kennerstartinglineup: 2017-11-12

Saturday, November 18, 2017

1988 Canadian Baseball AFA

The '88 Canadian baseball set is one of the rarest SLU set's Kenner produced. Kenner had a separate division in Canada, so not much is known about the Canadian set. The figures and cards are the same as the regular set, but the backer board is different. The 1988 set featured 11 players; Gary Carter was the only Canadian figure in the catcher pose.

1988 Gary Carter AFA 80

1988 Tim Raines AFA 85

1988 Baseball Uncut card sheet

1988 Sheet One

1988 Sheet Two

These are my two uncut 1988 baseball card sheets. It includes the complete 124 baseball cards in the 1988 set. It also includes the eight unreleased 1988 baseball cards including the rare Goose Gossage card. The all-star players were printed five to a sheet while there is only one of the regional cards like Nolan Ryan.

kennerstartinglineup: 1988 unreleased baseball cards

1988 Toyfair catalog

1988 Baseball Magazine Article

Baseball Cards Magazine - 1988

1988 Backer board Proofs

These are the original cardboard backer proofs for the 1988 baseball, basketball, and football set. This is rare set, maybe the only set known. There are a few differences from the final released packages. The bottom corners are square and the hang tab is oval instead of an 'L' shape. The wording on the baseball and basketball is the same as the released, but the football package includes Walter Payton & Bo Jackson's name which were stricken from the released card. The logo on front of the football card was also recolored slightly before release.

1988 unreleased basketball cards

This is my 1988 set of unreleased basketball cards. These are players that were either traded or retired at the end of 1987. They are listed on the back of the package but the figures were cancelled before production. Only 5 different cards are known. These were not mass produced cards, but none are exceptionally rare.

1988 unreleased baseball cards

This is my 1988 set of unreleased baseball cards. If you look close at the back of the package you'll notice a few names listed that were never in the 1988 set. These are players that were either traded or retired at the end of 1987. Since the figures were cancelled we wound up with 9 extra cards since the cards have to be made in advance of packaging. These were not mass produced cards, but most pop up from time to time. It's unknown why, but the Goose Goosage is exceptionally rarer than the rest with perhaps fewer than a dozen cards known

1989 Canadian Baseball AFA

The 1989 Canadian baseball set is a little easier to find than the 1988 set, but still very hard to find in nm.mt condition. Like the '88 set, all the figures and cards are just like the American version with one exception. The Fernando Valenzuela figure was released in a different pose for the Canadian set.

1989 Mike Schmidt AFA 80

1989 Wade Boggs AFA 85

1989 Kirk Gibson AFA 85

1989 Fernando Valenzuela AFA 80

1989 Andre Dawson AFA 85

1989 Eric Davis AFA 85

1990 Tonka Soccer Sportstars catalog

1997 Yankee Stadium Proof cards

1997 cardboard proofs featuring Yankee Stadium on the front. Usually Kenner just used one style of cardboard packaging per set, but 1997 was an odd year. Kenner issued figures with two different type of cardboard graphics. One featured the American League teams and the other featured the National league teams.

1988 unreleased football cards

This is my 1988 set of unreleased football cards. If you look close at the back of the package you'll notice a few names listed that were never in the 1988 set. These are players that were either traded or retired at the end of 1987. Since the figures were cancelled we wound up with 8 extra cards since the cards have to be made in advance of packaging. Cards were made of Ken Easley, Art Still, Walter Payton, Todd Bell, Ron Brown, Tony Collins, Wes Chandler, and George Rodgers. These were not mass produced cards, but most pop up from time to time. It's unknown why, but the Art Still is exceptionally rarer than the rest with perhaps fewer than a dozen cards known.

1992 Starting Lineup Football Proof Posters

This is a small collection of unfolded proof posters from 1992. In 1992 Kenner tried a new concept of including a 11"x14" poster with the SLU. It was a neat novelty, but the posters has to be folded up tightly to be included in the package which caused most to be creased beyond recognition.