheffield from 1993:
Thankfully you can’t really tell from the photo I took of this, but all things considered, even for 1993, the colors are quite gaudy, like a weird turquoise or something. Weird.
The last figure to share and one of the first I picked up is this 1999 release of Dan Fouts:
There he is, beard and all! Like the Hebert hockey SLU above, it’s a nice addition to have the helmet packaged next to the figure so both the entirety of the figure and the helmet are visible (and included!).
Notice the lack of the Natrone Means Starting Lineup figure as well as any McFarlane Chargers, tis but a shame, I tell ya!
Naturally, there are a handful of other Starting Lineup figures I’d like to add to the collection, but more than those vintage pieces, it’s the McFarlane’s I’d like to build a bigger display of.
Pressed to name those McFarlane’s I’d like to get first, I’d have to go with Rollie Fingers, Trevor Hoffman, Lou Gehrig, the rest of the (few) Ducks, and then in terms of Chargers, L.T., Gates and Rivers. We’ll see. With a little luck, we’ve got a long time to keep collecting…
So, do you have any figures that own or are hoping to add to your collection? If you do have figures, how do you display them: loose on a shelf or boxed on the wall?
Cheers, and happy collecting.
