Bobbleheads get Hall of Fame of their own

Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" ranks among his most well-known and influential works, not just in the literary world but within the sports collectible community as well.

Why? Because in this existentialist, darkly comic 1842 short story, Gogol described the story's protagonist as having a neck "like the necks of plaster cats which wag their heads." This, according to Phil Sklar and Brad Novak, is nothing less than the first reference to what we now refer to as a bobblehead.

Sklar and Novak should know. These childhood friends have turned their mutual passion into a business venture, one devoted to the cultural impact of undulating ceramic (or plastic) craniums: The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.

The world of Minor League Baseball, which has long been known for its copious and creative bobblehead giveaways, is sure to be well represented.

Sklar and Novak, who both grew up in Rockford, Illinois, first announced the start of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in November 2014. Their plan is to open a physical location late in 2016, which will showcase thousands of bobbleheads representing everything from pop culture and politics to, of course, sports.

"Right now we're in the stage of finding an ideal site in Milwaukee, in the downtown vicinity. That will be our next major announcement," said Sklar. "It will be important to have help and cooperation from the city and state. This is an attraction that will bring people from neighboring areas, and we have interested investors that we are talking to and working with."

Such lofty goals likely would have seemed absurd to Sklar and Novak when the duo's bobblehead obsession began in 2002. Novak was then working in the front office of the Rockford RiverHawks of the independent Frontier League. He took an interest in collecting the bobbleheads that the team regularly gave away, and this led Sklar and him to pursue the interest further. The affiliated Minor League teams of the Midwest were only too happy to oblige.

"Phil and I, we're both sports fans, and we started going around the country to different sporting events, circling the bobblehead games on the calendar," said Novak.

"We'd go to Beloit [for Snappers games] and would see up to 10 games in Appleton [home of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers] a year," added Sklar. "We saw the Kane County Cougars, Peoria Chiefs, Omaha [Storm Chasers]. It's been a lot of fun."

Meanwhile, the duo amassed an ever-growing bobblehead collection. Display cases were soon joined by entire shelves, which then gave way to hundreds more bobbleheads stored in the garage. Clearly, something had to give.

"We started to brainstorm and came up with the idea to share the collection with other people. We really wanted to turn this into something fun," said Sklar.

Hence the Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. In addition to their own formidable collection, Sklar and Novak have arranged for prominent collectors from around the country to donate or lend bobbleheads to the museum's collection. Professional sports teams, including Minor League organizations such as the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and Iowa Cubs, have also gotten in the habit of sending their own bobbleheads for inclusion.

"Bobbleheads, especially in Minor League Baseball, have gotten so creative," said Sklar. "It could be immortalizing a special moment, like a home run or a championship trophy, or just something outside of the box -- like the Timber Rattlers, they're doing a Jonathan Lucroy dual bobblehead that shows him both hitting and catching.

"If it bobbles, it's for us," he continued. "[Tuesday] we got an Asheville Tourists bobblearm of Russell Wilson. Whether it's a bobblebelly, tail or fist, it's fun to see that creativity."

For Sklar and Novak, expanding their collection while establishing a physical site has become, quite literally, a full-time job.

"I quit my corporate finance job three months ago and Brad quit his six months ago," said Sklar. "We knew that the only way we could make this happen would be to devote ourselves to it full time. It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. We've sort of got that Minor League Baseball mentality -- a small staff doing a lot of different things."

That Minor League Baseball mentality resulted in a great marketing gimmick as the Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum had Jan. 7 officially designated as "National Bobblehead Day." A flurry of online publicity ensued, with teams across the country utilizing the #NationalBobbleheadDay hashtag while sharing their favorite giveaway items.

"I was pretty shocked that morning -- it caught on like wildfire," said Sklar. "Teams from coast to coast did tons of different things, including releasing their own bobblehead giveaways."

The resultant publicity increased the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's membership rolls, which now include individuals in more than 40 states. Membership, which can be had for as little as $20, includes perks such as free admission to the museum and the ability to vote in Bobblehead Hall of Fame elections. (Fifty bobbleheads will be inducted as part of the initial class, with four per year receiving the honor after that). To create additional revenue, Novak and Sklar have also begun designing bobbleheads. Their first effort in that regard, featuring collegiate basketball star turned NFL player Demetrius Harris, was commissioned by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Syracuse Chiefs, Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, are clients as well.

"This is like any business, but we just happen to be in the bobblehead business," said Sklar. "We're trying to think outside of the box and [we're] working with a lot of unique people and in a lot of unique places. We've got a lot of exciting things in the works."

Here's hoping that one of those things is a Nikolai Gogol bobblehead.