Revisiting Starting Lineup Action Figures

A lot of people say that the 1980's weren't all that exciting. And maybe that's true. Unless, of course, you were the proud owner of a Starting Lineup action figure, which debuted in 1987 and lasted until around 2001.

They were made for every sport, but some of the coolest were the football figures. Nowadays, depending on the player, these babies are valuable. So if you happened to leave one in the box when you were a kid, you may be able to make some coin. For example, the picture above is of none other than immortal Seahawks QB Kelly Stouffer. It seems the former Seattle QB is rare, thus expensive. This is how the seller describes him:

Stouffer was only found in tough regional cases of 1989 Seahawks and this is his only Kenner figure issue. The Book Price on the 1989 Kelly Stouffer is $70.00 !!

A lot of these figurines were of stars like Barry Sanders, Troy Aikman, etc. But looking back, it seems that there were some other interesting choices concerning who got made into an action figure.

For example, the 1991 version of Bengals WR Eddie Brown, who never even had 60 catches. There is even one of QB Elvis Grbac, from his days in Kansas City. Only you can't buy it at this store … because it's sold out! Elvis Grbac action figures are sold out!

Some other unique players who got made into a Starting Lineup action figure:

A 1993 Barry Foster, who was a Steelers RB. He had one really good year out of his five in the league. He was done by age 26.

How about Broncos RB Bobby Humphrey? He started out like gangbusters after being taken in the first round as the 3rd overall pick in the 1989 supplemental draft. He was gone from the NFL after being arrested for cocaine and later being shot, though he lived.

In no particular order, here are some more favorites: 1990 Don Majkowski, 1996 Frank Reich, 1993 Chris Doleman, 1993 Pete Stoyanovich (and they even have him with the one bar face mask), 1996 Steve Bono, 1989 Neil Lomax, 1995 Chris Zorich, 1996 Rashaan Salaam, 1993 David Klingler, 1989 Danny Noonan (which you can have … for $300), 1989 Steve Pelluer (Dallas' starting QB then, and the reason they drafted Troy Aikman) and quite possibly my most favorite – a dual pack featuring New York Jets QB Ken O'Brien about to get sacked by Lawrence Taylor. Poor Ken.

(Photo: E-Bay)