It's real - Joe Mauer & Justin Morneau Dual Bobblehead - Red Base

I've had a few people inquire about this bobblehead over the past month or so and have seen several others chat about it on various forms of social media, specifically Facebook.  I've been meaning to take some pictures of mine and blog about it, but this just ramped up my willingness to dig mine out.

I'll start by saying I don't know a ton about this bobblehead.  I've only heard stories and haven't been able to get second and third confirmations of said stories.  Since its a red base bobblehead, I'm pretty confident that these were only given to season ticket holders.  That's where my confidence ends in accurately sharing the story behind this bobble.  I've been told 2 different stories - both relating to the purchase of season tickets.  I believe these were given to season ticket holders in 2009 (to those renewing their seats for the first season at Target Field) or in 2010.

Story 1 - Twins gave this rare bobblehead set to people who had season tickets either for a long long time or purchased season tickets in some of the most expensive locations at Target Field.

Story 2 - The Twins gave the bobble to new season ticket holders who purchased their ticket plan at "The Great Minnesota Get-Together" (Minnesota State Fair).

I tend to believe the 2nd story more as I'm sure during a day 10 period, near the end of the baseball season, not many fans were thinking about purchasing season ticket plans.  No matter where this bobble came from, its definitely one of my favorite bobbleheads the Twins have done!

Twinsfest 2016

Twinsfest 2016 has come and gone.  I wasn't nearly as fortunate as I was last year or even the year prior (it's first year at Target Field).  It was still fun and I took advantage of a few decent deals.  I went into it thinking about different things I'd do, but the major focus of Twinsfest is the autograph seekers, the lines they stand in and the areas the players sit in, ready to scribble their name hundreds of times.

I have to think, even tho the Twins would love to keep Twinsfest at Target Field for several more years, the whole 3 day event would be much better served at a larger venue.  I think US Bank Stadium would be a great fit.  I've been fortunate enough to see detailed plans and maps of how the Vikings plan to draw larger events like Twinfest and it almost makes too much sense.  Everything is so clustered at Target Field, since the Twins can only truly use the space behind the dugouts and the Club level as everything else is outside.  And moving this event to a bigger space such as the Vikings stadium would help solve several issues.

Twitter & Facebook lit up with pictures and posts from the weekend and it was fun to see a lot of baseball related stuff in January!

The Rat! Gary Gaetti Sugar Land Skeeters

Finally was able to add this one to my collection.  I had been searching for it for quite some time. And luckily for me, I was able to get one for a buddy of mine too!  All thanks to Facebook!  Gaetti is the manager for the Sugar Land Skeeters in Texas.  It's in between a "mini" and a regular bobblehead, but has nice detail.  It was an SGA in 2013 and I think limited to 1000.

Parise Bobblehead - no...not Zach

Several months ago I saw a picture of a JP Parise Bobblehead.  At the time, I knew I wanted to add it to my collection.  However, I also knew it would be fairly hard to find.  I've seen one on eBay since (the seller wanted nearly $100 for it and recently sold it for about $35 I believe).  Other than that I hadn't seen one. Then fate intervened.

I hadn't told many people about my blog until a little over a month ago when I made an announcement on my facebook page.  Thru that I was connected with a friend of a friend.  He had been collecting for quite some time and after a couple weeks of negotiations we came to an agreement.  The JP Parise bobblehead was the main part of the deal.  Obviously people know the last name of Parise because of Zach.  But his dad also played hockey, specifically for the Minnesota North Stars.  In 2008 he was named Head Coach and GM of the Des Moines Buccaneers.  To honor the hockey legend, the Buccaneers did a bobblehead giveaway of JP in 2009.  What's unique about this bobblehead?  Parise is depicted in a Minnesota North Stars jersey! On top of that...this one is signed.  I'm not into signatures, but since this one had already been signed, it made it a bit more special.

Check it out!  Leave your comments please!!

Best Bobblehead ever!

A year ago today, my wife gave me a card and a gift bag.  There had been plenty of talk leading up to this moment about how much I was going to enjoy the gift.  I had absolutely zero idea what it was. She had shown a few friends (in front of me) and they all thought I'd love it - whatever IT was.  I had to wait until January 12th, 2013.  You see, 1 year ago today, I married the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I won't get all sappy here - thats already happened on Facebook, but she doesn't hate one of my passions.  Her words exactly when talking about my bobblehead collecting, "I'm supportive of it, I like that it gives Scott something "different" to be excited about.  However, I'm not personally a collector, so sometimes the sheer volume of bobbleheads can be a bit overwhelming!" I'll take it!  Win for Scott!  And 1 year ago, not only was it the biggest win of my life, it also gave me my most memorable bobblehead and obviously my favorite bobblehead.

Jess did all of this online.  She researched a few different websites and picked one that she felt most comfortable with. She estimated that it took a couple months from start to finish.  Below is the picture she sent the company with the bobblehead next to it.  They asked for close up pictures of our faces so they could really make it look like us.  We both agree that mine is pretty spot on, whiles her's isn't perfect, but its close and in my mind - its perfect.  Happy Anniversary!!