New Addition - Surge (Iowa Energy)

The Minnesota Timberwolves recently acquired the Iowa Energy as their D-League affiliate.  There had been plenty of talk and rumors about the Wolves wanting a D-League affiliate, the question was, where that team would play.  Plenty of talk about starting a team in Rochester, Duluth or Sioux Falls, ultimately the Wolves bought the Iowa Energy.  This isn't the first Minnesota related bobblehead I have from the Energy - as they did a Ricky Rubio bobblehead a couple seasons ago.  This new addition is of their mascot, Surge.  Pretty cool and rare bobble and am happy to add it to the collection!

Fall & Winter Slow down

As summer fades into fall, it typically signals a slow down in the bobblehead world.  We all know baseball teams (all of them it seems, no matter the league) are the best at giving away bobbleheads. Last year, the Wolves did a set of 5 bobbleheads and a few years ago the Wild did a set of 5 bobbleheads.  Other than that, the fall and winter have been extremely quiet in Minnesota when it comes to new bobbleheads.  Unfortunately that will likely stay the same this time around.  The Wild have announced their promotional schedule and no bobbleheads are included in it.  I've heard from the Timberwolves that its unlikely they do another set of bobbleheads this season.  They'd have the foundation for a nice set, starting off with top pick Kris Dunn.  Then you could do tribute bobbles for Flip Saunders and Kevin Garnett and why not a dual Rookie of the Year bobble for Wiggins and Towns?  People would go nuts over it!

However, at this point, thats only dreaming and its not looking very good.  So...I deal with it.  Perhaps it'll give me some time (ya know, cuz I have all sorts of that with an 11 week old at home) to organize my collection.

Gorgui Dieng Bobblehead Night

The Wolves are giving away the final bobblehead in their set of 5 tomorrow night at Target Center. Gorgui Dieng will now have his very own bobblehead.  It's funny to think about when the Wolves announced the 5 players, Dieng was somewhat of a surprise.  As it turns out, the 5 bobbleheads happen to be the 5 starters!  Here's a sneak peek at the Dieng bobblehead, I'll update with better pictures once I have them!

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.

Zach LaVine Bobblehead Night!

Saturday the 23rd of January is the next bobblehead night at Target Center.  The Wolves will be giving out 5000 Zach LaVine bobbleheads.  This is the 3rd in a 5 part set the Wolves are doing this season.  

It's will be a nice solid set once its completed, but no Kevin Garnett is a little frustrating, however I understand why they picked the 5 they did.  

National Bobblehead Day!!

It's January 7th and that means its National Bobblehead Day.  You'll see tons of pictures all across social media today!  It's awesome to see all the cool and crazy looking bobbleheads that will be shared today!  Share some of your own!

Here's a picture for you...Sneak Peek of all the Wolves bobbles.  Previous to this I had only seen "face" pictures of the 3 Wolves bobbles that have yet to be released.  Here's the full versions!

Happy New Year!

So, I've blogged for just over 2 years and it's been a really fun experience.  I've met and "met" some very cool people thru my blog too!  I have a ton of fun interacting with fellow collectors and I hope in 2016, that continues!  

There are several giveaways coming up (3 Wolves in the next few months) and then we'll learn more about the Twins giveaways for this upcoming season.  Right now, I'm hearing 4 giveaway bobbles and 1 special event (Star Wars themed) bobblehead.  As always, the more I find out, the more I'll blog about!  

I've also added several new bobbleheads to my collection over the past couple of months.  But with the holidays it was just too busy to blog.  Also, I have another "New Addition" of my own - some of you know, but Jess and I announced that we'll be parents come July.  So, I have a hunch that might cut into my blogging capabilities too.  

Bobbleheads and Certificates of Authenticity

I get asked all the time if a bobblehead is worth more with its Certificate of Authenticity (COA). Easy answer is yes, the COA definitely adds value.  Some people will only buy bobbleheads with a COA, while others could care less.  And most bobbleheads now do not come with a COA.  However, in the early years of Twins and Timberwolves bobbleheads, all game giveaway bobbles came with a COA. Unfortunately many of the people who received the giveaways tossed the COA.  Because of that, there are a lot less COA's than there are bobbleheads, that's pretty much a fact.

If you are a collector who needs COAs to complete your collection, my buddy Bill can hook you up. Check out his site at Minnesota Fan Store.  If he doesn't have a COA you need, email and ask for it, he'll probably be able to find one for you!

Karl-Anthony Towns Bobblehead

Remember, the Wolves are giving away the 2nd bobblehead of the season (in a series of 5) tonight at Target Center.  It'll be first overall draft pick, Karl-Anthony Towns.  See the bobblehead below.  This is the first year in quite some time that the Wolves have done bobblehead giveaways and they are off to a very popular start.  The Wiggins bobblehead (first in the series) was gone by about 6:10 on game night (doors opened at 5:30 I believe).  I expect the Towns bobble to be just as popular.  Get down to Target Center early tonight!

Sneak Peek - LaVine, Rubio and Dieng Bobbleheads - Minnesota Timberwolves

Here are mini versions of the upcoming bobblehead giveaways by the Timberwolves.  Zach LaVine, Ricky Rubio and Gorgui Dieng!  Once I have better (or full size) pictures, I'll share!  Glad the Wolves are in the bobblehead game again!

Sneak Peek - Karl Anthony Towns Bobblehead - Minnesota Timberwolves

Here's the first look at the new Karl Anthony Towns bobblehead the Wolves are giving away on December 26th.  This is the 2nd in a series of 5 from the Wolves this season.  Looks to be a pretty cool bobblehead of KAT!

Timberwolves Bobbleheads

Yep, thats right, the Wolves are bringing back SGA bobbleheads this season.  I teased this with a post in early September.  At the time, I couldn't say anything until it was public knowledge.  It's been in the local paper so now I can officially announce the Wolves will giveaway 5 bobbleheads this year, starting with Andrew Wiggins on November 12th.  I haven't secured the names of the other 4, but I can only assume 2 of them will be Kevin Garnett and Karl Anthony Towns.  The other 2 are pretty debatable at this point.  Once I know more, I'll pass it along.  And of course once I have pictures, I'll post them!  Hopefully giving everyone sneak peeks of all 5!

I'm super excited for this set of bobbleheads.  The Wolves haven't done bobbles for a long time (and even the last handful of years when they have, its been for season ticket holders).  I'm glad they got back on the bobblehead bandwagon!

Update

The 5 bobblehead dates/players have been announced.  Here they are!

November 12th - Andrew Wiggins
December 26th - Karl Anthony Towns
January 23rd - Zach LaVine
February 20th - Ricky Rubio
April 13th - Gorgui Dieng

Malik Sealy Bobblehead

One of my recent additions is a Malik Sealy bobblehead.  This was a giveaway, kind of (more on that later) from St. Johns University where he played collegiate basketball.  If you weren't aware, Sealy played for the Wolves before he tragically died in a car accident in 2000.  Read more about Sealy at his Wikipedia page.

So about the giveaway.  It was scheduled to be a game giveaway on February 21st.  However they weren't shipped  in time for the game.  This brought one huge issue - how were they supposed to still give them to the fans that were in attendance on the night of the 21st?  St Johns decided to have fans stop by the ticket office and use their game ticket to redeem a bobblehead.  I was able to connect with a guy that had tons of Sealy bobblehead night tickets.  He figured he'd ask people for their tickets as they were leaving the game - knowing full well that plenty of fans didn't care for the bobblehead in the first place!

Zach LaVine Bobblehead

A few days ago, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame & Museum announced it was taking pre-orders for a Zach LaVine bobblehead, celebrating his slam dunk championship at NBA All-Star Weekend.  I know one of the Co-Founders of the Hall, Phil Sklar.  Once I saw the announcement, I immediately emailed him to ask him some questions.  Obviously LaVine has given Timberwolves fans plenty to talk about since his Slam Dunk Championship and apparently the Hall heard much of this talk.  Phil told me they had several inquires for a LaVine bobblehead and decided why not give fans what they want.  Click here to order a LaVine bobblehead!  It's a limited production run of only 144, so get them while you can.  I believe they'll be shipping at some point in July.  Stay tuned for more cool bobbleheads the Hall will be producing.

Now, a little more about the Hall itself...Phil and a buddy of his started this venture about 2 years ago.  They had a vision of creating a bobblehead paradise.  They've made great strides but there is still work to be done.  Eventually the Hall will be located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  It'll house the world's largest collection of bobbleheads and will host several special events and exhibits during the year.  Check out the first link of the blog to learn more about the Hall.

Below are a couple images of the LaVine bobblehead that Phil shared with me.

Review of my 2014 Goals

Did I achieve much in 2014?  Let's find out.  Back in January 2014 I wrote a blog called "2014 Goals" and in August I made a "2014 Goals - Additions" post.  Click the links to review them!

I had 15 goals in total.  Let's see just how great 2014 was!

1. Get a couple more Twins red base bobbleheads.  These are given to season ticket holders and currently I have roughly half of them.  There are some rare and hard to find ones, but I'll do my best to hunt them down.  (I found several more and believe I have the complete set now)

2. Find 1 ecumen bobblehead (for a price I'm willing to pay).  There are 10 total.  I figure if I find 1 a year, it'll only take me 10 years to fulfill the set!  I know I can buy most any of them on ebay for $100 per...but I'm not interested in shelling out that much cash!   (Crazily - I found all of them and all for really good prices!)

3. Find the 1991 World Series set.  Again, I can pay good money to get this off Craigslist or eBay, but will wait it out until I find someone willing to take what I feel is a fair offer.  (Found this set on Craigslist, more to come)

4. Much like the previous "Goal" I'd like to find the Twins Managers set.  (Bought this one with the 1991 set from the same guy!)

5. Come across a couple local celebrity bobbleheads.  The ones I have now, I only knew of about 1/2 of them.  So I'm not even sure who'd they be!   (I've learned so much about these bobbleheads and can't wait to continue to add to this eclectic collection!)

6. I'd like to get the Paul Krause and Bill Brown Viking bobbleheads.  I know I'll have to pay for these, and I'm fine with that.  I just need to pull the trigger.  (I finally pulled the trigger!)

7. I'd also like to find a Goldy bobblehead that I currently don't have.  Right now I believe there are 4 out there that I'd like to own one day.  It'd be nice to come across one of them in 2014.  (I found a couple more, there are still 2 I'd like tho)

8. I'd like to come across and Timberwolves bobblehead that I don't have, either a mini Crunch or Johnny Flynn.  I also found out I need an Al Jefferson.   ( I found all of these and believe I have all Wolves giveaways now)

9. I'd like to complete the 2013-14 Wild bobblehead giveaway collection.  There are 5 in total, I already have one (I'll blog about that sometime soon).   (I got the entire set, 3 from one guy and 2 from another)

10. Last, but certainly not least...I want to have fun hunting.  My wife asked me the other day if I ever think about the mileage and time I spend on bobbleheads - I do, I certainly consider that when making an offer for a bobblehead or selling one.  To me, the excitement is finding the bobblehead.  Getting lucky when emailing someone on Craigslist or finding something unique or cool at a garage sale.  And of course meeting people along the way.  (Of course I had fun...I always have fun!)

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.  (As I mentioned earlier...I continue to learn about these all the time!)

12. Collect all Lynx bobbleheads.  They have given away several, so its a nice little collection so far.  (I'm well on my way but am uncertain if I have them all or not!)

13. Learn even more about the Pepsi One bobbleheads and find the 3 announcers - Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler.   (I've learned a bit more about these, but still looking for more)

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.  (I actually have talked to AGP and plan on doing a blog post about that sometime soon!)

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!  (Duh...doesn't the previous 14 goals pretty much answer this one?)  

Busy week...or month even!

I haven't had the chance to blog much lately.  There are valid reasons for that, some directly related to bobbleheads.  I've been going through old storage totes, most I thought were empty.  Much to my surprise that was not the case.  This was only after I bought a few smaller lots of bobbleheads from a few friends of mine.

Other than having fun looking through hundreds of bobbleheads (and no, I'm not exaggerating that number at all) I've spent quite a bit of time trying to come up with some sort of system to sell the bobbleheads that I now have doubles of!  I still don't have a great way to do it, but what I have for now, will work...for now.  If you are looking for specific bobbleheads, let me know!  I might have found a couple you could be interested int!

Below are a few pictures of some of the new ones I've uncovered!

The first bobblehead is Torii Hunter from the Fort Myers Miracle.  This was a giveaway, several years ago.  I've heard somewhere in the range of 500-1000 were produced.  The second is Jonny Flynn from the Timberwolves.  I believe this was an STH bobblehead.  Lastly is a mascot bobblehead from the Minnesota Youth Athletics Services for the Gopher State Baseball League.  I'm not sure when this was produced, but since it's a Minnesota themed bobblehead, I'm happy to have it in my collection!  

Bobbleheads for Sale

A buddy of mine had an intriguing idea for my blog.  We, as bobblehead collectors, know there are several people looking to sell their bobbleheads.  Maybe they aren't collectors and only have a few, maybe they have duplicates they'd like to move or perhaps they are reducing their collection in general.  This page is specifically for to buy/sell bobbleheads from other blog readers.

I'll update the blog with pictures and pricing information.  If you see something you are interested in, leave a comment and the sale process begins!

Here are the first sets of pictures.  Remember, if you like something, leave a comment in the comments section and we'll go from there.  One more thing about all the pictures below, the seller is looking to sell these as sets only, he is not interested in breaking up any of the following groups.

Van & Cheryl (KS95) set - $35

Tom Lehman - $75

Rochester Red Wings (Twins AAA) set - $40

New Britain Rock Cats (Twins AA) set - SOLD

Sid Hartman set - $100

Jesse Ventura set - $200

Timberwolves Pepsi set - $50

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!

Want List (Part 4)

Below are 2 different sets of pictures.  The first is a group of St. Paul Saints bobbleheads I'm looking for.  There are two different Wayne Terwilliger bobbleheads that I'd like.  The other two pictures are of Hardware Hank and The Real Cougar.  I've seen all of these on eBay, but their prices are a bit too high for me!

The second group of pictures are Timberwolves bobbleheads I'm missing.  The first is Al Jefferson, I believe this was given to season ticket holders several years ago.  A while back I sold a Jefferson bobblehead to a friend.  I thought this was a duplicate of one I had in storage.  Apparently, I was very very wrong.  So I'm back to the drawing board in searching for the Jefferson bobblehead.  The next is Bill Beise otherwise known as the Superfan.  Then Johnny Flynn (again I believe it was a season ticket holder giveaway) and finally mini crunch.  

I'm sure I'll find one of these 8 at some point in 2014...hopefully more than 1!!