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Bobblehead Nation Diminutive dolls get big nod from fans By Tom Rinaldi, CNNSI.com
Not very big, really. Weighing in at a little more than a pound and standing just shy of a foot, they can fill stadiums faster than Mark McGwire. Welcome to Bobblehead Nation. "If the game sells out and they've got 15,000 dolls for the first 15,000 people, if you're not there at six in the morning, you don't get one,"says Malcolm Alexander, president of Alexander Global Promotions in Bellevue, Wash. Bobbleheads, the ceramic dolls with heads that, well, bobble, aren't new. They've been around in one form or another since the 1950s. But when Alexander's company was asked in 1999 to create a Willie Mays bobblehead for a San Francisco Giants fan giveaway, a craze was created and a trend reborn. Alexander says he spent more than a half a year working on the design, trying to devise a doll with personality that would appeal not only to sports fans but to everyone. Millions of bobbleheads later, it's clear he got the formula just right. How right? Well, Alexander's factory in China will make upwards of a million dolls a month this summer. From Major League Baseball teams to Arena football franchises, sports organizations of all kinds are putting in orders with the hopes that bobblehead giveaways will fill seats and generate fan interest. When the Philadelphia 76ers handed out Allen Iverson figurines to 5,000 fans 14-and-under at a February game last season, team officials ended up handling a near riot. A limited release is the core of any collectible craze -- and the bobblehead phenomenon is no exception. Teams generally order between 5,000 and 25,000 dolls for a specific event. Once they're given away, they're gone. Only to reappear -- you guessed it --on eBay and other online auction sites, at stunning prices. Three-figure price tags are not uncommon for hard-to-find bobbleheads. The Wall Street Journal reported that a buyer paid $315 for an Iverson doll last February. Not bad, for a free souvenir. "The Journal wanted to know what my business plan was," Alexander says. "I didn't have one." What do the athletes and coaches who serve as models for the bobbleheads think of their dolls? "We've had players try to modify the dolls, who like their butt raised, and bubbled a bit," Alexander says. "We've had players who wanted their arms more cut or buffed. But the overall impression is, this is fabulous." When Seattle Mariners designated hitter Edgar Martinez was shown his bobblehead, he laughed instantly. "I didn't know I was this overweight," he said, staring at a sort of ceramic reflection. "They even got my whiskers."
Bobblehead Nation | Video: Bobbing for Bobbleheads
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