30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Monday, September 15, 2014

I Love the 80's #12: Kenner Cards

Kenner Starting Lineups figures are pretty cool.  But Kenner Starting Lineup cards are even cooler.  I know that there are a handful of my cardboard collecting brethren out there who enjoy their fair share of oddballs.

Okay.  So maybe they're not as cool looking as Kellogg's 3D cards.  And sure they don't have the vintage smell of Hostess panels from the 70's.  But c'mon.  These guys are like the Babe Ruth and Ted Williams of oddball sets... they're in a league of their own.

But that doesn't mean there aren't other high quality oddball sets out there for collectors to pursue.  One of my favorites is the 1988 Kenner SLU cards:


It features a simple, good looking design that includes the player's name, player's jersey number, and team logo on the front.  I'm a huge fan of the bright red border that wraps around three-fourths of the card.  I just wish they would have added the player's position somewhere on the front.


The backs feature your standard player information, career statistics, and a facsimile of the player's autograph.  And thankfully it also includes the player's fielding position.


Unfortunately these cards are highly condition sensitive.  These cards were distributed in carded bubble packages, which contained one figure and one card which were distributed in toy sections all around the country.


I've opened up my fair share of these figures and most of the time the cards weren't in mint condition.  They're prone to chipping and can sometimes come out with dinged edges and corners.


But if you're able to overlook condition, you can find most of these cards for $2 or less.  COMC has a handful of these for under a buck.  I've never seen them myself... but I've even heard of people find these in quarter bins and dime boxes.


Back in 1988, some of the smaller name players in the set were distributed regionally.  This made it sorta difficult for people on the West Coast to grab an Ellis Burks.  On the flip side... an Oakland A's fan living in New York might have a hard time finding a Carney Lansford figure.


But thanks to the internet, finding singles for this set are easier than ever.  As of right now, I currently have twelve of the one hundred twenty-four cards in the set.  I sort of feel this is going to be a lifelong project, but it should be a lot of fun to build.

So what do you think?

Sensational?  So-so?  Or shameful?

Anyone else out there collect these?  Or better yet... have some of these available for trade?

Happy Monday and sayonara!

18 comments:

Mark said...

I didn't start collecting (read: playing with) SLU's until '94, so I'm a bit partial to the early-mid 90's sets. But there always felt like there was something really cool about SLU cards.

I have actually found a few '88 SLU cards in dime boxes (never any other years, oddly). If I can find them, they're yours.

Mark Hoyle said...

I'll go with so-so. I have a bunch of unopened packs. Also a few loose cards

Anonymous said...

I don't have any from 1988, but I've got two SLU cards that came with the little figures from other years... One is a Gregg Jeffries (and the figure is part of my "toy rotation" at work) and a Cal Ripken (that I bought for Mrs. Shlabotnik). The cards are neat oddballs, but I think I'd have a hard time paying more than a quarter for most of them.

Nick said...

I'll find one of these in a dime box every now and then, but they're fairly rare around these parts. They're so-so for me.

Tony L. said...

I'll go for my Brewers and I have the Gary Carter (opened, of course), but otherwise, if I find any, I'll send them your way!

BobWalkthePlank said...

I loved Starting Lineups when I was young. My parents attic is full of hundreds of figures still in the box.

I'll keep my eyes out if I find any....They are so-so for me as well.

Corky said...

I picked up a handful of SLU when I was a teenager in the 80s and I think I actually took better care of the cards than I did the figures. In the 90s I added more to my collection but I kept the packages sealed for years until my son got old enough and then I let him have the figures but I kept the cards.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I think they cool enough, then again I love the odd ball stuff too.

shoeboxlegends said...

Huge fan of this set in particular. I've only got a Wade Boggs for my Sox collection, your lot looks great all together!

Commishbob said...

I'm not much of a SLU figurine fan (although my son Brooks keeps his namesake's SLU on his desk at work) but I always added the cards to my Orioles PCs when I came across them.

Fuji said...

88 SLU cards in dime boxes? Lucky, lucky man.

Fuji said...

If you find any in dime boxes that I don't have... I'll definitely buy them off of you for a quarter each ;-)

Fuji said...

That Carter piece is pretty cool. I'd love to add two copies to my collection: one sealed and one for my set.

Fuji said...

Thanks Matt! I'd love to trade for them if you stumble across them.

Unknown said...

I totally agree and I, too, have a Kenner Starting Lineup figurine post queued up for the next week. I wish I could line every wall with boxed Starting Lineup and McFarlane figures.

Fuji said...

If space wasn't an issue, I'd love to cover my walls with MIP SLU's and McFarlanes. However space is limited... which is why I've popped open most of my figures. You'd be amazed at how much space it saves.

Josh D. said...

The '88s are the best design. SLU made different ones in the later seasons, but the '88s are by far the best.

Fuji said...

Agree 100% Awesome design.