Five More NL Teams Release Bobblehead Schedules

As I continue to look at promotional lists from around the majors, five more National League teams have released schedules that will include bobblehead giveaways. You can see my first two posts here and here.

The New York Mets are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2012. To commemorate this anniversary the team will be giving away bobbleheads of five former players, Tom Seaver(April 22), Rusty Staub(May 26), Keith Hernandez(June 17), Edgardo Alfonso(July 21) and Mike Piazza(August 25). Can the Dodgers give Mike Piazza a bobblehead already!


The Atlanta Braves are bringing back the bobbleheads in 2012. They have three dates scheduled, but they won't give the first one away 'til June 9 when the first 20,000 fans in attendance receive a Sid Bream Slides bobblehead. 2011 NL Rookie of the Year Craig Kimbrel gets the second Bravos bobble on June 13. Chipper Jones gets the third and final bobblehead August 16.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been one of the better bobblehead teams over the last few years and this year they keep it up, giving away five more: JJ Putz(May 26), Ian Kennedy(June 23), Justin Upton Silver Slugger(July 28), Fan Vote(August 11) and Matt Williams(September 15).


The Chicago Cubs will be giving away four bobbleheads in 2012. Ryan Dempster(May 9), Jeff Samardzija((May29), David DeJesus(June 25) and Starlin Castro(August 13). These four are limited to only 10,000 each.


The Houston Astros are also celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2012, and they too are giving away five bobbleheads. These bobbles will commemorate great moments in the teams history starting with Nolan Ryan's Fifth No-Hitter(May 19) followed by Craig Biggio's 3,000th Hit(June 22), Mike Scott's 1986 No-Hitter(July 7), Chris Burke's 18th Inning Walk-off Homerun(July 28) and Jeff Bagwell's 400th Homerun(August 18).Thanks to Trey for the tip.

A Trade With Mr. Baseball

I was contacted by Scott of Mr.Baseball-Scott a couple of weeks ago. He was interested in a 2011 Topps Lineage Chris Carpenter mini jersey card and some of my Red Sox refractors. After taking a look at his trade bait, we were able to work out a deal.


Scott hooked me up, sending me a 2010 Topps Heritage James Loney jersey card, helping me complete a trifecta. He also sent a 2010 Bowman Platinum Jerry Sand rookie card, and two 2010 Topps Commemorative patches, Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews. 

Thanks Scott for the great trade, I can't wait for the next one! You can check out Scott's blog here.

DARRR-YLLL. DARRR-YLLL.

Back in the mid-80's, my family used to sit out in the pavilion at Dodger stadium quite a bit. It wasn't the same rowdy bleachers section we know today. Yeah, there was plenty of heckling of the other teams outfielders, but that was as crazy as it got. One of the outfielders I remember heckling was Darryl Strawberry. We would shout DARRYL DARRYL DARRYL every time the ball flew his way. It was fun being a kid and trying to distract the guy.


A few years later, Darryl ended up coming home to LA and joining the Dodgers. I remember being so happy when they signed him. Darryl had one nice season in Dodger blue. He also had many problems off the field and he never could stay healthy, which was a shame because he had so much talent.

Even though Strawberry played three seasons in Los Angeles, I think I'll always view him as a New York Met. I do want to show one of my Darryl Strawberry Dodger cards today though. This is a 2004 Absolute Jersey/Auto #d/100. I love Darryl's autograph. I can't make either one of his names from it, but it still looks sweet. The jersey is a small grey piece that looks like it came from the road uni.

Player Appearance: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made an appearance this past Thursday at the ESPN Zone at LA Live. He was there signing his new children's book "What Color Is My World?". Kareem was scheduled to sign from 7:00-8:30. He was only signing the book and no outside memorabilia.


I arrived at the Zone with my buddy Tom at around 5:00, and we were shocked to find out that there was only one person in line. Harry from Eye On LA Sports was the man at the front of the line. The three of us were the only people there for a while, then a few people started trickling in. 


By the time 7:00 rolled around, there were only about 30 people in line. I was surprised considering Kareem is one of the greatest basketball players ever, but I know that people won't show up if the athlete isn't signing anything but the book. I didn't care, I just wanted the sig, even if it was in a children's book. 


Kareem started signing around 7:15 and the Zone staff reminded us that there was no posed photography and no outside memorabilia to be signed. When I got to the table, I shook the Captain's gigantic hand and told him I was a huge fan. He signed my book and I moved on. It was an easy auto.

Thanks to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the ESPN Zone for a wonderful event.

My Newest Matt Kemp Autograph

While everyone in the baseball world is talking about Ryan Braun, I'm thinking about the man I consider to be the true 2011 National League MVP, Matthew Ryan Kemp.Over the last few months I've been trying to pick up as many Kemp cards as possible, especially rookie cards.

Well, A few weeks back, I was opening packs of 2011 Topps Lineage, and I pulled a Freddie Freeman autograph. I had been trying to trade it, but none of the offers were good enough. That is until I met Eric on the Facebook page The Sports Card Hangout. I offered up my Freeman auto to the group and he was interested, so I took a look at his photbucket and that's when I saw a 2006 Topps '52 reprint Matt Kemp rookie auto. It was like a piece of art and I had to have it.

Eric and I were able to work out a deal. I threw in a 2010 Topps Triple Threads Steve Carlton jersey card and he threw in a 2002 Bowman Heritage Paul LoDuca auto I needed plus an Andy Pafko IP auto to sweeten the deal.

The blogosphere is a great place to meet fellow collectors and now I have a new outlet on Facebook. Thanks to Eric for this amazing trade. If anyone is interested in making a trade with Eric, you can contact him here.

Dodgers Offer Limited Edition Koufax And Scully Bobbleheads

Dodgers season ticket holders got an email from the team today informing them that they will have the opportunity to purchase ticket packages for limited edition Vin Scully and/or Sandy Koufax bobbleheads.  


From the Dodgers:

EXCLUSIVE SEASON TICKET HOLDER OFFER - LIMITED EDITION VIN SCULLY AND SANDY KOUFAX BOBBLEHEADS

As a Season Ticket Holder, you have the opportunity to purchase a once-in-a-lifetime ticket package featuring limited edition Vin Scully and Sandy Koufax bobbleheads, which are an exclusive offer that are NOT part of the stadium giveaway.

This special Vin Scully bobblehead plays the renowned Kirk Gibson call from the 1988 World Series, and the Sandy Koufax bobblehead will have the famed left hander posing with four baseballs in his hands to signify his four no-hitters. These two unique bobbleheads are NOT part of the 2012 Dodger Stadium Greats Bobblehead series and are ONLY AVAILABLE for a limited time in one of these ticket packages. Each bobblehead will be numbered and comes with a certificate of authenticity. This is a can't miss opportunity for any bobblehead collector!

PACKAGE 1:

Buy four tickets to an April or May game (excluding Opening Day) in the below seating area and receive your choice of one of the two bobbleheads.

PACKAGE 2:

Buy four tickets to two (2) games in April or May (excluding Opening Day) in the below seating area and you receive one of each bobblehead.

SECTION	PER SEAT	PACKAGE 1	PACKAGE 2
Infield Box	$80.00	$320.00	$640.00

PACKAGE 3:

Buy one set of four seats in select Prime Ticket Club areas for a game in April or May (excluding Opening Day) and receive one of each bobblehead. Seats include complimentary food and soft drinks in the Prime Ticket Club.

SECTION	PER SEAT	PER 4
Prime Ticket Club	$150.00	$600.00

When I found about this I was pretty excited. That Scully call is my absolute favorite thing to listen to. It always gives me the chills. Koufax is my favorite athlete of all time and this new bobble is a must have. Now, I'm not a season ticket holder, but I am still going to try to get my hands on both of these bobbles.If there are any season ticket holders out there who don't plan on taking advantage of this offer, please contact me. Maybe we can work something out.

Thanks to Matthew from Our Town Our Dodgers for the tip. 

Bobblehead Of The Day: Matt Kemp Gold Glove

Last month I wrote about the various Dodger bobblehead variants that have been made over the years. I got a lot of emails and messages about that post. It seems there are quite a few of you out there who have all or most of these variations. I also heard from people that didn't know about a few of the bobbleheads I listed. For anyone who discovered something new, I hope it helps you collection.


Out of all the bobbleheads I posted, I only own one, the Matt Kemp Gold Glove bobblehead. I didn't get it by winning a Twitter contest though, I got it from Bobbles Galore. This is now my favorite bobblehead in my collection.


The original Matt Kemp "Catch At The Wall" bobblehead was given away on August 17, 2010. The Dodgers gave away the Gold Glove variant in Twitter Tuesday contests in the following months. These two bobbles are exactly the same except for the difference in gloves. 


Here's the Gold Glove Bison:

I'm working on getting a couple more of the variants. Hopefully I will be posting those soon.

2012 Padres FanFest

I took a trip down to San Diego this weekend with a couple of friends for Padres FanFest. I had never been to Petco Park before, and I must admit, it's one of the nicest stadiums I have been to.  I knew I wanted to take the stadium tour and buy merchandise at the garage sale but my mission was to get autographs. So that's what I did as soon as I arrived. 


The Padres had different players and coaches paired up at different stations. You had to get tickets for those stations as you walked into the park. All the stations overlapped each other buy thirty minutes making it impossible to go to every one. So basically you had to pick and choose. 


The first station I hit was former Dodger and current Padres first base coach Dave Roberts and pitcher Luke Gregerson. Getting Dave Roberts' auto was one of my main goals that day, and I'm glad I accomplished it.  Dave was very nice. He chatted with everyone and even took pictures. He was also signing everything that was put in front of him, so I wish I had brought more to get signed, but I did manage to get a couple from him.

Next up was the Yonder Alonso/Joe Thatcher station. This one was kind of a throw-in for me before we took the stadium tour. Yonder didn't seem like he wanted to be there. He was signing very fast and hardly acknowledged the fans. Joe Thatcher was a little friendlier.

We didn't have to get to the next station for a couple of hours, so we decided to take the stadium tour. It was a quick run through the facility, but we got to see the training room, locker room and the dugout. From there we went to the garage sale. Everything was very cheap, so I picked up three Tony Hawk bobbleheads and a pin set.

This is the Padres Opening Day line-up from my birth year

From there we went to the next station, which was for former Yankee and  Hall of Fame broadcaster Jerry Coleman and catcher Nick Hundley. I think Jerry was having a senior moment because he seemed out of it. But he did give me an HOF inscription on a ball. I got Hundley on a Padres postcard. 

After this we went down to the main stage on the field where Cory Luebke, Tim Stauffer and Huston Street  were getting interviewed. When the interview session was over, the three signed for fans. I was only able to get Street.

At this point the FanFest was coming to an end, but the Padres did have a couple more stations set up, so we went to one more, Will Venable and Brad Brach.

The very last thing we did when we left was visit Tony Gwynn's statue. The day wouldn't be complete without seeing Mr. Padre. I want to give a big shout out to Teresa and Alex. I had a great time you guys.


The last thing I want to say is that the Dodgers should have been holding FanFests like this years ago. They are finally going to do one this year on a game day, which I'm happy about, but I would've preferred they did it in the offseason.  

Argh! A Trade With Pirates Treasure Room

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Pittstburgh Pirates. When I was younger, I was a big fan of Andy Van Slyke, Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds. Then Barry went to that team up north and turned into a freak and everything changed. Anyway, when I discovered Pirates Treasure Room, I thought it was one of the cooler card blogs around. Brian does have one of the finer collections of Pirates cards.


A few weeks back, I took a peak into the Treasure Room's trade bait page and found a Clayton Kershaw jersey card I was interested in. Brian and I were able to work out a trade.  When I finally got my yellow envelope in the mail, I was surprised to find not one, but two Kershaw jersey cards inside! Brian also threw in a Matt Kemp jersey card as well, plus an assortment of Dodger cards.

Thanks for the generous package Brian. I am sending out another one to you this week. 

Trade With Justin's World

I've been very lazy lately and I haven't been posting very much. But tonight I'm gonna try to get back into the swing of things. And I'm gonna start off with a couple of trade posts. 


A few weeks ago, Justin, from the great blog Justin's World, offered up a Deron Williams autograph he won in a contest. I commented that I was interested and we worked something out. It's not often I send Dodger cards out to get something other than a Dodger card in return, but that's what happened in this trade. I sent Justin a Clayton Kershaw In Person autograph and an assortment of cards for his various PCs to get the Deron.


Thanks for the Williams auto Justin! I hope we can make another trade in the future. 

Dodger Bloggers Softball Tournament

I just wanted to wish team Dodgerbobble good luck at today's Dodger Blogger Softball Tournament. Proceeds will benefit the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. I'm not going to be there, but I still want my team to win. Thanks to Mike at the LFP.com for putting this together and big thanks to Angry Albert for running team DB!

More 2012 Bobbleheads Around The Majors

A few more MLB teams have added bobbleheads to their 2012 promotional schedules.

The Milwaukee Brewers have always been a great bobblehead team. This year they have six on the schedule: Jonathan Lucroy on April 22, Yovani Gallardo on May 13, Nyjer Morgan on June 10, Italian Racing Sausage on July 1, Bob Uecker on July 29 and Aramis Ramirez on September 16.


The Washington Nationals are giving away three nodders this season. Stephen Strasburg gets the first of three bobbleheads on April 14. Slugger Michael Morse get his on August 5 and the third goes to 3B Ryan Zimmerman on September 8.


The Cleveland Indians are going old school with their bobbleheads in 2012. Four of the five they are giving away are former players. Joe Carter on May 20, Carlos Baerga on June 3, Asdrubal Cabrera on June 18, Sandy Alomar Jr on the 4th of July and Gaylord Perry on August 12.


The Toronto Blue Jays have 3 bobblehead nights this year. Brandon Morrow on May 20, Yunel Escobar on June 3 and Ricky Romero on August 19.


The San Francisco Giants released their promotional schedule weeks ago, but today they announced their Special Events dates. They've got everything there from Chinese Heritage Night to Cinco De Mayo Night to Brewfest. On September 4, the team will honor native San Franciscan Bruce Lee with a bobblehead. 

2012 serves as the "Year of the Dragon", so what better way to celebrate than to honor the life and times of The Dragon himself, Bruce Lee? Lee, a San Francisco native, went on to become arguably the most renowned martial artist of all time, and the Giants would like to recognize that! By sharing his knowledge and skills throughout the world, Lee became not only a master, but an icon. Your ticket to this event will include a collector's edition Bruce Lee bobblehead, as well as a ticket to the game in one of the Bruce Lee Tribute Night sections! Whether you are a martial artist, instructor, or fan, we look forward to hosting you and your group at AT&T Park. Partial proceeds from this event go to the Bruce Lee Foundation.

It may be a Giant, but I love Bruce Lee. I have to get this one.

The Chicago White Sox only have two bobbleheads scheduled. Robin Ventura gets his on May 26. Not sure if they're going player or manager on this one. The second bobble is the Beer Vendor bobblehead on August 4.