Being both a toy collector and a trading card collector with blogs for both hobbies, I wasn't sure which blog to share this figure...however since its sports oriented it landed here.
I'm not a Starting Lineup collector, however I remember these figures vividly from card shows of the past. I don't want to knock them or anyone who collects these, they just never appealed to me. The only reason I have this one is because I got it for a $1 from a card shop that obviously wanted it gone. The blister bubble is heavily yellowed (my guess is from sunlight or old age), but didn't care as if I was going to buy it I was going to open it...at least for the included baseball card.
I find it mildly fascinating that they would make a figure of Greg Maddux in mid-swing of all poses. Now that MLB has done away with pitchers hitting for themselves in the NL it makes this figure that much more unique. While some NL pitchers did make a name for themselves at the plate (from time to time), I don't recall Maddux doing much with a bat in his hands. None the less at the cheap intro price I couldn't pass it up. He now resides on display behind my baseball card bar in my mancave along with the only other Starting Lineup figure I own of Tim Salmon.
Awesome figure! I wonder how many other SLU's out there feature pitchers hitting. Like you mentioned... we won't get a chance to see pitchers hitting very often (unless your name is Ohtani) from this point going forward. As for Maddux hitting... I feel like he has at least a handful of cards featuring him with wood in his hands. And according to Baseball Reference... he did pretty well against Bob Forsch (3 for 5 w/ a double) and Orel Hershiser (4 for 9).
ReplyDeleteNice figure but it deinitely is a strange pose for them to choose. I have some Starting Lineup from back in the day. They were the only game on the block when it came to sports action figures. The line was recently revived by Hasbro with basketball players. Initial asking price was $49 each but that's come down to $29. Great post!
ReplyDeleteMaddux batting is a cool SLU!
ReplyDeleteI was generally out of the SLU game by 1999 (unless I saw it on clearance), but I would have seriously considered getting Maddux, and at $1 it's a no brainer.
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