Tom Kelly Exclusive Zubaz Bobblehead

Just this morning, Shaun over at Fan HQ released a new Tom Kelly bobblehead.  Awesome detail, available signed or unsigned (link below).  Not only does the head bobble, the pitching hand bobbles as well as the pitching machine wheels move!  Like I said - detail is amazing.  

Unsigned - Purchase here!

Signed - Purchase here!  

Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame Bobblehead Set

Well, I never officially retired so I don't need to file the paperwork to unretire.  But it has been a long time, which was never my intent.  But, life happens, 2 little girls happen and before you know it they are both talking, running and getting into trouble.  Priorities change, so the blog had to be put on the back burner.  Im hopeful this post spurs a little in me to find the time to blog a bit more often (probably never to the degree that I once did) but once, sometimes twice a week.  Thats my goal.  

Now, onto the topic at hand.  Today, the Twins sold their 5th "set" of bobbleheads.  This set is based on the players and team members that make up the 34 people in the Twins Hall of Fame.  It's a very impressive set and definitely from the picture, the most detailed and best looking set of the bunch.  Ever since I heard about this since a few days ago, I've been giddy.  

Based on the hero image of the 5 bobbles displayed (Killebrew, Carew, Puckett, Kelly and Hunter) the design and creativity of each is impressive.  Im sure the others will be just as awesome.  (When I'm able to share more pictures, I certainly will).  With a price tag north of $500 (after taxes) it's certainly a set that made people contemplate how to go about collecting it.  Several people I know were only looking to get a handful of players.  Others said at this time (during this damn pandemic) it was just too expensive.  Then others, like myself who are completists, knew we needed it and had to figure out a way to pay for it.  Proceeds (just like the previous 4 sets) benefit the Twins Community Fund.  

In the collecting world, people are raving about this set, even if they aren't Twins collectors or fans, they are wishing their favorite team would do something similar.  I tend to think, we'll see more of these come out over the next couple of years.  

I certainly wonder what will happen to future electees, they'll get a giveaway bobble (as is typical of the Twins the past few years) but I certainly hope there are update sets to this one in the future!  For now, lets appreciate the Twins and their marketing/promotions team for making this happen.  They've been hitting home run after home run the past few years and it certainly appears they aren't slowing down anytime soon.  

Minnesota Twins Manager Set

I've also blogged about this set in the past, please read about it here.  This a complete set of all the Twins managers to date.  It had a production run of 1000, double that of the 1965 Heroes Katrina set.  This is part of my collection but to be honest I'm not a huge fan of this set.  Maybe because several of these managers didn't leave much of a mark?  And based on the past few seasons...Gardy seems to always be in jeopardy of losing his job.  Tom Kelly (per usual) is probably the gem of this set, TK bobbleheads seem to do pretty well most of the time.

It's a neat set but glad I didn't pay much for it.  Recently I've seen these sets priced at $400ish on eBay and $300 on Craigslist.  Unfortunately for the sellers...they aren't getting those prices.

Minnesota Twins ST Bobblehead Set (Part 3 - Year 2003)

2003 brought a pretty unremarkable set of bobbleheads...oh thats right, we already saw them in 2002. Cristian Guzman, Tom Kelly, Doug Mientkiewicz, and Jim Kaat.

Below is a comparison shot of the 2002 SGA set and the 2003 ST set.  I can't really say much more about this set!

Minnesota Twins SGA Bobblehead Set (Part 3 - Year 2002)

When this set was released, the Doug Mientkiewicz bobblehead was highly sought after.  I've heard its all because of the bubble he's blowing.  That was an oddity and because it, this bobblehead (at the time) went for over $100 alone.  Cristian Guzman, Tom Kelly and Jim Kaat round out the set.