SLU Showcase #8 - O Canada, Where Art Thou?

As a Starting Lineup fan and collector since childhood, I've always been intrigued by what figures Kenner didn't produce. Dave Krieg has a beard on his 1988 figure because Dan Fouts was pulled from the set upon his retirement and repurposed as the Seahawks' signal-caller.

Staying in Seattle, Steve Largent was listed on the backer checklist for both the 1988 and 1989 releases but his figure was never released. I had an SLU connection as a teen and asked the guy the find one for me. He informed me it was never made, and the Kenner Kid concurred. It's still unclear as to why Largent was excluded - perhaps it was his decision not to be immortalized in plastic?

There's also the curious case of the 1989 Starting Lineup basketball set - which I mentioned on this blog before. There are 77 figures listed on this backer checklist - but only four (and one unlisted Larry Nance) were actually produced?!?


It's much easier to explain why there were no Starting Lineup hockey figures from 1988 to 1992. Kenner had little faith in the Canadian market, and hockey wasn't popular in much of the US. Which is why I filled in the “lost years” with checklists of my own. [If you missed those posts, I linked them here.]

As a result, the two Canadian-based baseball teams got the minimum amount of representation in early SLU sets. Here is the only Expos player in the 1988 edition:

And here is the lone Blue Jay in the '88 set.

This trend continued through Toronto's first championship season of 1992:

Montreal was limited to one figure per set in nearly every release up to and including their World Series winning 1994 season.

So let's presume that Kenner viewed these two franchises like any other at the time, and fill in the players who should have been included - particularly in the large sets of '88 and '89. My picks for the '88 Expos are:

• Tim Burke
• Andres Galarraga
• Dennis Martinez
• Tim Raines
• Bryn Smith
• Tim Wallach

Let's add a couple more to account for the expanded set in 1989:

• *Hubie Brooks
• Andres Galarraga
• Dennis Martinez
• *Otis Nixon
• *Pascual Perez
• Tim Raines
• Bryn Smith
• Tim Wallach

I'm on the fence about Otis Nixon - he stole 46 bases for the Expos (in just 90 games) but was a below average player overall, and the outfielder-in-a-sliding-pose slot is already filled by Tim Raines.

Now for the Toronto Blue Jays. Here's the '88 mock-team set:

• Jesse Barfield
• George Bell
• Jim Clancy
• Tony Fernandez
• Tom Henke
• Jimmy Key
• Lloyd Moseby
• Rance Mulliniks

 

And 1989, when the Jays were A.L. East champions for the second time:

• George Bell
• Tony Fernandez
• *Kelly Gruber
• Tom Henke
• Jimmy Key
• *Fred McGriff
• Rance Mulliniks
• *Dave Stieb
• *Ernie Whitt

 

 *=new figure added


Stieb and Fernandez never appeared in a Starting Lineup set*, which leads me to wonder... who are some of the best baseball players not to have an action figure? A post idea for another day.

*except this one

The Starting Lineup Gallery tab is now open, starting with my figures from American League teams.

Thanks for reading!



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