Collector's Corner: The Year In Bobbles

2010 was a rather uninspired year for bobbleheads in the Timber Rattlers universe.  We put out five bobbleheads of players (including the 2009 holiday packs), but there were only four other Timber Rattlers alumni immortalized in bobble form this season:

Everett Aqua Sox - Ryan Rowland-Smith

Baltimore Orioles - Adam Jones (mini)

Cleveland Indians - Shin Soo Choo

Seattle Mariners - Felix Hernandez

What makes this even more of a yawn-fest is that the Orioles did a full size Jones in 2009, the Indians did a much cooler version of Choo last season, and this was the fourth straight year that the Mariners did a King Felix.  I've always wanted to do a Timber Rattlers bobblehead of Felix, but with the four Mariners and at least Tacoma and Inland Empire minor league ones, maybe the market is saturated.  Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if the Mariners do a Cy Young bobble in 2011.

 

This is the 2007 Felix, not to be confused with the 2010 Felix, or the 2009 Felix, or the 2008 Felix.  When this Felix is put together with the other 2007 editions (Kenji Johjima, Raul Ibanez, and Ichiro), the back forms the fin on the Safeco Field roof.

The 2009 Adam Jones Orioles piece is probably at the top of my wish list.  It features the former Timber Rattlers shortstop jumping up to rob a home run while blowing a bubble gum bubble.  I've bid on a few on eBay, but it always goes for a little bit more than I want to pay.  It is not really that expensive or rare, I just have a price in mind that I don't want to go over.  So if anybody is looking for Christmas gift ideas for me, hint...hint.

I do have the Indians Shin Soo Choo bobblehead from 2009, which is one of my favorites.  Cleveland has been very creative with their bobbleheads the last couple years.  They have done Grady Sizemore flying with a Superman cape, Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn as a tribute to the movie Major League (also one of my favorites, I went to this game), a 1970's tribute C.C. Sabathia.  Sabathia has a 'fro and appears to be disco dancing.  So to salute the 1980's, they chose Shin Soo Choo.

 

Apparently Miami Vice is huge in Korea.

The company that did our "Rehab" series of bobbleheads for the 2009 holiday packs discontinued the small minimum program that allowed us to produce just 96 of each subject.  Typically, the smallest run you can do of a bobblehead is around 500.  Obviously, the less you order, the more expensive the bobblehead.  The rehab series cost roughly five times what a normal giveaway bobblehead would cost.  We also had to pay royalties on those, which we don't pay on giveaways.  The Dave Bush bobble was delayed last year because of some production issues.  I looked for the pictures of the original version, but I couldn't find it.  First off, the bobble was labeled as Matt Bush, instead of Dave.  Each bobblehead from this company has a code that is used on the cases and the base, which includes the players initials.  The code on Dave's still includes "MB", as they never adjusted it.  The other issue is that they had the arms reversed.  He had his glove in his right hand, and the ball in his left, but was still in a right-handed pitcher pose.  It looked like he was ready to throw his glove to home plate.  I'm not sure if they destroyed it or not, but there might be a one-of-a-kind right-handed glove-throwing Timber Rattlers Matt Bush bobblehead out there.

We have two bobbleheads on the schedule for 2011, an all fan giveaway on Opening Day and a fan's choice on August 29th.  For me, Jeremy Jeffress looks like the early leader for the fan's choice, but the last two seasons a current player has won.  A Khris Davis home run record bobblehead might make the list of choices as well.  As for Opening Day, we just got pictures of the painted proof and it looks pretty sweet.  I talked to the designer at the Winter Meetings last week and he said it is one of his favorites that he has done.  Look for an announcement sometime in February, leading up to individual game tickets going on sale on March.

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