Displaying bobbleheads

I've had this post in the back of my mind for a while.  From time to time I see bobbleheads with significant color distortion.  At first I figured it was a manufacturer defect (just like extra paint or other things routinely seen).  But after seeing this a few time different times, it hit me!  It's actually from the sun.  Im sure plenty of people display their bobbleheads where natural light (ie - sunlight) hits the bobblehead.  Remember to consider this when displaying and/or storing your bobbleheads.  

I currently have many of my bobbleheads in sturdy plastic totes, individually wrapped with bubble wrap or in their original boxes (if I have the box).  I have others displayed in a room in my basement.  This room has a blackout shade that is almost always pulled down over the window.  Eventually I'd like to have them displayed in my mancave but need to build some shelves first!  

Speaking of bobblehead displays...respond to this post and share pictures and/or ideas of how you display yours.  Other useful tips are always welcome too!  

2014 All-Star Game Fanfest

I've been meaning to post about Fanfest for a while.  If you don't know much about Fanfest, just click the link or there is lots of info at mlb.com!  I'm blogging about this for a couple reasons.  First there will be a huge collectors show.  My hunch is this will be bigger than Twinsfest as there will be plenty of national dealers as well as local ones selling all sorts of sports memorabilia.  Right now, I don't have tickets yet, but am really hoping to get down there, just hard because of my work schedule right now!

Secondly, there are 3 bobblehead giveaways.  I'm not sure if I'll look for these or not.  They aren't true SGAs and I don't even think they are given away from the Twins persay (guessing its more of a MLB giveaway with a Twins theme because its in Minnesota).  There are 3 mini bobbleheads, TC Bear, Tony Oliva, and of course Joe Mauer.  Cool but at this time, not a necessity of mine.

Reply to this post if you are going and what you are looking forward to.  After the ASG I'll write another blog about the ASG events and if I was able to make it to Fanfest or not.  Looking to get your Fanfest experiences too!

One last thing, here's a brochure I found on the Fanfest website.

Harmon Killebrew Bobblehead Night

Killebrew bobblehead night was this past Friday, the 20th of June.  Since Killebrew is such a fan favorite, I knew there would be lots of bobbleheads on eBay and Craigslist!  However, there are even more than I thought.  There are several on Craigslist, ranging from $45 to $100 or so.  There are roughly 40 or so listed on eBay (as of this blog post).  And of the bobbleheads that have already been sold, $40 has been the lowest they've gone for, while the most expensive one sold for just over $72.  Based on that, the Craigslisters are asking a bit too much.  $30-35 is a good cash price, otherwise, hold out and set your buying limit at $40 on eBay.  eBay usually sees the same trends from popular giveaways, the first few go for about double of whatever the average price is a few days after the giveaway.  That'll last for a couple weeks, then they won't pop up nearly as often.  At that point, all bets are off as far as price goes.  You'll see some sell for $25 while others will probably fetch something close to $75.

My advice - be patient.

Reaching a milestone...with the hopes of it being a mini-milestone

So this is my 100th blog post.  I have to say...In mid-June, I can't imagine a much better view than the one I have today while writing this blog!  Crosslake, MN - yes please!  

When I started this blog I wasn't sure if I'd keep up with it...for a couple different reasons.  I hadn't ever blogged before.  I wasn't sure if I'd have enough material to keep the blog interesting and entertaining.  And well, I can be somewhat of a procrastinator if I'm not really diggin' "it."  But on the flip side, at times I have a very addictive personality, but only for good and fun things, like collecting and blogging about bobbleheads!

Knowing those facts...I figured one of two things would happen.  I'd lose interest after the first month (if not sooner) and then maybe regain that same dwindling interest a couple months later, only to lose it completely a few months after that.  Or, luckily for you...I'd absolutely love blogging, sharing stories about bobbleheads, getting out any current information I could and sharpening my writing skills!  Lucky for me too, it was the latter.

I've had a ton of fun blogging about my passion.  And I feel my readers...probably all 7 of you at this point, enjoy my blog as well.  I thank you for taking the time to read my posts and comment on  them.  It's fun interacting with you, the reader, too!  Keep it up...actually, comment more!

I sincerely hope that my 100th blog post is only a mini-milestone.  The next milestone of mine will be either my 250th or 500th blog post.  We'll see how I'm feeling at mile marker 250.  For now, please keep coming back and reading!

Decker Bobblehead

On July 8th, the St. Cloud Rox of the Northwoods League is giving away a bobblehead of local sports hero and former Gopher, Eric Decker.  Decker now plays for the New York Jets (previously played for the Denver Broncos).  The bobblehead is sponsored by Captial One 360 and 98 Country.  I haven't been able to find a picture of the bobblehead yet, but rest assured...once I do, I'll update the blog!  Check out this link for more details!

Thanks a buddy of mine, here's a picture of the bobblehead, sorry its so small, but thats what the Rox have on their webiste.

Tis the season...

Springtime in Minnesota guarantees many things.  Mosquitoes, Twins baseball, planting season and garage sales.  Garage sales are always a good source of finding treasures, that is, if you are lucky.  Usually you just search through other people's junk!  I've blogged about garage sales in the past. Check out this post as well as this one.

I also wrote about my top 5 Garage sale finds from 2013.  Here they are again.
Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
Number 4
Number 5

Since its the garage sale season, I wanted to get a blog out.  Many sales are incredibly fair and some even beyond fair (those are the ones that just want their "crap" gone).  Other sales...are pretty much the opposite. I stopped at one a month or so ago, they had maybe 20 different bobbleheads, ranging from local stuff (Twins, Wolves, Vikings) to national stuff that didn't interest me much.  I believe the cheapest bobblehead they had was $14.  Not exactly a garage sale price.  It appeared that the owners simply went on eBay and found listings of similar bobbleheads and discounted their bobbleheads by a couple dollars...seriously...a whopping 2 dollar difference!  Obviously that one was a bust.  As I found last year....more often than not garage sales don't pan out, but it seems like when they do, they are well worth it! I'll write about the good ones later.  Until then...good luck hunting!

A rare Herbie bobblehead!

Below is a very rare Hrbek bobblehead.  Currently this is on my top 5 want list.  I've never seen it in person and since I've started collecting, I haven't seen it online or locally.  I'm hoping at some point I can add this one...but as we collectors know - sometimes things just happen and we get lucky.  And at other times, it takes years and years to find that one missing piece!  Let me know if you have any information on this one! All I know, is its commonly referred to as the "Carrier Outdoors" Hrbek bobblehead.

Update - 2014 Twins Bobbleheads

Happy Friday the 13th.  I have a quick update with pictures of the 3 bobbleheads we know about that the Twins are giving away this season.  Please read this blog for more information on the bobblehead giveaways. Since I came up with pictures (special thanks to the Twins social media team) I wanted to get this posted right away!

Here are the pictures!  Tom Brunansky, Harmon Killebrew and Lou Gehrig!

Minnesota Twins Manager Set

I've also blogged about this set in the past, please read about it here.  This a complete set of all the Twins managers to date.  It had a production run of 1000, double that of the 1965 Heroes Katrina set.  This is part of my collection but to be honest I'm not a huge fan of this set.  Maybe because several of these managers didn't leave much of a mark?  And based on the past few seasons...Gardy seems to always be in jeopardy of losing his job.  Tom Kelly (per usual) is probably the gem of this set, TK bobbleheads seem to do pretty well most of the time.

It's a neat set but glad I didn't pay much for it.  Recently I've seen these sets priced at $400ish on eBay and $300 on Craigslist.  Unfortunately for the sellers...they aren't getting those prices.

1965 Heroes Katrina Set

I've blogged about this set or details of it before.  You can read a couple different posts here and here. Below is a picture of the set, both front and back.  This is one of the best sets out there.  Couple different reasons I say that.  They are quality made and the 10 players are always popular and very highly sought after.  Only 500 of these sets were made, compared to the typical amount of game giveaways (10,000) its such a limited quantity!  I'm glad I have one of these sets in my collection!

Twig 80th Birthday

Below is a picture of a Wayne Terwilliger bobblehead.  The Fort Worth Cats did this giveaway in 2005.  I haven't seen many of these around, not sure how many were produced.  I think its a really cool bobblehead and would like to add it to my collection at some point down the road, its certainly not a top priority for me tho!

Johnny Pohl Bobblehead!

I think this was a giveaway in 2002 or 2003 when Pohl played for the Worcester IceCats - a team in the AHL.  He was a favorite of mine while playing for the Gophers in the late 90s and early 00s during the time I was in school.  I'm not sure how many of these were given out, but at some point I'd like to add one to my collection!

St. Paul Saints Giveaway

About a month ago a buddy of mine mentioned he saw the Saints had announced their promotions this year, including a Charlie Brown bobblehead.  If you've been collecting bobbleheads over the past few years and know anything about the Saints promotions, you'll know that the Charlie Brown bobblehead is fairly rare. In a top 5 list of Saints bobbleheads, I'd rank it #2 (behind only the infamous Larry Craig bobblefoot).  It appears the Saints are giving away the bobblehead again.  The promotion says "Return of the 2001 Charlie Brown Bobblehead Giveaway."

I have a few thoughts on this.  First, I really hope they don't giveaway the same exact bobblehead from 2001.  Why you ask?  Even tho its a very popular bobblehead, its the same, this will reduce the value of all 2001 bobbleheads and the rarity of that one will no longer be there.  Also, its somewhat lazy by the Saints...bring it back but make it recognizably different.  Because I had questions, I dug a little further.  What I heard back was this "The bobblehead will look almost identical to the 2001 giveaway."  Exactly what I didn't want to hear.  

I recently saw one of these on eBay sell for roughly $90, of course that was the 2001 version.  I'm sure there will be plenty of 2014 versions on eBay shortly after the giveaway date, which is August 10th.  Looks like they'll be giving away 1000 - good luck and have fun standing in line!!

Below is the 2001 version!

This one doesn't have bobble-gloves

In January 2014 I posted about a Derek Boogaard bobblehead that had bobbling-gloves.  Here is another Boogeyman bobblehead, this one also from the Aeros, but other than that...I have zero idea about this one. This is the only picture I've seen of it.  If you have more information, please share!