Mini Aeros Bobbleheads

I found a couple mini Houston Aeros bobbleheads earlier this summer.  Curtis Murphy on the left and Derek Boogaard on the right.  I believe these were part of a set of giveaways.  I know there is a couple more the team did.  I'm guesssing these were giveaways in the earlier to middle part of the 2000s as Boogaard played for the team between 2003 and 2005.  If you know of others or have pictures of other Aeros bobbleheads, let me know!  They did a Cal Clutterbuck 50/50 bobblehead - I'll do a blog post on that at some point in the future and explain the 50/50 thing, but for now, here's a picture of the 2 mini bobbleheads.

Winter Carnival Bobbleheads

We aren't close to winter but I've been sitting on this post for a while.  I'll probably repost it or update it come January but for now I wanted to get it out and try to learn more about these 2 bobbleheads.

Over the past few years I've become more and more accustomed to St. Paul's Winter Carnival.  Some really good friends of mine (started out as Jess's really good friends) are really into the carnival.  When I learned (thru them) that there were carnival bobbleheads several years ago, they immediately went on my want list. At the time, I didn't know what they even looked like, just that one was of Klondike Kate and one was a Vulcan.  I was able to come across these over the past few months and am glad they are part of my collection.  I've heard stories that there might be different variations of each - perhaps given out in different years.  If you know anything - and I mean, anything about these bobbleheads...Please leave a comment!  

2014 Goals - Additions

Been meaning to write an update to my 2014 goals post from earlier this year.  Here's the original post I did back in January.

As I said in that post, I'll review my goals at the end of 2014 to see what I've accomplished.  I'd like to add a few more goals to the list.  I've been collecting for about 2 years now and about 9 months into this blog thing.  I know a ton more today than I did 6 months ago, even more than I did 12 months ago.  Part of that comes through collecting and part of that comes from conversations I've had with blog readers and other collectors.

I sincerely love interacting with my readers, I can genuinely say I look forward to it.  It's fun to hear stories and learn more about bobbleheads in general!  So please - leave more comments!

Let's get to the goal additions!

11. Previously I mentioned Minnesota celebrities...now I'd like to learn more about other random and miscellaneous Minnesota bobbleheads.  For example, Hermann the German from New Ulm, or Mrs. Farmfest from Morgan.  I didn't know about either of these until I either saw them in a picture somewhere or in a friend's collection.

12. Collect all Lynx bobbleheads.  They have given away several, so its a nice little collection so far.

13. Learn even more about the Pepsi One bobbleheads and find the 3 announcers - Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler.

14. Been pondering trying to get a couple email interviews from a variety of people.  Perhaps someone at AGP (or formerly worked there).  Maybe some of my readers - let me know if you are interested.  And maybe someone with the Twins.  It'd be fun to see a start to finish process of how a bobblehead is chosen and then created and produced.

15. Much like #10 to keep having fun, but this time its more about the blog than the collecting.  I've had a lot of fun blogging about bobbleheads and really want to continue that trend!

Pepsi One Mascot Bobbleheads

I've been trying to track down information about this set for quite some time.  The information below might not be totally accurate and its been pulled from several different sources.  So, if you can add anything to the story behind these bobbleheads, please do.

I believe in the 2003-2005 range, Pepsi One did a set of 33 college mascot bobbleheads.  It included both major and minor conference schools.  AGP produced the bobbleheads and the detail in them is amazing. That's the reason I decided to collect this set even tho it has nothing to do with Minnesota - well at least the teams don't.  Besides that, its a pretty tough collection to put together.  At the time, you had to redeem points (from purchasing Pepsi One cans/bottles).  I've heard 2 different variations.  The first is, so many points got you one bobblehead of your choice.  The second, another batch of points got you 3 bobbleheads of your choice.  Also, only 1 set of points could be redeemed by the same person.  And from the sounds of it, lots of points were needed to get the batch of bobbleheads.  Add in the fact that there are 33 pieces to this set, you'd have to come across a lot of friends who drank Pepsi One.

I teased that Minnesota wasn't really involved in the Mascots earlier - which is true.  But Minnesota is heavily involved in the story.  I've heard the same thing from numerous people, a lot of these Pepsi One Mascots ended up in the Minnesota area.  Not sure why that is, but it certainly seems to be true.

Update: The bobbleheads ended up in Minnesota because the redemption company has a warehouse in Maple Plain, Minnesota.  All bobbleheads were supposed to be destroyed once the redemption period ended.  However, we know that most likely didn't happen.

Here's the set, broken down into 4 pictures.  Who's your favorite?

Also - there is one bobblehead missing from these pictures - Kansas State.

Finally - The Trifecta!

Recently I completed the Trifecta - when it comes to Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau double bobbleheads!  I believe they share their likeness on 3 different bobbleheads.  The first is an SGA from a Fort Myers Miracle game, I believe in 2007.  This is somewhat of a "mini" bobblehead, but not a true mini.  It's certainly smaller than the typical 7 inch variety.  I believe there were 1000 of these cool bobbleheads given away!

The second one is an SGA bobblehead from the Twins in 2012, this is easily the most common of the 3 as I'm sure they were 10,000 (or more) of these given away.  

Below is the double bobblehead that completed the Mauer/Morneau bobblehead trifecta.  I don't know much about this one.  I believe its from 2008 or 2009 and since its has a red base, its a season ticket holder bobblehead.  I've heard that it was given to select season ticket holders who purchased either specific seats or has a large season ticket base.  I've heard only 100-200 of these were given out!

Rare Rubio Bobblehead

In March 2014, the Iowa Energy a NBA-D League team (and at the time an affiliate of the Timberwolves) did a Mini Ricky Rubio bobblehead giveaway.  I learned about this giveaway a month or two prior and knew I wouldn't be able to go.  I connected with a couple people who are part of TWolves Army (and seriously, if you don't know anything about them, click their name, simply awesome Wolves fans) as they were putting together a travel bus to go to the Rubio bobblehead giveaway game.  After some time, I made a deal with a member of TWolves Army and the bobblehead would be part of my collection.  It's a mini - so its fairly brittle and isn't made really really well, but a cool bobblehead nonetheless.  It was limited to the first 1000 people, which makes it a pretty hard to come by bobblehead.  

Kent Hrbek Carrier Outdoors ALS Bobblehead

I’ve been doing research on this bobblehead for quite some time.  The blogs and message boards I have read have had some information about it, but I always run into some type of roadblock.  People always talk about how cool the bobblehead is.  The lucky ones who own it post pictures, but the story behind the bobblehead has never been shared.  It’s more of a dead end than a roadblock!  And as you know, part of my passion is the story that accompanies the bobblehead.  I’ve had several great stories but this might be my best.  After exhausting all resources of research (at least the ones that I could come up with or google) I went looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. 

Much to my surprise, I found the needle.  And honestly – growing up on a farm, I’ve played in plenty of haystacks and finding a baseball much less a needle is incredibly difficult.  So I’m chalking this one up to pure luck and maybe a bit of resilience on my part. 

I got in touch with a great person at Stay Comfy MN.  Click the link to be redirected to their website.  I was able to ask several questions and learn more about the history of this unique bobblehead.  Here’s the story!

Kent Hrbek has been the spokesman for Minnesota Air &Carrier since 1985.  Minnesota Air & Carrier was the guest of honor at the 2007 ALS Gala.  (Click the following link to learn about about the Minnesota Chapter of the ALS Association or here to learn more about ALS in general)  In preparation for the event, Minnesota Air & Carrier approached Hrbek about doing a cross promotional item (between them and Hrbek’s TV Show “Kent Hrbek Outdoors”).  Hrbek loved the idea of a bobblehead and with the cross promotion theme it was designed as such and shows the relationship between Hrbek, Minnesota Air, Carrier and the TV show.  The Minnesota Twins also lent a helping hand in the bobblehead process.  Obviously they had years of experience with bobbleheads and their help was greatly appreciated by Minnesota Air and Carrier as well as Kent Hrbek Outdoors.  The bobbleheads were displayed on the tables at the ALS Gala and not surprisingly with the exceptional design and cross promotional features, tons of people made positive remarks about them!  People can still enjoy these bobbleheads today as some Carrier Dealers have them displayed in their showrooms along with other Kent Hrbek memorabilia. 

This is easily one of the most unique bobbleheads in Minnesota.  I see other teams (San Francisco Giants) do pretty cool designs for their bobblehead giveaways, but this Hrbek Outdoors bobblehead is probably my all-time favorite.  Check it out for yourself!

Charlie Brown Bobblehead Day

Today the Saints did a 2nd edition of the Charlie Brown bobblehead.  I had previously blogged about this, check it out here.  Based on some limited intel - I was worried it was going to be the same exact bobblehead.  Luckily its different and easily defined as the 2014 version or 2nd edition.  Prices on eBay are already crazy.  For those of you with patience...wait a week or two...Im sure they'll come down a bit.  I'm betting plenty of people walked out of Midway Stadium with a handful of bobbleheads.  1000 were given away and several will find their way to eBay and/or Craigslist.  Below is a picture of the one from today. You can compare that to the 1st edition on the post I linked above.

Former Gopher Greats!

Local sports heroes, Lindsay Whalen (Hutchinson, MN) and Janel McCarville (Stevens Point, WI) turned the Gopher Womens hoops team around a little over 10 years ago.  They were the main pieces in a 2004 Final Four run.  Roughly 5 years ago the team decided to sell Whalen (and a year later) McCarville bobbleheads.  I believe only 1000 of each were produced.  I've been looking for each of these for a while and finally found them this weekend.  And after a couple nights ago, they each have Gopher as well as Lynx bobbleheads!

My only question (and I'm sure Janel is curious about this too), why is Lindsay taller than Janel?  Enjoy!

Perhaps another new section?

What do I do on a random Friday night while my wife is out of town enjoying a "girls weekend?"  Great question - I've been relaxing on the couch watching the Vikings game and playing catch with my dog, Murphy.  I've also been contemplating a new section on my blog and I'm not exactly sure how it'll work. So, before I get too far ahead of myself, I was hoping to get some input from YOU!

Would you, the reader, be interested in some sort of "want list" section.  This is where you'd send me pictures of the bobbleheads you are looking for, in hopes of making a trade with a fellow collector or a cash deal?  I'm not sure if I can have more than 1 slideshow, so it might just be a link on the sidebar.  Am thinking the name of the section might be something like "The Trading Block" I'd rather not go thru the trouble of setting this section up if there isn't much interest in it.

Since this is a "want list" post, I'll include a picture of one bobblehead I'm still looking for.  Let me know if you have one you'd trade/sell.

Janel McCarville Bobblehead Night!

Tonight is/was Janel McCarville Bobblehead Night at the Target Center!  I posted a blog about this a couple weeks ago about this - read it here.  It's a good lookin' bobblehead and another solid one from the Lynx. They won the game too, their 11th win in a row.  And McCarville was her usual self with a nice all-around game.  Check out the bobblehead.

A simple email led to dozens of bobbleheads

Earlier this year (I believe sometime in January or February) an email exchange happened through eBay.  2 collectors talking bobbleheads, I don't think either of us thought it would come to what it has.  I was looking for a few bobbleheads as was he, we exchanged numbers and texted a little off and on.  Eventually we made a trade...I can't even remember what our first trade was.  And it's not because it was insignificant, mainly because we've made several trades since then and they all kind of blend together.

Now we text on a weekly basis for the most part.  He's also a collector, but not huge on bobbleheads, he knows several other collectors and dealers who might be looking for specific bobbleheads.  He has my want list and he knows I try to buy in bulk so usually have something decent to trade.

This relationship works out well for both of us.  We agree on fair trades, introduce each other to bobbleheads the other didn't know much about and generally have a great time learning more about the world of bobblehead collecting.  He's given me some great advice on collecting in general too!

If you've read many of my other posts you'll know I'm not one to drop names it's just not my style and a lot of people wish to stay anonymous.  So I'll keep it that way.

I just find it very interesting that a simple email has led to dozens of bobbleheads being exchanged between 2 guys.  I'm extremely fortunate that the email thread even started.  It's certainly increased my collection a lot!  Just a little lesson to anyone out there - you never know what could come from a one sentence email!

So this is working out!

I introduced a new section recently called "Collector's Corner."  A buddy of mine, who really isn't a collector (any longer) has a few items that he figures have some value and is looking to sell them.  I mentioned my blog as an idea and he was all for it.  Below are some pictures of stuff he's looking to sell.  Leave a comments and questions and I'll figure out answers or how to connect the 2 of you.  He believes he'll have more stuff, but probably not a ton.  So I'll update this as he gets me more pictures.  Enjoy!  

Goldy Set of 5 - $50

Replica Mini Met Stadium (Twins SGA) - $35

Kirby Puckett World Series Hero Bobblehead - $20