Starting Lineup (toy Line) - Different Product Lines

Different Product Lines

While there was always at least one annual set featuring single-packaged figures for baseball, basketball, football and hockey, there were many other specialty products such as dual-packaged figure sets, team sets, one-on-one scene type sets and much more. In 1989 Kenner introduced the Baseball Greats dual-packaged figures featuring such past Hall of Famers as Mickey Mantle with Joe DiMaggio and Reggie Jackson with Don Drysdale. Basketball, football and hockey would later get their own dual-packaged sets in the late 1990s. 1989 also saw Kenner releasing many other specialty and sometimes one-time only products like the AFC and NFC offensive and defensive helmet sets, 9-figure baseball team sets, baseball, basketball and football one-on-one action sequences featuring two players from different teams and even a Headliner set which featured a superstar player displayed on a base with a mini front page of a newspaper cover touting the accomplishment of that particular player. 1989 was also the year Kenner released the NBA Slam Dunk series featuring players like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird dunking on a small basketball hoop complete with backboard and hardwood floor. Kenner would also offer exclusive product lines through their four-issue annual Starting Lineup Collector's Club Newsletter, in which consumers could order such unique items as a Nolan Ryan Freeze Frame product in 1995 featuring the pitcher in four different team uniforms with each figure depicting a different position in his windup and delivery of a pitch. Other specialty product lines included 12" doll-like figures in 1997 and the once popular Stadium Stars baseball set featuring oversized figurines placed over a base which was a replica of that player's respective stadium. Roger Clemens standing over Fenway Park is an example of such a figure.