Malt O Meal Bobblehead?

This one is completely foreign to me, but knowing Malt O Meal (now called MOM Brands Company) was based in Minnesota, when I came across it, I just picked it up.  It'll be a nice addition to my Minnesota advertising collection of bobbleheads.  Because of the enlarged base and ears, its a pretty tall bobble, and also quite heavy - which tells me it was made in the early 2000s.

Another Coleman/Franken bobblehead?

Yep, recently came across this one.  The St. Paul Saints did a giveaway of the "Re-count" bobblehead, where on one side was Al Franken and the other side was Norm Coleman.  Here they are pictured standing together.  I think these were given away at some political party out east.

Bemidji State Bobblehead

Another recent addition is 1 (of the the 3, I think) Bemidji State bobbleheads.  This is the most recent of the 3 I believe.  I think this was sold to honor the opening of the BREC.

Elk River Elks

Another high school mascot bobblehead!  This time, from the Elk River Elks hockey program. I believe this one is thru a booster club who supports the hockey team.  This is a pretty cool bobblehead, just like it's football counterpart.  They'll look good with my other small collection of high school bobbleheads.

Blaine Bengals

I'm making a point to get some of my new adds posted.  I've picked these up over the past few months.  Nothing super awesome, but still new additions so I'm excited to post them!

First one, the mascot of the Blaine Bengals.  No idea where this one came from, guessing some sort of booster club or something.  Neat little bobble!

What a journey...Goldy is mine!

Finally.  I've hit a few garage sales the past week.  Yesterday, was the best one ever.  Quality over quantity...its a great motto and for me, that's why I'm calling yesterday, the best garage sale find thus far.  This has been on my "Most Wanted List" for quite some time!  In that blog post I wrote that I didn't think it was super rare and not very expensive.  Since then I've seen 2 of these...both selling for north of $150.  I just couldn't bring myself to pay that.  If I didn't live in Minnesota, I might have pulled the proverbial trigger, but knowing that I basically live in Goldy's playground, I held out hope. That blog was 6 months ago and I had been looking for this specific Goldy for at least a year prior to that.  18 months is a long time to wait.  But wait no more.  As I strolled up to the sellers garage I immediately saw the bobbleheads displayed (about 15-20 of them).  Then, like a tractor beam my eyes focused on a yellow jersey Goldy hockey bobblehead.  Outside, it was no different than any other bobblehead.  However, inside, I was a giddy 3 year old sitting in front of cake, or better yet...my dog Murphy eyeing a piece of steak, drooling in anticipation for what's about to be his.

Finally, I can add this one to my collection.  University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Goldy Gold Country Hockey (Yellow Jersey) bobblehead.  Hell yes!

Byron Buxton Bobblehead

If you don't know who Byron Buxton is, you probably don't live in Minnesota or don't listen to anything the Twins say.  They've been hyping this kid for about 3 years.  That hype is justified, but still pretty unfair for a 21 year old kid...ahem, with booming potential.

The New Britain Rock Cats (former AA affiliate of the Twins) did a giveaway bobblehead of Mr. Buxton this past Sunday, April 19th.  I believe this is Buxton's first ever SGA bobblehead.  I can't wait to add this one to my collection!

Paul Molitor 2015 Bobblehead

Just came across this image of a possible Molitor bobblehead.  I believe its a Success Promotions bobble, but am unsure.  This could be 1 variation of it, but I'm guessing it'll look something like this! I blogged about this one as well as the other 3 the Twins are giving away back in February.  Read that blog here.

Crookston Golden Eagles

I picked this bobblehead up a month or two ago.  Been looking for it for a while and found it for a price I couldn't turn down.  It's a nice solid bobblehead by Bobble Dreams.  The University of Minnesota - Crookston, sold these bobbles of the "Regal Eagle" in 2004.  Just another mascot to add to my Minnesota collection!

Paul Bunyan & Babe the Blue Ox!

Even Minnesota Icon Paul Bunyan has a bobblehead.  Actually, several bobbleheads!  I'm lucky to have a couple of them, but still looking for others.  Babe also has a couple bobbleheads.  Akeley, Bemidji & Brainard (among other locations outside of Minnesota) claim their towns as Paul Bunyan's birthplace.  These towns have produced various bobbleheads of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Below are a couple of them!

Leinenkugel's Bobblehead Set!

I've seen these bobbleheads around but never grouped as a set.  One here and there.  At the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to pick up the individuals for one main reason.  They aren't Minnesota related. Close, but not quite.  So I passed.  Until a few weeks ago, when I found a set of them.  I figured...why not.   If you don't know much about Leinies...check out their website.  The bobbleheads feature 3 brothers - Jake, Dick & John (the great-great grandsons of original founder Jacob Leinenkugel).  They were sold in 2003 I believe.  Sets of 3 are pretty rare as I mentioned previously, I've only seen singles of these guys.  Its a cool group of bobbleheads!

Fairborne - Minnesota State Fair Mascot!!

I got lucky on this one.  I had never seen this bobblehead before, but picked it up in a lot I purchased. I dug quite a bit on this one and learned little.  Read about the State Fair and it's mascots here! Fairborne is the nephew of the original MN State Fair mascot, Fairchild. This bobblehead idea was "born" in 2006 I believe and I think it was either sold or was some type of giveaway at the fair in 2007 or 2008. There aren't many around, I know that as this is the only one I've ever seen and even when digging I couldn't find more!

Mankato Mavericks Bobblehead

I picked up this bobblehead a few months ago.  This is Stomper, the Mavericks Mascot.  I believe this was a giveaway or promotional bobblehead by the Mankato Hoops Club.  This was given out to Hoops Club members in the early 2000s.  Pretty cool bobblehead and a fairly rare one too as not many of these were made.  The Hoops Club, as you may have guessed, is all about Maverick basketball.  Check out the link above to learn more about the Hoops Club!

My first Custom!?!

The more I learn about bobbleheads, read about bobbleheads and see bobbleheads...one thing always grabs my attention - customized bobbleheads.  I'm not talking about the Best Bobblehead Ever or the Best Christmas Present Ever...I'm talking about customizing a promotional bobblehead into something different, something nobody else has done.  For instance, look at this, ahem, "well used" Joe Mauer bobblehead.

If you can't tell, click on the picture to see all the scrapes and scratches on his face.  Definitely not a bobblehead worthy of being displayed...even if it is of Baby Jesus.  I picked up this Mauer in a lot of other bobbleheads I bought.  It was super cheap, so if I didn't ever do anything with it, I wasn't out much.  But my idea was to customize it.  And so...about 6 weeks ago, I really started researching the best ways to go about this.  Most Twins fans love the powder blue jerseys so I knew that was the main color I wanted.  The rest of it...I had no idea.  After getting some awesome tips from a few other collectors, I was on my way.  

Obviously the powder blue would make it different enough from the SGA, but I wanted to make it somewhat close (if possible) to the actual jersey the team wore when they did wear throwback jerseys.  Google is my friend.  I found plenty online and I was ready to start.  I won't get into the finer details...as they might bore plenty of you (if you are interested tho, feel free to email me - sploehn@gmail.com).  Below, the pictures basically tell the story.  Enjoy!

And finally a before and after close up.  The last phase of my customization was to "gloss" the new bobble.  It's a clear coat, a protectant of sorts that I used to cover the entire bobblehead.  I'm not exactly happy with the outcome, it still looks fine, but in my opinion, its too glossy.  So for the next custom, I'll be looking for something different.  In the end, this one is so much better than the original and I had a ton of fun making it.  It took plenty of time, but it was time well spent!  

Another Twig Bobblehead

Wayne Terwilliger was a first base coach for the Twins and Manager of the Saint Paul Saints and then the Fort Worth Cats.  The Saints did a giveaway bobblehead of "Twig" several years ago and the Cats followed suit once he became manager.  I've been looking for this one for a while and finally found a good one.  I had seen others but there was always issues with them.  The head was broke, the cake was broke, had to be something...but I was patient and found this one recently.  It's a birthday bobblehead celebrating his 80th birthday, which was in 2005!

Wow...found it! AJ Pierzynski

This particular AJ Pierzynski bobblehead has been on my Want List for quite some time.  I found this one while doing some random searching about 2 years ago.  Since then, I haven't seen one.  2 weeks ago, my buddy Ross emailed me to let me know it was on eBay.  I put a bid on it and after 7 days, nobody else bid on it, so I got it.  Received it in the mail last week, with the original box and its in great shape.  The New Britain Rock Cats gave out this bobblehead several years ago.  This is a classic case that if you keep looking, eventually you'll find what you want (or get lucky - exactly how it happened for me).