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rehmus
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Frank Thomas White Whale Mailday & Story! Perhaps the rarest of all sports action figures...
Corinthian Headliners don't generally have the value of McFarlane figures or even Starting Lineups but I've always loved them. They were coming out right when I was starting to get in to it and their $4-or-less pricetag was ideal for my parents' budget for me on various trips to department stores and toy stores. Eventually my dad and I started taking them more serious and set out to get them all. In the late 90s there were a few areas of discussion online about Headliners and publications such as White's Guide helped fill in the blanks. In White's Guide the Headliners were valued usually rather directly to star power but the Frank Thomas piece was always listed as much more valuable. And it was the only one from the 1997 (premiere) baseball series we couldn't locate. Further research lead us to learn the case allotments which these figures were distributed to toy stores. There were 8 in total. I think the figures came out to much enthusiasm to collectors and retail stores alike but in reality the first few cases of baseball figures were kind of crummy. There were some stars (Ripken was everywhere) but most early baseball cases had a ton of Lenny Dykstra and Paul Molitor and other guys who appealed to very few kids or adults. They were smarter with other sports but this was the deal with their baseball product.
Anyways supposedly purchasing people at various stores had access to which players would be in each case. The first 4 cases or so were distributed everywhere in massive numbers. The next 3 cases made their way here and there because they had players like McGwire and Griffey. Case assortment 8 was absolutely chock full of crap players already wearing out pegs around the country. The only figure in case 8, the final case of the 1997 series, who wasn't in 1-7 was Frank Thomas. And there was only one Frank Thomas per case.
These figures simply did not see the light of day. How rare is this one? It's tough to say for sure but you literally cannot find a photo of the above figurine online. Seriously, go try. And that's just a photo... forget about finding the actual figure.
Corinthian never really understood how to create value in their figures like McFarlane does. Before this piece they were known for gross mass production of everything and after it they took it to another level by putting about 50 XL McGwire/Sosa packs in every department store in America. I think that's what makes this piece so interesting. Sure, there aren't many of us out there who want to own them all or who have ever seen or heard of this piece but for those who do, it is king.
Truth be told this is actually the 2nd one I've owned. Dad and I found a dealer with access to specific cases back in 99 or so and ponied up for a full case. I've held out hope for the past few years that the Frank Thomas piece wasn't involved in this and is actually sitting in a box in dad's attic somewhere but I think a flood in 2008 took it down the river.
Every so often I've run searches on eBay and elsewhere trying to dig one up - figuring inevitably another would surface, if only because Thomas is such a popular subject for collectors. And while I can't pretend I've been particularly thorough with this at all times, I can say I've never so much as set eyes on one beside the one I'd previously owned. Nothing for sale - not even at some ridiculous price or otherwise.
A few months ago I set a few eBay searches for Headliners. I've not been willing to dive back in to collecting them hardcore and trying to find all of the ones I never picked up as a kid, but I've mainly been surveying the landscape to see what's out there. I have been accumulating information (my personal spreadsheet is probably the best record of Headliners in existence) and mulling the possibility of starting an authoritative web site on them.
Two weeks ago or so I clicked on a lot of Headliners with 4 dark and fuzzy pictures and a description lacking even a list of names of the players in the lot (the seller would add one before the auction ended).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370662905249?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Sure enough, I saw enough to determine the White Sox player wasn't Albert Belle (the other White Sox figure that year) and staked it out, had no competition thanks to the crummy listing, and it came in today. I also sent the seller a message to see if he remembered where or how he got it (no response yet).
So yeah, that's my story.
I think there could be a warehouse full of Case Assortment 8 somewhere (Corinthian wasn't the type of company to just make a handful of something) - it's possible this one ends up not being such a big deal after all... or perhaps they halted production on case 8 due to lack of interest and/or repainted the Thomas figures for their significantly more common 'Sluggers 8 Pack' (he was wearing a grey jersey, not black as shown above) and it ends up being every bit as rare as it seems.
But for now I've got my white whale back and that's pretty awesome.
Corinthian Headliners don't generally have the value of McFarlane figures or even Starting Lineups but I've always loved them. They were coming out right when I was starting to get in to it and their $4-or-less pricetag was ideal for my parents' budget for me on various trips to department stores and toy stores. Eventually my dad and I started taking them more serious and set out to get them all. In the late 90s there were a few areas of discussion online about Headliners and publications such as White's Guide helped fill in the blanks. In White's Guide the Headliners were valued usually rather directly to star power but the Frank Thomas piece was always listed as much more valuable. And it was the only one from the 1997 (premiere) baseball series we couldn't locate. Further research lead us to learn the case allotments which these figures were distributed to toy stores. There were 8 in total. I think the figures came out to much enthusiasm to collectors and retail stores alike but in reality the first few cases of baseball figures were kind of crummy. There were some stars (Ripken was everywhere) but most early baseball cases had a ton of Lenny Dykstra and Paul Molitor and other guys who appealed to very few kids or adults. They were smarter with other sports but this was the deal with their baseball product.
Anyways supposedly purchasing people at various stores had access to which players would be in each case. The first 4 cases or so were distributed everywhere in massive numbers. The next 3 cases made their way here and there because they had players like McGwire and Griffey. Case assortment 8 was absolutely chock full of crap players already wearing out pegs around the country. The only figure in case 8, the final case of the 1997 series, who wasn't in 1-7 was Frank Thomas. And there was only one Frank Thomas per case.
These figures simply did not see the light of day. How rare is this one? It's tough to say for sure but you literally cannot find a photo of the above figurine online. Seriously, go try. And that's just a photo... forget about finding the actual figure.
Corinthian never really understood how to create value in their figures like McFarlane does. Before this piece they were known for gross mass production of everything and after it they took it to another level by putting about 50 XL McGwire/Sosa packs in every department store in America. I think that's what makes this piece so interesting. Sure, there aren't many of us out there who want to own them all or who have ever seen or heard of this piece but for those who do, it is king.
Truth be told this is actually the 2nd one I've owned. Dad and I found a dealer with access to specific cases back in 99 or so and ponied up for a full case. I've held out hope for the past few years that the Frank Thomas piece wasn't involved in this and is actually sitting in a box in dad's attic somewhere but I think a flood in 2008 took it down the river.
Every so often I've run searches on eBay and elsewhere trying to dig one up - figuring inevitably another would surface, if only because Thomas is such a popular subject for collectors. And while I can't pretend I've been particularly thorough with this at all times, I can say I've never so much as set eyes on one beside the one I'd previously owned. Nothing for sale - not even at some ridiculous price or otherwise.
A few months ago I set a few eBay searches for Headliners. I've not been willing to dive back in to collecting them hardcore and trying to find all of the ones I never picked up as a kid, but I've mainly been surveying the landscape to see what's out there. I have been accumulating information (my personal spreadsheet is probably the best record of Headliners in existence) and mulling the possibility of starting an authoritative web site on them.
Two weeks ago or so I clicked on a lot of Headliners with 4 dark and fuzzy pictures and a description lacking even a list of names of the players in the lot (the seller would add one before the auction ended).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370662905249?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Sure enough, I saw enough to determine the White Sox player wasn't Albert Belle (the other White Sox figure that year) and staked it out, had no competition thanks to the crummy listing, and it came in today. I also sent the seller a message to see if he remembered where or how he got it (no response yet).
So yeah, that's my story.
I think there could be a warehouse full of Case Assortment 8 somewhere (Corinthian wasn't the type of company to just make a handful of something) - it's possible this one ends up not being such a big deal after all... or perhaps they halted production on case 8 due to lack of interest and/or repainted the Thomas figures for their significantly more common 'Sluggers 8 Pack' (he was wearing a grey jersey, not black as shown above) and it ends up being every bit as rare as it seems.
But for now I've got my white whale back and that's pretty awesome.
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