Modern Vintage SGAs

Browsing Ebay recently, I noticed that a few teams have offered SGA bobbleheads that mimic the vintage nodders of the 1960s.  I have seen these pieces for the Twins, Brewers and Phillies.  I also know that the Marlins did one of these back in the early 2000s as they had a paucity of established and historical players to choose from.

It would be really neat to see these for every team.  They bear a great resemblance to the 1960s nodders, are comparably inexpensive, and are not burdened with chipped paint and other wear.  If anyone knows of other teams that have issued these I would love to know about them.  I would also like to know which company produced them.  Share any info in the comments below and I will follow up.  Here are images of these neat pieces.

EDIT: I added the vintage mascot SGA done by the Cardinals on August 8, 2016.
 

Bobblehead Blog

For those of you that enjoy reading the musings of other bobblehead collectors, take a look at The Bobblehead Blog.  I didn't see any information about the author of the blog, but the author takes a loo at various bobbleheads and offers thoughts on them.  His/her comments are interesting and the blog includes information on giveaway schedules which are very useful.  The most recent group of reviews are of various Red Sox items, such as Luis Tiant (picture borrowed from the blog).

  

Considering that I listed Tiant as one of my "missing issues" I will likely add Luis to my chase list.  

Its interesting to note that after being a team that issued very few bobbleheads over the years, the Red Sox are finally in on the action.  Using the Bobblehead Blog list, Boston will issue The Green Monster, Carlton Fisk, Tiant, Mike Napoli and Fred Lynn this season.

The Red Sox Fisk giveaway appears to be the fourth piece issued of Fisk.  As someone who is big on bobbleheads that provide a strong likeness of the subject, I thought I would include photos of all four and compare them.

Overall the four Fisk pieces are pretty solid.  To me, the least accurate of the four was the White Sox AGP giveaway in 2004:

   image from 7th-inningstretch.com

Early AGP pieces were fairly generic with many of the faces, but this one is decent.  I certainly recognize Fisk with the 1980s Sox uniform.  If I saw the face without the uniform, I might not make Fisk my first guess, but he would probably be one of my first three or four guesses.

The bronze medal goes to Forever Collectibles for this retail issue:

   image from bobblesgalore.com

Again in the Boston uniform, it is a no-brainer.  Looking at just the face, it is pretty clear that this is Fisk.  

The silver medal goes to the 2015 BoSox SGA issue.

   image from espn.com

This one looks like Fisk and the pose reflects an iconic baseball moment.  Even if it were spray painted white a baseball fan would know that this was from game 6 of the 1975 World Series.

My favorite Fisk issue was given out several years ago by the Lowell Spinners minor league team.  I am generally not deeply interested in minor league issues, but this one is in an MLB uniform and is a fantastic likeness of Fisk as a young player.  

 

As the years go, bobblehead issues get better and better.  That said, some players (Fisk and Rod Carew come to mind) have been done well whenever they've been done.

So, all these months later I am going to jump my list back to 25.  I am not really adding anything to my collection right now, but am selling a few things on Ebay so if I can put together a few bucks I may jump at something priced right.  I have added Carlos Gonzalez, Don Mincher and Bill Mazeroski over the past year. There are currently 17 items that remain on my list:

1  Boog Powell (Red Cross)
2  Andre Dawson SGA (Expos)
3  Lefty O'Doul SGA
4  Tim Raines SGA (Expos)
5  Stomper Mascot (Oakland Kids Club 2003)
6  Mookie Wilson SGA
7  Ryan Zimmerman 2010 SGA
8  Dennis Eckersley SGA
9  Frank Thomas White Sox SGA
10 Eric Davis Reds SGA
11 Tino Martinez SGA
12 Rickey Henderson Stolen Base King
13 Larry Walker Rockies SGA
14 Stan Musial (Cards SGA)
15 Ryne Sandberg (Cubs SGA 2009)
16 David Ortiz SGA
17 Giancarlo Stanton SGA

The new list items are:

18/19/20  Three current Twins (my team).  Kurt Suzuki (A's SGA), Ervin Santana (Angels SGA) and Brian Dozier (Twins SGA).  All of these are cool and reasonable likenesses.

          


21 Ron Darling (Mets SGA).  He was a mainstay on my APBA teams in the 1980s and I enjoy listening to him talk about baseball.  Of course, you's expect that of a Yale guy.




22  Carlos May (White Sox fantasy camp giveaway).  May was one of my first favorite players in the 1970s, probably based on liking his baseball card.  His career was ruined by an injury sustained while serving in the Marine reserves.  The 1960s were a different time for ballplayers.  I have great respect for those that have served the USA.  I can't find a picture of the May piece, but I am including a shot of Bill Melton who was the Sox fantasy camp bobblehead from another season.  That would be just as good.  For now, I will call this one either May or Melton.  I suspect that both are scarce and expensive.



23  Mike Moustakas (2015 Royals SGA).  This one is a cool pose that I don't see all over the place.  I have a bunch of Royals, but most are the 1970s guys.  This one is a good representative for the modern day Royals.



24  Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn.  (Indians SGA).  I wish I'd have jumped on one of these when they came out.  Most out there now are above my price range.  I thought Major League was an OK movie, but have some friends who have it in their top five. That said, the Vaughn character bobblehead is very cool and immediately recognizable.



25  Magic Johnson (Dodgers SGA 2013).  This one is more available than most on this list and I suspect will be the next one I get.  I was a big Laker fan in the 1980s.  Magic is an icon and a guy that has been an inspiration in dealing with HIV.  The bobblehead looks like Magic, has him in the Dodger jersey worn over dress clothes and has him palming a baseball...unique and conceptually interesting.