A bobble-foot you say?

A few days ago a really good buddy of mine posted a picture of a bobblehead he had.  The discussion that soon followed was about how cool the Hrbek/Gant bobblehead was.  I'll blog on that specific bobblehead at a later date, but this gave me an opportunity to show a very cool bobblehead that I had.  Another really good buddy of mine mentioned within the comments about the infamous Larry Craig bobble-foot the St. Paul Saints gave out a few years ago.  I knew I'd blog about the bobble-foot, and figured this was the perfect time.  

If you don't know who Larry Craig is and/or why his foot bobbles, you really need to start reading the paper or watching The Daily Show at the very least.  Here are a few articles about the bobble-foot.  

http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/19160729.html

http://www.cnbc.com/id/24844034

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/its-larry-craig-bobblefoot-day

I had been looking for this bobble-foot for quite a while.  I knew eventually I'd find it but I wasn't ever going to pay eBay prices for it.  Currently there is a seller wanting $375 for this bobble-foot.  I can see $100-$200 as it is a rare bobble-foot and it intrigues plenty of different collectors.  I had come across local Craigslist postings for the bobblehead but pretty much all of them wanted $100 or more for it. Again - not a bad price, but I didn't want to pay that much for it.  I came across a garage sale posting (again, on Craigslist) that simply had one line that said "St. Paul Saints memorabilia."  As with a lot of garage sale postings they don't allow the viewer to email them but sometimes do include a phone number.  I called and the gentleman I spoke to mentioned a different assortment of Saints bobbleheads.  That's all I needed to hear, so I made the quick 15 minute journey to the sale when I had time, I think it was the 2nd day (which I knew might screw me over).  I didn't see any bobbleheads right away, so I asked and he had them stored in the garage.  I saw the Craig bobble-foot right away.  Let's face it, most people who put on garage sales just want their crap to find a new home and if they can make a couple bucks while doing so, its a win to them.  The guy was asking $50 for the bobble-foot.  Not a bad price at all, but I like to negotiate (ask my wife).  I told him, I wasn't trying to low-ball him...wait for it, wait for it...I low-balled him.  I offered $20, figuring he'd laugh at my offer and stick to something close to $50, his response, "Make it $25 and you have a deal!" I quickly agreed to that price, packed up the bobble-foot and was on my way.  I was quite happy with that deal but wouldn't consider that one of my top 5 garage sale deals - something I'll post about in the near future.  For now, check out the pictures of this one-of-a-kind and eccentric bobble-foot!  

1965 Heroes vs. 1965 Katrina

In previous posts I've mentioned these 2 sets.  The 1965 Heroes set are SGA bobbleheads.  The Katrina bobbleheads are not. I'll try to explain all differences between these bobbleheads, that truly look very very similar to each other.  The Heroes set of bobbleheads were given away by the Twins, the difference between these and all other SGAs, there are 10 different Heroes bobbleheads.  Those 10 were all given away at the same game.  So while one person might have gotten a Jim Perry, someone else got an Earl Battey.  I've read online that 1000 of each of the 10 players were given away.

Here are pictures of the full 1965 Heroes SGA set as well as the Katrina set.  As you can see each SGA bobblehead comes with its own COA, while the Katrina set has 1 COA for the complete set. 

Here are comparison pictures of one bobblehead, Jim "Mudcat" Grant, both the SGA form and Katrina bobblehead. The SGA has "Ecumen" on the base, as they sponsored those 10 SGAs, while the Katrina set has the name of each player on the base.  The Heroes SGA set has the names on the back of the bobblehead.

The Katrina set is fairly easy to find (typically on eBay or Craigslist, but more often than not, people are asking a ridiculous amount of money for it).  The 1965 Heroes SGA set is much more rare and extremely hard to find.  Most of the individual bobbleheads from this set will sell for $75 to $125 each.  Eventually I'd love to own each of the 1965 Heroes SGA bobbleheads, but at their current rate, it'll take me a while!

Minnesota Twins Bobblehead Sets (Part 4 of 4)

The final edition of this 4 part blog post centers around the fourth team set the Twins and the Twins Community Fund released.  In 2012 the Twins announced plans to showcase each manager the team has had in bobblehead form.  Typically known as the Twins Manager set, it was limited to 1000 sets and sold for $210 a piece.  As a collector this set was the least desirable of the 4, but I recently came across it while looking for the 1991 set.  In negotiating for the 1991 set I inquired about the Managers set.  We settled on a very good price and the seller was happy it was going to a collectors home and wouldn't be resold.  Below is the COA.

I'm sure the Twins will come up with another bobblehead set in the future, when they do, I'll be sure to blog about it.  I'm not sure what other sets they could come up with right now.  Perhaps a Hall of Fame set or a Washington Senators set.

Minnesota Twins Bobblehead Sets (Part 3 of 4)

The 3rd limited edition bobblehead set the Twins and the Twins Community Fund produced, came in 2011. It commemorates the 20th anniversary of the 1991 World Series Title.  1000 sets were produced and sold for $391 each.  Much like the 1987 set, this bobblehead set had 1 problem.  Relief pitcher Terry Leach wasn't part of the original set.  Read more here.

This set contains the only bobblehead (that I know about) of one of my favorite players at the time - Scott Erickson.  This is the most memorable World Series in my mind because it produced the best game 7 ever. Jack Morris vs. John Smoltz with the Twins winning 1-0 in the 10th inning.

Below is the COA for the set as well as a picture of all the bobbleheads!

Minnesota Twins Bobblehead Sets (Part 2 of 4)

In the 2nd part of this 4 part blog post we look at the 2nd set the Twins and the Twins Community Fund released.  In 2007 the Twins announced the release of a limited edition bobblehead set commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 1987 World Series Championship team.  This set had a production run of 1000 and it sold for $387.  The set had one problem, the Greg Gagne bobblehead depicted the player holding the ball with his left hand and a glove on his right.  Gagne was right-handed, so this was a pretty big issue.  The Twins acted quickly, as they sent out letters to those who bought the set. A replacement Gagne would be mailed out within a couple of months.  Below is the picture of the COA that comes with the set as my set is still in their original boxes.  I see plenty of sets that don't have the replacement Gagne, but most collectors will want a set with both versions.