National Bobblehead Day

Years ago I collected all sorts of different things.  Score cards, ticket stubs, programs, signed photos, autographed baseballs, bobbleheads, and other nicknacks.  That goes along with all of the baseball cards.  My past residences were filled with shelves and tons of red framed pictures that covered the walls. When I first met my wife, she dubbed my place "The Sports Bar".  

Not much of a drinker though. 

I have paired my "other" collections down over the years, but my bobbleheads still remain in force.  I don't want to show exactly how they are displayed, because I want to do a post at some point this year about my baseball card space.  There are a lot of them, but the majority can really be broken down into two categories.  There are Cardinals Bobbleheads and Durham Bulls bobbleheads.  

For National Bobblehead Day, I thought it would be fun to do a quick list of my 5 favorite Durham Bulls and Cardinals bobbleheads.  I never blog about them, but I actually got my start on this blog from talking to a bobblehead blogger.  Their blog is down, otherwise I would link it.  

Bulls first.  I got the majority of these bobbleheads in person at games.  In no particular order.  

2018 Crash Davis & Nuke LaLoosh Bus Bobblehead 

The Bulls usually give out items like this to their season ticket holders, which includes full season and partial season ticket holders.  I have a mini-plan, so I picked this up two years ago.  Definitely one of the more unique bobbleheads in my collection.  Both the bus and the heads bobble.  

If you have not seen Bull Durham, you should this weekend, but in the meantime here is a short clip that takes place on the bus.  There are several throughout the movie.  

I hate people that get the words wrong.  

2002 Durham Bulls 100th Anniversary Joe Morgan 

The Bulls gave out a whole bunch of bobbleheads in 2002 for their 100th Anniversary.  The majority of the players were newer active player such as David Justice, Chipper Jones, and Andruw Jones.  They also included Joe Morgan.  I like reading about the older Bulls players, really like that they included one in this bobblehead set.  The older Bulls bobbles all have this shape.  

 2014 Wil Myers Season Ticket Holder Bobblehead 

This bobblehead has actually been on my blog in a few posts before.  Way back when I got this bobblehead, I actually tried live blogging a night out at a Durham Bulls game.  Something different, and I have never tried it again. 

The biggest obstacle was the fact that the game was 12-1 in the second inning.  It's hard to be enthusiastic about making blog posts when the outcome of the game is over 30 minutes after it starts.

This is the giveaway schedule and ticket from the Bulls.  They have a little tear off tab on the bottom of the ticket for the items.  

 The Championship ring was a pretty sweet giveaway too.  The Bulls have sort of made that an annual giveaway since they are almost always in the playoffs.  Very nice item. 


2014 Chipper Jones Jersey Number Retirement Bobblehead 

The Bulls retired Chipper's number 10 in 2014.  They gave out this sweet looking bobblehead as part of the celebration.   In my opinion, this is the best modern bobblehead.  So many great things about this giveaway.  I especially like the detail on the uniform, which is spot on for the Bulls in the early 1990s.           

2010 Jeremy Hellickson 2009 Triple National Championship Bobblehead 

This is the hardest bobblehead that I have had to track down.  The summer of 2010 was busy around my house.  My focus was not really on baseball, so I missed nearly half of my Bulls games that summer.  I got the bobblehead at a bargain price, but there was a condition issue.  

This is how the bobblehead looks now.  

This is how the bobble looked when I first picked up a few years ago.  

Took a little bit of work.  

On to the Cardinals bobbleheads.  I only got one of these bobbleheads at a game.  The rest of them all came from other people.  Again, no particular order after the first bobblehead, which is my favorite at the moment.  

2018 Bud Bash Ray Lankford Bobblehead 

The Cardinals have different ways they give out Bobbleheads.  There are general attendance bobbleheads that are giveaways that the Cardinals do every year, but there are also different areas of the stadium that have giveaways too.  The Bud Bash bobbles have featured the 1985 National League Championship team, also players who have made the team Hall of Fame.  

Lankford did not have a Bobble for a long time.  He is a really good player in terms of numbers, and his all-time ranking with against other great Cardinals.  Lankford also played on some terrible teams during the 1990s.  Bobbles are not my main focus, and I will not spend too much on any of these.  I had actually given up on getting one of these, but a parent of a student bought me one last year.  I was shocked.  I am still shocked.  

2011 Cardinals Giveaway Willie McGee 

The Cardinals have done several Willie McGee bobbleheads over the years.  This is the best of them.  Mainly because he is wearing a powder blue 1980s Cardinals uniform.  You can't lose with the powder blues.  

2009 Ozzie Smith Busch Stadium Giveaway 

Pretty easy one to figure out.  Again the powder blue, and the only diving bobble in my collection.  The Dennis Eckersley shadow in the background is unfortunate.  Apologies.  

2001 Busch Stadium Giveaway Jim Edmonds

This was one of the first bobbles the Cardinals ever gave away, and the first in my collection.  I think this was pretty limited in some fashion, like only 10,000 people or something.  That's small for a giveaway at a Major League stadium.  Anyway, I like this for the simple reason that it was the first one on the shelf.  Maybe a bookcase at the time.  

Last one.  

2014 Busch Stadium Giveaway Jose Oquendo Secret Weapon Bobble

This actually got a blog post when I got this one.  Just an incredible bobble.