Wild Bobblehad

I hadn't seen this one before, so when I ran across it on eBay I bought it.  Reminds me of the Twins version that Forever Collectibles put out commemorating the 2003 All Star Game.  I'm not sure what other collectors call these bobbles, but I refer to these as "logo" bobbleheads.  Again, it's not a surprise to anyone out there that I'm not a fan of Forever Collectibles bobbleheads...this probably brings my total to a whopping 6 or 7.  It'll look good next to my Twins one!

Houston Aeros Bobblehead Jackpot! - Part 3

I'm saving the best for last.  I knew of these bobbles and actually had a couple of them.  What I didn't know was there was a 7 piece set.  I thought it was 6.  The Aeros did a promotional giveaway celebrating their 15th year with an "All-Aeros" team.  Very similar to what the Wild did for their "Year X All Time Team" where a 6 bobblehead set is made up of 3 forwards, 2 defencemen and 1 goalie.  What's the 7th piece of this set then?  Obviously its a mini-rink, who-freaking-knew?  I had never seen the rink before, but this set is easily one of the coolest "mini-sets" in my collection.  The players included are all mini bobbleheads and fit snugly on the rink!

                    Goalie - Frederic Chabot

Defenceman - Erik Reitz
Defenceman - Curtis Murphy
Forward - Brian Wisemen
Forward - Mark Freer
Forward - Derek Boogaard

Houston Aeros Bobblehead Jackpot! - Part 2

Part 2 of my Aeros jackpot includes a Curtis Murphy Bobblehead.  Murphy has 2 different bobbles, this one and a mini version that you'll see soon!  He did play for the Wild...but it was a pretty short stint...exactly 1 game!

Houston Aeros Bobblehead Jackpot!

It's funny how collecting works sometimes.  For instance there have been 2 different times I remember specifically where I finally said, "uncle" and broke down and dropped a significant amount of cash to purchase a bobblehead for my collection, and within a matter of days I've found the same piece for significantly less money.  And duh, of course I bought the cheaper one too.

In the past few weeks I've found several different bobbleheads from the Houston Aeros, former minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Wild.  The next few blog posts show everything I've added to my collection that are Aeros related!

Up first, a couple goalie bobbleheads.  Johan Holmqvist and Derek Gustafson.  Neither bobble is all that valuable but since they are Aeros bobbles, I wanted them for my collection!  A couple solid New Adds for me!

Want List - Nordy (Minnesota Wild Mascot)

In the past I've updated my Want List in its entirety within a few different posts, here's the first one I did back in November.  This year I plan on updating my Want List periodically as I run across bobbleheads that I want to add to my collection.  Hopefully my readers might be able to help me out in acquiring said bobbles!

Up first is the mascot of the Wild - Nordy.  This is a retail version but it's the only Nordy bobblehead. It is a Forever Collectibles bobble, which Im not a huge fan of (surprise, surprise) but I'll say, without seeing it in person, it's a pretty good FC bobble.  It was sold at the Hockey Lodge stores in the metro several years ago.  It's not all that rare but apparently is fairly hard to find!

Let me know if you have one that you'd sell!

Ricky Rubio Bobblehead Night

In order to get the latest Timberwolves bobble, you'll have to head down to Target Center later today and pick it up.  Ricky Rubio Bobblehead Night is tonight as the Wolves host the Knicks.  This bobble is sponsored by Cherry Berry (interestingly enough, its the only 1 of the set of 5 that has a sponsor plaque on it).  This is Rubio's second Wolves giveaway bobble (the first was given to Season Ticket Holders a few years ago).  The Iowa Energy (former D-League affiliate of the Wolves) gave away a Rubio mini bobblehead last season.

2016 Twins Bobbleheads Announced

The Twins released their promotional schedule this morning.  I knew there would be 4 bobbleheads but other than the vintage one, there hadn't been any talk about who the other 3 would be.  Now we know.

Saturday June 18th - Miguel Sano Bobblehead
Saturday July 2nd - Ervin Santana Bobblehead
Saturday July 16th - Torii Hunter HOF Bobblehead
Sunday July 31st - Vintage Bobblehead

There should be 1 more SGA bobblehead this season, but it'll be a special event ticket giveaway with a Star Wars theme, just like Phil Hughes last year.  Obviously I'll blog on that when it's announced!

Coming Soon - 2016 Minnesota Twins Bobbleheads

In just a couple days, we'll know more about the bobbleheads the Twins plan on giving away this season.  So far we know of one - I wrote about it earlier this week, check it out here.  That means there are 3 more bobbleheads coming (as I've been told there are 4 giveaway dates) plus a special event Star Wars themed bobblehead giveaway.  My hunch is we'll only find out about the 3 regular giveaways and the special event bobblehead info will be released later, maybe even in-season.

The full promotional schedule is set to be released on Monday.  I'll blog that day, but it'll most likely be a short and concise blog since I'll be at work!  I'm also interested in finding out who will be producing the bobbleheads - will the Twins work with Success Promotions again (I'm a fan of their work) or possibly will they renew their relationship with AGP?  My hope is its between those 2 groups!

Santa Claus Bobblehead

Here's another recent new addition to the collection.  This one is a bit older tho, its Santa Claus from the Houston Aeros (Former Minnesota Wild Affiliate).  I think this is from 2004 and was limited to 3000.  Definitely a more rare bobble and it is pretty hard to find, but a cool one in Wild colors!

Sneak Peek - Minnesota Twins 2016 Bobblehead

So the Twins are tweeting pictures (well, you have to retweet to see the actual picture) of promotional items that are giveaways this season.  Today was the first bobblehead picture.  It's another vintage one, but this year, its "bobble-girl."  I'm guessing it'll be similar to last years version of the "bobble-boy."

My hunch is this won't draw a ton of fanfare, similar to last years version.  Most Twins fans and bobblehead collectors are looking for popular player bobbles.  Hopefully we'll see Buxton and Sano bobbleheads this season!!  But on July 31st, you'll see people lining up for this one!

John Torchetti Bobblehead

 Below is the newest SGA Bobblehead from the Iowa Wild.  It's Coach John Torchetti, and even includes a "bobble-hand!"  It was limited to 1500 but since its a minor league giveaway it's not too desirable at this point.

MYAS Bobblehead Version 2

I hadn't seen this version before, but it appears that MYAS (Minnesota Youth Athletic Services) has 2 different bobbleheads, each for the Gopher State Baseball League!  The other one can be seen here.  Picked this version up recently and happy to add it next to the other one!

Mini Joe Mays Bobblehead

Another new addition to the collection is a mini Joe Mays bobble from the Wisconsin Timber-Rattlers.  Mays was on the team in 1997 and this bobblehead is from 2004 and part of a "mini bobblehead series" the team did!  Pretty hard to find and even tho I didn't get it in its original packaging, it's still a great add!

Doug Simunic Bobblehead

Here's a new addition to the collection, finally found it for something less than a small fortune - Doug Simunic, the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks manager!  This has been on my Want List for a while, but never near the top because I knew at some point I'd find one for less than $20 as thats what they typically sell for - when they sell.  It's a nice heavy AGP bobble!

LaTroy Hawkins Bobblehead

I blogged about a recent addition of a Hawkins bobblehead a couple weeks ago, read about it here. This is the other bobble I was looking for!  Funny how things work at times, found this through a guy on eBay.  I was interested in a couple other items he had and ended up getting this and a few other things he hadn't listed yet.  Asking questions proves to work at times, other times I'm sure sellers just get cranky and pissed.

This is LaTroy in his Gary Southshore Railcats days!  Awesome and heavy bobblehead!

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!