Joe Mauer Prototype

Wow, its been a long time since I posted a blog.  Not sure if blogging is still a thing (probably not) but this one deserved a post!  A fellow collector of mine found this one several years ago.  Upon selling some of his collection, he knew I'd like this one so we made a deal for it.  Its definitely a prototype made by BDA.  This was made for the 2014 season when Target Field hosted the All Star Game.  I believe this Mauer bobble was originally offered to the Twins as a potential giveaway that year.  They pivoted to do a Harmon Killebrew instead.  You'll see the similarities between the two bobblehead icons.  

Safe to say, this Joe Mauer bobble is one of my new all-time favorites.  

2014 TC Bear Bobbleheads

Back in 2014, the Minnesota Twins hosted MLB's All Star Game.  It was a week long party and plenty of stuff for fans to enjoy and see.  Of course there were bobbleheads.  3 mini bobbleheads were given away on 3 different mornings at Fanfest.  Joe Mauer, Tony Oliva and TC Bear.  TC was only given to kids under 13 (maybe 14) and they were pretty strict about that.  1000 bobbles of each were produced.  Mauer and Oliva were gone within 20-30 minutes of Fanfest opening.  There were plenty of TC's leftover.  And the TCs you found on eBay sold pretty quickly.  Ultimately the Twins sold the rest of them at Twinsfest a couple years later.  

What is unknown, by many collectors is the full version of TC that was sold during All Star Week.  These bobbleheads weren't numbered but I have a feeling that less than 300 were produced, most likely either 144 or 288.  I never saw one that week and I went to a few different events, including the ASG itself (thanks to one of my best friends, Matt).  

I've meant to show the difference of these 2 bobbles for a while.  As I know several people are looking for the full version and usually the mini version comes up.  So here is a picture showing both!  As you can see they are quite similar, for the most part, the same pose, but a different base and obviously different height.  The full version is definitely one of the harder to find TC Bear bobbleheads!  

Final 2014 ASG Bobblehead - Glen Perkins

Before the 2014 season, the Twins announced there would be 4 bobblehead giveaway days.  The first 3 were Harmon Killebrew, Lou Gehrig & Tom Brunansky.  Here are a couple links to previous blogs I've posted regarding this set of bobbleheads.

2014 Twins Bobbleheads Announced

Mystery ASG Bobblehead - Not so mysterious anymore

Once Perkins was named to the All Star Team, in my mind it was a foregone conclusion that on September 6th, people would be lining up hours in advance of game time to get their hands on a Perk bobblehead.  The Twins announced it was Perkins earlier this month and now we have a picture to go along with the announcement.  (Credit to my buddy Zane for the Perkins Tweet with picture!)

I've been advocating for a Perkins bobblehead since the Twins announced it was a "to be determined" bobblehead.  I'm certainly a happy camper with the news.  I've never met Glen Perkins (certainly would love the chance), but he seems like a down to earth guy (love listening to his weekly appearances on 1500 with Mackey & Judd).  He's also a former Gopher and obviously he's a stud closer!  Hopefully there are more bobbleheads in the future for Perkins.

Mystery ASG Bobblehead - Not so mysterious anymore

At Target Field on September 6th, the Twins will give away this years final ASG bobblehead.  I previously blogged about this, read it here.  In that blog, I mentioned that the most likely candidates were Joe Mauer or Glen Perkins, hoping it would be Perk.  I was half right.  I doubt many people would have guessed Kurt Suzuki would have been an option!  And just tonight MLB announced that Brian Dozier will be in the Home Run Derby.  I don't think any other Twins players will be added to the roster so at this point the "to be determined" player is either Perkins, Suzuki or Dozier.  I'm not sure if Dozier would "qualify" as he's not in the All Star Game, but the Twins could certainly choose to do his bobblehead and not many people would be offended.  But I would have to think all signs point to it being Perkins (no offense to Suzuki).  Perk is a team guy, local sports hero, great in the community and a guy the Twins want on this team for the long term. Based on my February post, obviously you know I'm biased but for good reason.  Hell that reason should only have to be, cuz I like Perkins, but he's a stud closer too. I'm hoping I can update this blog with a picture of a Perkins SGA bobblehead!

2 days ago, Twins President, Dave St. Peter confirmed the final ASG bobblehead would indeed be of Glen Perkins!  Here's the link!