HARTLAND'S WERE AWESOME

Back in the 50's and early 60's a company called Hartlands created toy statues that were amazing in detail. This one of Tonto and his horse (did he have a name?) is a good example. They also made several different baseball and football statues.

I don't remember them being sold at the ballparks or in the stores, though I think I had a big Hartland horse that I played with a lot. My parents must have found it somewhere, and it logged plenty of play time. Buddy Bill Shaw remembered a little guy in a station wagon that set up and sold out of the back of the wagon before Cardinal games at old Sportsman's Park. He had several: Musial, Aaron, Matthews, Mantle, and Clemente that I remember. In fact I bought a Musial from him just before he opened his baseball card shop in MTV.

Then in the 90's someone remade from the original plastic molds, I believe some more of them. I added a Dizzy Dean, Mantle, and Maris. The attention to detail was far superior to today's bobbleheads (except for a Brandon Webb stadium giveaway I picked up this year), Starting Line Ups, or the Kondritz statues of later years.

The McFarlane statues are pretty good, but I still have an affinity for the Hartlands. Trouble is, they sure cost a lot more now than the $3-5 dollars, Bill paid for them from the guy in the station wagon.