Thirteen years after I last lied my way into a bar, I lied my way into a Facebook group about collectible sports figurines.
I didn’t need a fake ID for entry into “Kenner Starting Lineups.” I didn’t need to wash Xs off the backs of hands or pull off a stamp transfer.
I did need Google, though. And oh, the shame I felt.
How did I not know the year Lineups were first released? It wasn’t brain surgery. It wasn’t much more than a Captcha-style step for weeding out automated bots. But I — like scores upon heaps upon piles of sports fans born in a 40-year span — collected these things. I loved these things.
I used to, at least — and I wanted to find the people who still did. Real collectibles never die; they only fade away. And sometimes, they fade back in.
So, more than two decades out from the heyday of the four-inch, $3.99 sports action figures, I needed to make sure that they were first…
