Aba figurines- need help

[Lou Criscione]

I know that this is mainly a baseball forum, but I'm desperate for some information and you guys seem to know a little about everything. This involves some miniature ABA (American Basketball Association) figurines that I recently found. They stand a maximum of 3 inches tall and are hand painted. The team names (or All-Star leagues) are painted in the front and player names in the back. All the names seem to corrolate to early ABA players (i.e. Rick Barry, Glen Combs, Spencer Haywood etc). They are plastic and stand on a base. Under the base it reads "Made in China". Are these part of a game? Please any input would be helpful

[laughlinfan]

Hi Lou!

I think I have seen similar figures from the NFL (and maybe baseball) on eBay from time to time. Not sure how they were issued, but they all seem to be from the early 70's. As a kid in the 70s who collected everything I could find sports wise, especially figural items, I know I never saw them. I doubt they were officially licensed but that is just my suspicion. I think Mike Mosier (Columbia City Collectibles) lists the football figures as cake toppers and has many for sale there. He may be able to provide more information on these issues. Let us know what you find out.