Starting Lineup Talking Baseball

Starting Lineup came out in 1988, well past my childhood.  In fact, in 1988 I was a dad of a three-year-old and a baby.  Kids in my classroom had some, but I never was interested.

In my mind, Starting Lineup means player figures and cards....

...like this.

When I saw an auction for a 1988 Cubs team set from Starting Lineup I was a bit confused.  I didn't think they made enough of these for a whole team set.  I was intrigued, but confused.  That didn't stop me from trying to win the set, though, and as the lone bidder, I did got the set.

Then the cards arrived, and I was really confused.  The Andre Dawson card looked like....

....this.  It was time for me to do some learnin'!

Turns out my set was Starting Lineup, but not Starting Lineup.  It was Starting Lineup Talking Baseball.  The cards went with...

...this electronic game.  The game, came with two teams of all stars, but you could also purchase separately team sets to play teams against other MLB opponents.

You'll also notice the lack of team logos on the cards.  Kenner only had a players association license for the game.  I wonder why, since they already had an MLB license for the figures, that they didn't or couldn't get one for the game?

Like the first figures, the game came out in 1988 and feature the statistics from 1987.   That was the year Andre Dawson won the MVP for a last-place Cub team.  I wonder if the Cubs did any better with this game than they did in real life.  I kinda doubt it.

The team set was made up of twenty cards.  So who were the 20 last place 1987 players?  I'll have them for you on Monday, and I'm sure the rest of your weekend will be ruined as you now have this buildup of anticipation!