Posted
on January 7, 2016
I
have never owned one, but I know a bit about bobbleheads.
I
know that bobbleheads are collectible toys with oversized heads
connected to their bodies with springs. I know that they are
especially common in sports, most especially in baseball, with
bobblehead give-aways designed to lure people out to the ball park.
What
I didn't know – and, frankly, find somewhat hard to believe! – is
that there is a National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum due to be
opened some time this year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And that every
January 7 is National Bobblehead Day!
Bobbleheads
didn't start with Major League Baseball! Way back in the 1840s, a
short story talks about plaster cats that wag their heads, and there
have been and still are many animal figures with spring-mounted
heads. A traditional sort of doll from India is a sort of
bobblehead—Tahnjavur dolls, to be specific. 
The first modern
bobblehead appeared in the 1950s, and ML Baseball got into the fad
with papier-mache bobbleheads in 1960.
The
first baseball bobbleheads had young, “cherubic” faces but
different colors of hats and uniforms to represent the different
teams. The 1960 World Series featured bobbleheads that were supposed
to be specific to star players – Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle,
Roger Maris, and Willie Mays. But the faces were still all the same.
All
through the sixties, the bobblehead fad continued. The materials were
changed from papier-mache to ceramic, and many more forms were
crafted, including cartoon characters, athletes in other sports, and
even the Beatles.
 |
| Original Beatles bobbleheads are rare-- and valuable! |
By
the mid-70s, however, the fad was beginning to fade away.
And
then the craze got a restart with (of course) plastic becoming the
material of choice. Finally, it was possible to make truly variable
bobbleheads, with much smaller “runs” of many more different
dolls.
The collectibles were suddenly way more collectible!
The collectibles were suddenly way more collectible!
Mini-bobbleheads
were created as well.
And
recently personalized bobbleheads have been offered. Just send in a
few color photos (front-view and profile-view, for 3-D modeling),
make a few color choices, and pay $79 – and voila, in a few days
you will own a bobblehead of yourself!
Here
are some of the bobbleheads you can find today:
TV
personalities such as Mythbuster Jamie Hyneman and Ellen
Fictional
characters, including Superman and Rosie the Riveter
Scientists
such as Marie Curie
Athletes
such as Derek Jeter and LeBron James
Also
on this date:
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ahead:
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out my Pinterest pages on:
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