It’s December and you’ve either just watched or are currently watching Home Alone. Or, like me, you’re in a perpetual state of both those statements being true.
Somewhere around the time I lost count of the rewatches, I realized that sports collectibles play a vital role in the movie. They help Kevin McCallister hone his BB gun skills, they help him trick the Wet Bandits into abandoning their first attempt to rob his house, and they hold the money he uses to go grocery shopping while fending for himself.
But what exactly are these all-important items and how much do they cost today if you want to stock up just in case you need to defend your home in a similar fashion? Let’s take a look.
1987 Michael Jordan “Measure Up” poster / cardboard standee
Like many films written by John Hughes, Home Alone takes place in the Chicago suburbs, so the local teams are well represented in the McCallister household. Mostly thanks to Buzz.
Although Home Alone was released in 1990, before Michael Jordan won his first of six NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls, he had already established his greatness by that point. He was named Rookie of the Year for the 1984-85 season, MVP and Defensive Player of the Year for 1987-88, and had his first four scoring titles in hand. If Gus Polinski was the Polka King of the Midwest, Jordan was definitely the Basketball King of the Midwest (and every other region of the world) by then.
So when Kevin needed to make it look like there was a hoppin’ Christmas party happening at his house when the Wet Bandits pulled up, he strapped a cardboard Jordan “Measure Up” standee growth chart to a toy train to make it look like it was moving around the house. Now, this growth chart came in two forms: cardboard standee and traditional poster. The McCallisters had both, as the poster version was visible in Buzz’s room early in the film.
The poster has sold for anywhere from $58-$275 on eBay recently, while the cardboard standee commands a premium, selling for $300-$560. Of course, Kevin mangled the one in his house, cutting off the basketball, measurement graphic and right arm at the elbow (which he then reattached), thus reducing its resale value.
Isiah Thomas poster
The McCallisters are clearly Bulls fans, so why did Buzz also have a poster of Isiah Thomas, star point guard for the Detroit Pistons team that had been blocking the Bulls from reaching the NBA Finals to that point, in his room? Thomas was one of the greatest basketball players to come out of Chicago. Even though Thomas played for a rival, Buzz must have had respect for a hometown kid.
One of these posters recently sold for $90.
1989 Fleer Glossy Baseball tin and Fred McGriff card
For a few years in the late 1980s, Fleer produced a Glossy version of their standard baseball card releases, sold in a special tin and as a complete set (instead of the standard randomized packs). One of those tins fell from Buzz’s shelves after Kevin proved they could support the weight of an eight-year-old boy. Inside it was a stash of cash and just a few of the cards that originally came in the tin, the most prominent being a Fred McGriff.
Although this set is best known for including rookie cards of Ken Griffey Jr, Craig Biggio and Randy Johnson, the McGriff card is the one that’s been immortalized on the big screen. It can still be purchased for just a couple of dollars, though. A Hall of Famer in his own right, McGriff played the first four full seasons of his 19-year career with the Toronto Blue Jays before going on to represent the San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Given all the notable rookie cards in the set and the relatively limited number of Glossy tins produced (estimated around 30,000, according to leading card grader PSA), they sell for around $200-$400 today if still factory sealed.
Assorted Starting Lineup figures
Although a wide array of Starting Lineup action figures can be seen on Buzz’s shelves, Kevin selects four for his BB gun target practice session on the trash-chute ledge. And it was an interesting group of athletes he picked.
The team names and jersey numbers on the figures were painted over for the film (presumably to avoid any potential legal issues), Sports Card Info was able to identify each of the four in a 2023 post. According to their research, the four figures were Babe Ruth (from a two-pack with Lou Gehrig released in 1989), New York Giants tight end Mark Bavaro (also a 1989 release), Chicago Bears running back Neal Anderson (1988), and Larry Bird (1988).
Starting Lineup figures were all the rage in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but nostalgia for them hasn’t been strong enough to push their values to significant levels today. All four figures can be purchased for less than $30 each in their original packaging.
At the very least, you can now stump everyone you know when playing Home Alone trivia by challenging them to identify all four of those Starting Lineup figures.
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