90s Nostalgia: Valuable Starting Lineups Figures
If you grew up in the 90s like me and loved sports, Kenner/ Hasbro’s Starting Lineups (SLU) were a part of your collection. For those who may be unfamiliar with their origin, Starting Lineup toys were created in the late 80s by Hasbro toys. The toy line was conceived by Bengals punter Pat McInally and were very popular as collectors items (I touched on this in my article on the passing of the great Rickey Henderson). The figures also included a trading card of the player with the figures. While releases in the 80s had cards printed by Hasbro with the SLU logo, releases in the 90s would contain cards from major trading card companies such as Topps, Hoops, and Upper Deck. Figures from the first wave are particularly valuable but today I’ll be focusing on a few figures released in the 90s that are still valuable today.
1. Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson 1996 NBA Extended Series
- In 1996 the NBA was booming. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pipen and the Chicago Bulls were kicking off their second threepet. That year’s NBA draft (now considered one of the greatest ever) had many popular rookies including first overall pick Allen Iverson and 13th over pick Kobe Bryant. Most likely to capitalize on the popularity of the NBA Hasbro released their first Extended Series NBA series figures. For some context Hasbro had been releasing extended series figures in their baseball sets for many years and included players who had switched teams during the course of the season or after the toys were released. What made the NBA extended series unique was that it allowed for the inclusion of two of those said rookies having their figures who would go on to hall of fame careers in Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson.Of the two figures the Bryant is more valuable selling for around $100 per 130 point. The Iverson figure checks in around $20 but I still included it because I think the figure looks cool. One interesting thing to note is that high grade cards from the Iverson and Bryant SLU often sell for much more than the mint on card figures.
2. Troy Aikman 1996 Blue Star Sleeves
In 1996 the Cowboys and their fans were still riding high. Troy Aikman had quarterbacked the team to their third Super Bowl win of the decade and this variant figure was released by Hasbro for collectors to chase. The line had three different Aikman figures in it, one with an all white jersey, a second with a blue jersey with white sleeves and the most rare variation had blue sleeves with stars on the shoulders with a white jersey. Unlike the previous figures and the one that follows it I couldn’t find much of a historical backstory as to why this unique figure was released. I also couldn’t find a recent sale for this figure but several are available on eBay ranging $175-$350.
3. Magic Johnson 1996 Far East Asia Series
Another figure released in 1996 the Magic Johnson Far East Asia figure is one of the most rare SLU’s ever produced. Initially this figure was slated to have a wider release but was pulled from the set when Magic Johnson announced that he was retiring. While this figure never saw a stateside release, a number of figures made their way to Asian markets hence the name of the figure. The key features of the figure come from the packaging which contains a listing of Hasbro’s divisions in Malaysia,Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. If you’re looking to buy this figure expect to pay upwards of $3000-5000 for mint on card version with graded ones selling for much higher.
