Starting Lineup was a brand of action figure

Action figure

An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...

s produced from 1988 to 2001, first by Kenner and later by Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

. They were conceived by Pat McInally

Pat McInally

John Patrick "Pat" McInally , is a former punter and wide receiver for the National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals from 1976 to 1985.-Early career:...

, himself a former professional American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player with the Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...

, in 1986

1986 Cincinnati Bengals season

The 1986 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 19th year in professional football and its 17th with the National Football League.-NFL Draft:-Schedule:-Standings:-Roster:-Awards and records:...

. The figures became very popular, and eventually included sports stars from baseball, football, basketball, and hockey; and, to a lesser extent, auto racing, boxing, track & field, skating, soccer, and golf.

McInally came up with the idea during a visit to a toy store. He noticed there were many figurines available of the likes of G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...

, but nothing based on real-life sports heroes. McInally and a former college friend who was running Kenner's day to day operations decided to work together on the project. Today, the figures are collector item

Collectible

A collectable or collectible is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector . There are numerous types of collectables and terms to denote those types. An antique is a collectable that is old...

s. The prices on the figures vary dramatically. The low-end items can be acquired for around or above retail cost, but many rarer items can fetch prices as high as several thousand dollars for a single figure.

A typical figurine stands about 4 inches (10.2 cm) tall, but the brand at times launched various special series that can be much larger including a 14" NBA line and came with a sports card of the respective athlete.

1988 Major League Baseball Starting Lineup

Kenner debuted the Starting Lineup figures in 1988 by releasing a 132 player set. Each team had at least four players in the set except for the Canadian teams of Montreal

Montreal Expos

The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...

 and Toronto

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....

 that had only one player because Kenner believed that there was an insufficient number of retail outlets in Canada to warrant a full team set, (Tim Raines

Tim Raines

Timothy Raines , nicknamed "Rock", is a former American professional baseball player. He played as a left fielder in Major League Baseball for six teams from 1979 to 2002 and was best known for his 13 seasons with the Montreal Expos...

 and George Bell, respectively.) The Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

 and New York Mets

New York Mets

The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...

had the most players in the set with seven per team. Kenner tended to distribute the players to stores by geographical region, so it was virtually impossible to complete the collection or find players from out of market.

Different Product Lines

While there was always at least one annual set featuring single-packaged figures for baseball, basketball, football and hockey, there were many other specialty products such as dual-packaged figure sets, team sets, one-on-one scene type sets and much more. In 1989 Kenner introduced the Baseball Greats dual-packaged figures featuring such past Hall of Famers as Mickey Mantle with Roger Maris and Reggie Jackson with Don Drysdale. Basketball, football and hockey would later get their own dual-packaged sets in the late 1990s. 1989 also saw Kenner releasing many other specialty and sometimes one-time only products like the AFC and NFC offensive and defensive helmet sets, 9-figure baseball team sets, baseball, basketball and football one-on-one action sequences featuring two players from different teams and even a Headliner set which featured a superstar player displayed on a base with a mini front page of a newspaper cover touting the accomplishment of that particular player. 1989 was also the year Kenner released the NBA Slam Dunk series featuring players like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird dunking on a small basketball hoop complete with backboard and hardwood floor. Kenner would also offer exclusive product lines through their four-issue annual Starting Lineup Collector's Club Newsletter, in which consumers could order such unique items as a Nolan Ryan Freeze Frame product in 1995 featuring the pitcher in four different team uniforms with each figure depicting a different position in his windup and delivery of a pitch. Other specialty product lines included 12" doll-like figures in 1997 and the once popular Stadium Stars baseball set featuring oversized figurines placed over a base which was a replica of that player's respective stadium. Roger Clemens standing over Fenway Park is an example of such a figure.