Player Appearance: Nick Punto

It's late in the day, but I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas. I hope you all had a nice holiday and got everything you wanted. I got a few new Dodger items and autographs from Santa this year. I also got myself a gift last weekend, a Dodger bobblehead mini plan for 2013. I picked it up at the second to last stop of the Dodger Holiday Mall Tour at the Westfield Shopping Center in Valencia. I was there on Saturday, December 15 to meet Dodger utility man Nick Punto, who was scheduled to meet fans and sign autograph from Noon to 2:00. 

I arrived at the mall about an hour before Punto was scheduled to appear. There weren't many people there and the Dodger ticket reps were setting up for the event. While waiting in line, I decided to pick up my mini plan. If you signed up for any ticket plan, you received a gift bag from the Dodgers, which was a duffel bag full of swag including a Don Mattingly bobblehead, a fleece blanket and a Dodger holiday ball signed by Fernando Valenzuela. It's on a cheapo China ball, but I'll take the Fernando auto!

After I got my ticket plan, I jumped back in line. It was almost 12 o'clock and Nick wasn't there. Finally Noon, still no Nick. The line was getting longer, more time kept passing  and still no Nick. We were joking in line that maybe he was designated for assignment. At 12:45 Nick finally arrived. Apparently he went to the wrong mall. But he started signing as soon as he got there. It was one auto per person, so I got a baseball signed then jumped back in line and got a picture signed the second time around. 

Thanks to Nick Punto and the Dodgers for putting on a great event and hosting this Holiday tour. Although I only made it to two of the Holiday Mall Tour stops, I was still very happy to get baseball autographs in the offseason. I've gotta give the Dodgers credit too, this was a great idea, getting the fans interested in the upcoming season and giving them incentives for buying tickets in November and December. I hope they do this again next year!

Contest Time!

OK, it's contest time. Tonight's prize is a Don Mattingly bobblehead. 

The rules are simple,(1)You must be a Dodgerbobble.com follower, which means your name must be in my list of followers in the sidebar and (2) you need to be the first Dodgerbobble.com follower to answer my question correctly in the comments section of the contest post.


Here's the question:


The last time the Dodgers made the playoffs was in 2009. What was their regular season record that year?


First Dodgerbobble.com follower to answer correctly in the comments below wins the Don Mattingly bobblehead.

Don Mattingly Bobblehead Contest Tonight

Who wants to win a bobblehead? At the last Viva Los Dodgers, I picked up a couple of bobbleheads and I figured I could give them away as contest prizes. Since tonight's Dodger game is the last one of the year, let's give one of them away. I'll give Don Mattingly tonight and Hong-Chih Kuo during the offseason. 


Only two rules: (1)You must be a Dodgerbobble.com follower, which means your name must be in my list of followers in the sidebar and (2) you need to be the first Dodgerbobble.com follower to answer my question correctly in the comments section of the contest post.


The contest will be held once the Dodger game ends.

A Review Of The 2011 Dodger Bobbleheads

Tonight I'm gonna review the 2011 Dodger Stadium bobblehead giveaways. All six bobbleheads will be given a grade of A, B,C,D or F. The grades will be based on a few things: (1) Did the bobblehead look like the player?  (2) Did the player deserve a bobblehead? and (3) Creativity.

Clayton Kershaw  A-
On May 17, the Dodgers gave away the first bobblehead of the year, Clayton Kershaw. I was so happy to get my hands on this first bobblehead, and it didn't disappoint. The Ace of the Dodger staff definitely deserved a bobble. I love the way they made Kersh look, from the beard to the green eyes and even the leg kick. But it's that simple stance that keeps this bobblehead from getting an A+. Maybe Kershaw get's a Cy Young bobblehead in 2012? I hope so.

Don Mattingly  C
This bobblehead night was unlike any other I had seen in the past. On June 1, the Dodgers were supposed to give away 50,000 Don Mattingly bobbleheads away. The only problem was, 50,000 people didn't show up. In my original post, I estimated the attendance at under 30,000 fans. This was the deadest I had seen the stadium since I started going to bobblehead nights on regular basis back in 2002.

What I like about this bobblehead is that it looks like Don Mattingly, and that he's standing at the top of the dugout steps. The manager at the top of the dugout steps was a common theme in baseball this year. The Orioles, Royals, Padres and DBacks all gave away similar bobbleheads. It's very creative and helped get this bobblehead a C grade. What kept it from getting a higher grade was the fact that Don Mattingly didn't deserve a bobblehead in 2011. A  player or manager should get a bobblehead if he has accomplished something with the team. What has Mattingly done for the Dodgers? Nothing yet.

Hong-Chih Kuo C
Kuo, Kuo, Kuo. What a year for the Taiwanese pitcher. Who could have seen such a drastic change from 2010 to 2011? His horrible 2011 isn't the reason I'm giving this a C grade though. He definitely deserved a bobblehead after his amazing 2010. I'm giving this a C because this doesn't look like him and the stance is all wrong. I know he's giving the fist pump after a strikeout, but it just doesn't look right. The other thing is it lacks a certain something. In 2008, the Dodgers gave away Takashi Saito bobbleheads, and his name was put on the bobblehead in Japanese. They could have done something similar with Kuo, except with Taiwanese. In my opinion, this is a boring bobblehead, plain and simple.

Andre Ethier B
This Brooklyn throwback version of Andre Ethier was a big success back on July 7. Dodger Stadium was packed and that's the way it should be on a bobblehead night. The Dodgers honored Dre with his second bobblehead in two years. This time around they had him wearing the same 1940's-style Brooklyn Dodgers uniform the team was wearing during day games this year.

This bobblehead kind of looks like Andre. The hair and beard stubble on his face are dead on, but the facial features are a little off. The uniform is sweet, and that's a big plus. I also love the fist pump. I couldn't give this an A grade for one reason: it's the second Andre Ethier bobblehead in two years. I'm not saying he didn't deserve one in 2011, because he did. It's just that the Dodgers could have given someone else a bobblehead. There are other players who are just as deserving, like Chad Billingsley or a even a former player.

Fernando Valenzuela B
The Dodgers celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of Fernandomania with one of the nicest bobblehead giveaways ever. This nodder depicts a 1981 version of Fernando Valenzuela standing on the warning track, in front of the scoreboard, with a pen in hand and signing a mitt. The bobblehead looks like Fernando, it's very creative and Fernando definitely deserved a bobblehead for the the anniversary. This is Fernando's third Dodger bobblehead since 2001 though, and that's what's keeping this from getting an A. Yes, Fernando is still popular in Los Angeles, but like I said with Ethier, there are other players who deserve a first bobblehead. I think they should have gone with someone from the 1981 Championship team.

Duke Snider A
After passing away earlier in the year, the Dodgers decided to honor Duke Snider with a bobblehead. This was my favorite bobblehad of the year. What makes this my favorite? First off, it looks like the Duke. Second, the stance is right on. Third, he was one of the greatest Dodgers of all-time, and deserved a bobble.   Is this the most creative bobblehead of the six? No, but it didn't need to be. The Duke swinging the bat in a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform was all I needed. It really has a "classic" feel to it. Great job on this one.

Overall, I'd say the Dodgers did a decent job on the bobblehead giveaways. I do feel that six bobbleheads was overkill though. It wasn't necessary to give that many away. I love my bobbleheads, but they could've done without the Mattingly and Kuo. Next year I hope to see only three or four given away. Hopefully all of them are first-time recipients, well, unless Kershaw gets a Cy Young bobblehead of course. Speaking of next year's bobbleheads, I will be giving my predictions on 2012 very soon.

So, what did you think of my grades? Did I get them all right? Let me know what you think.

Contest Reminder

I just wanted to remind everyone, I'm holding a Twitter contest tomorrow following the Dodgers/Phillies game. The prize is a Don Mattingly bobblehead. You can get all the details here.

The contest is being sponsored by Bobbles Galore. Don't forget to check out their Facebook page and you can follow them on Twitter as well.

Manager Profile: Donnie Bobblehead

When I was at Dodger Stadium on Don Mattingly bobblehead night, the Dodgers played this profile of Manager Don Mattingly on the DodgerVision video monitor. But instead of Donnie Baseball answering all the profile questions, we got to see his bobblehead do all the talking. I thought it was a very clever idea. Check it out:

Who Wants To Win A Don Mattingly Bobblehead?

It's time for another bobblehead contest. This time I will be giving away a Don Mattingly Dodger bobblehead, the same one given away on June1 at Dodger Stadium. The bobblehead contest is sponsored by Bobbles Galore, the World's Largest SGA Bobblehead Reseller. I'm going to try something different this time, a Twitter contest. The contest will be held on Wednesday, June 8 following the Dodgers/Phillies game.

This time I won't ask some difficult question that only a hardcore Dodger fan would know the answer to. I'm going to keep it simple, giving everyone a chance to win.

So how do you win the Mattingly bobblehead?  You'll need to do a few things:

(1)You must be a follower of this blog. What does that mean? Your name must be in my list of 'Followers' in the blog sidebar. If you're already a follower, you can win. If you're not a follower, click on the 'FOLLOW' button in the sidebar.


(2)You must follow dodgerbobble on Twitter. Why? Because that's where you'll be answering my question. You can follow me by clicking here.

(3)Answer the question correctly. Wednesday evening, I'm going to Tweet a question. The question will be asked once the Dodgers/Phillies game ends. The first person to Tweet the correct answer back to me wins Mattingly.

If anyone has a question about the contest, email me at: dodgerbobble@yahoo.com
Remember, you must be a follower of Dodgerbobble.com and Dodgerbobble on Twitter and don't forget to check out Bobbles Galore, the world's largest SGA bobblehead reseller.

Don Mattingly Bobblehead Night

Click here to purchase

Tonight was Don Mattingly bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium. Presented By Carl's Jr., this bobblehead was supposed to be given away to the first 50,000 fans in attendance. I don't even think there were 30,000 fans at the stadium today. Dodger Stadium was dead tonight. In years past, there would be hundreds of people in line waiting to get their bobbleheads. When we arrived, there was a very small group of people waiting to get into the Reserve section. You can see from my videos at the end of this post how bad it was.

Some pics from Dodger Stadium:

When we left, they were moving the leftover bobbleheads.

Let's take a look at Mattingly:

This is a great bobblehead. I just don't think Mattingly was a great choice. I talked to a lot of people, and many said they didn't care about this one. There are so many fans staying away from Dodger Stadium for so many reasons, a bobblehead this weak didn't help attendance. I'm willing to bet this was the lowest attended bobblehead game ever. Here's some video I took from the game:





Up next, Hong-Chih Kuo bobblehead on June 14.

Who's Going To Get A Don Mattingly Bobblehead?

Another bobblehead night is here, Don Mattingly. Presented by Carls Jr., this bobblehead will be given away to the first 50,000 fans in attendance. It features Manager Don Mattingly standing at the top of the dugout steps.

For those of you who can't make it to tonight's Dodger game, I'll be giving one of these Don Mattingly bobbleheads away later in the week.



So, who's going to the game tonight?

It's Time For Dodger Bobbleheads!

The Dodgers have been broadcasting this commercial for three days, so most Dodger fans have seen it by now. But for those who haven't seen it, what we've got here is bobblehead Don Mattingly managing a few bobblehead Dodgers. It's a clever idea. Check it out: