Don Mattingly Bobblehead Night

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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?

Bobblehead Of The Day: Bob Hope

Yesterday would've been Bob Hope's 108th birthday. The comedian and actor sadly died eight years ago at the age of 100. He made countless appearances on broadway, radio, television, and in the movies. Bob Hope also performed with the United Service Organizations. He started entertaining the troops in 1941 during World War II and did it for another fifty years.

From Hope's Wikipedia

Hope performed his first United Service Organizations (USO) show on May 6, 1941, at March Field, California. He continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II and later during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the third phase of the Lebanon Civil War, the latter years of the Iran–Iraq War, and the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War. When overseas he almost always performed in Army fatigues as a show of support for his audience. Hope's USO career lasted half a century, during which he headlined approximately 60 tours. For his service to his country through the USO, he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968.

When our servicemen and women were overseas, wishing they were at home with their families, Bob Hope helped keep their morale high. On this Memorial Day, I thought it would be nice to honor the man who entertained our troops for so many years.

This bobblehead was made in 2003, for Hope's 100th birthday. He's sporting a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform with the number 100 on the back. Produced by Strike Zone Inc., there were only 500 of these made. Some were sold at Dodger Stadium's Top of the Park Gift Shop for Dodger fans to purchase, but many of them were sold online or through catalogues and ended up in the hands of Bob Hope collectors.

Here's Mr. Hope:

This is definitely one of my favorite bobbleheads in my collection. Not just because of how rare it is, but because I am a huge fan of Bob Hope's work. Thanks to Facebook friend Mike for the helpful info on this bobblehead.

Player Appearances: Jamey Carroll And Dioner Navarro

Today was one of those great autograph days that doesn't come around too often. I was able to get two Dodger autographs in two locations within an hour. Super utility man Jamey Carroll  and last night's walk-off hero Dioner Navarro were both signing today at the same time, from Noon to 1:00 pm. Carroll appeared at Sports Authority in Sherman Oaks, Navarrro at Kragen Auto Parts in Los Angeles.

I'll start with Carroll. I arrived in Sherman Oaks at 8:45am. This was the same location Bill Russell signed at two weeks ago.There was already a small line of Dodger fans when I got there. I was hoping I'd be near the front so I could get out of there early and rush over to the Dioner Navarro event.

A group of us were monitoring the Navarro event. From everything we heard, the line was short for Navarro and there was very little traffic heading downtown. If everything went according to plan, we would leave Sherman Oaks and head downtown before Navarro finished signing.

Jamey Carroll arrived thirty minutes early and started signing right away. He was very nice, chatting with everyone and signing whatever was put in front of him. I got a 2007 Topps Heritage Colorado Rockies card signed and my Dodger hat. As far as I know, Carroll doesn't have a Dodgers baseball card. If I'm wrong, let me know.

Once I got my Carroll items signed, I checked the time, it was only 11:55! Everything was working out great. It was time to head to LA. Mike Spiegel from Nomo's Sushi Platter and Super Dodger fan Theresa came along with me. We jumped on the 101 and hoped there wouldn't be any traffic.

We got lucky. We made it to the Navarro event in twenty minutes. There were about 10 people in line. So what did I get signed? Well, I attended the Dodger game the night before. Dioner Navarro got a walk-off hit in the ninth inning of the game, so I thought I'd get the game ticket signed. I also got my Navarro bobblehead, a baseball card and my hat signed. Dioner was also taking pictures with the fans. The event staff was giving away prizes and they had a Dodger bouncer out there for the kids.

Dioner added "Walk Off Hit"

I had a great day today. I want to thank Jamey Carroll and Dioner Navarro, Sports Authority Sherman Oaks, Kragen O'Reilly Auto Parts and Vin Scully Is My Homeboy for event information. It was nice seeing Mike Spiegel, Theresa, Gus from Authentic Signings and everyone else I met today. Thanks to Enrique and Alejandro for the Navarro info!

Kendry Morales Bobblehead Night

My wife and I took a trip down to Anaheim on Tuesday. Presented By Natural Balance, the Angels gave away Kendry Morales bobbleheads to all fans in attendance. There were two different versions of the Morales bobbles being handed out, one as a left-handed batter, the other right-handed. Every fan was given one bobblehead, and you couldn't choose which one you got. There were no exchanges either.

When my wife and I got to our seats, we noticed we both got right-handed Kendrys. Luckily, the people sitting next to us got two left-handed Kendrys, and were happy to make a trade with us.

We got there a little early, so I made an attempt at some autographs. The A's were in town, and they were taking batting practice when we arrived. Sitting near right field, we had a few players shagging flyballs in front of us. Kevin Kouzmanoff was one of those players. He was also chatting and signing autographs.

Once the game started, we noticed we were sitting in a small pocket of A's fans, so we had no problem cheering for Oakland. I always feel uncomfortable in that sea of red, but not Tuesday. There were so many A's fans there.

It was a good game. David DeJesus hit two homeruns for Oakland as the A's went on to beat Anaheim 6-1.

Here are the two bobbleheads:

Of course, Kendry Morales wasn't playing on his bobblehead night. He's still dealing with the ankle injury he suffered in a walk-off homerun celebration last year. Remember this?