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     A new season of professional baseball is here again. The 2011 baseball season will kick off for most as early as April 1^st. For me, well, I will be in Oakland California enjoying Opening Day at the Oakland Coliseum.

     When I go to a baseball game to ball hawk I like to hope for the best possible odds. Fighting large crowds of people is always something a Ballhawk has to endure no matter what baseball stadium he/she goes to. We all consider the weather, and most importantly, something that doesn’t always get taken into consideration, is the give-away, and the promotional nights that most Major League teams have at the stadiums. Lets face it. Awesome give-away nights fill seats. Its just the name of the game. But what give-away fills the most seats? What give-away is most desired? What give-away is the most sought-after? When I was a kid it was photo-baseballs, and bat nights that filled the house. Now its that beloved bobble-head figurine!

     Bobble-heads are collectors items. All ages come to the stadiums on bobble-head nights to add to their ever growing collection of unique and rare bobble-heads. I for one am not a collector of those cute little bobble-heads. I have one, and I gave it to my mother. It was the Bret Saberhagen Cy Young Bobble-head that the Royals gave away last season. My mother doesn’t even know what a Cy Young award is let alone who Bret Saberhagen is. But it doesn’t take away from the cute factor of Bret’s little head bobbling around as you walk by him as he’s perched by her jewelry box.

     So in this column for MyGameBalls.com I thought Id put together some Bobble-head history facts, and then list the current bobble-heads that will be given away to fans this year. Depending on who you are knowing this information could either save you a headache of going to the game fighting large crowds to be first in line or create more excitement while shagging baseballs during BP. Either way. Knowing is half the battle.

     Some of the first bobble-heads ever created for the Major Leagues were in the 1960s. These bobble-head dolls were made out of papier-mâché. Each baseball team received these dolls, and they all looked the same minus the uniforms. It wasn’t until the 1960 World Series where player specific dolls were created, and sold during the World Series. Those players were Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Roger Maris, and Roberto Clemente. Unfortunately, since the dolls were constructed out of papier-mâché most have not survived.

     From the 60′s to the 90′s the bobble-head went through many dramatic changes. The dolls were constructed out of ceramic after the failed papier-mâché didn’t work out. Unfortunately, the ceramic nodders were expensive to produce, and fans weren’t taking much of an interest. It wasn’t until 1999 when the San Francisco Giants handed out 35,000 Bobble-heads of Willie Mays that really captivated the audience. The new bobble-heads primarily made out of plastic were cheap to construct, and the fans loved them.

     After the year 2000 bobble-heads became such a craze that you could even contact a company to have them customize a bobble-head for you. Bobble-heads became so advanced that they even had matching scars, tattoos, hair color, eye color, and lifelike facial features.

     So here is the 2011 list of bobble-heads that you can get for free during the season. With paid admission of course.

Baltimore Orioles

Buck Showalter June 25^th

Brian Matusz August 6^th

Arizona Diamondbacks

Racing Gracie ( Mark Grace ) April 28^th

Kirk Gibson August 6^th

Chris Young August 27^th

Fan Voted Bobble-head September 24^th

Chicago WhiteSox

Frank Thomas April 12^th

Frank Thomas April 29^th

Roger Bossard June 12^th

Beer Vendor Bobble-head August 4^th

Mark Buerhle August 20^th

Chicago Cubs

Starlin Castro April 5th

Tyler Colvin April 19th

Geovany Soto July 14^th

Cleveland Indians

Mike Hargrove August 13^th

Cincinnati Reds

Joey Votto April 30^th

Dusty Baker July 12^th

Jonny Gomes July 23^rd

Kansas City Royals

Willie Wilson June 4^th

The Angels of Anaheim

Kendrys Morales May 24th

Dan Haren June 28^th

Angels Gnome August 18^th

Houston Astros

Michael Bourn April 10^th

Hunter Pence April 30^th

Chris Johnson May 14^th

Bill Brown/Jim Deshaies broadcasters June 11^th

Bret Myers July 13^th

Los Angeles Dodgers

Clayton Kershaw May 17^th

Don Mattingly June 1^st

Hong Chih Kuo June 14^th

Andre Ethier July 17th

FernandoMania July 26^th

Milwaukee Brewers

John Axford April 24^th

Casey McGehee May 22^nd

Zack Grienke June 12^th

Craig Counsell August 14^th

Randy Wolf September 25^th

Oakland Athletics

Rickey Henderson April 30^th

McHammer 80′s theme July 17^th

Ray Fosse August 16^th

New York Mets

Mr Met April 18^th

Seattle Mariners

Felix Hernandez April 9^th

Ichiro Suzuki May 6^th

Pittsburgh Pirates

Neil Walker May 21^st

Texas Rangers

Nelson Cruz June 20^th

San Diego Padres

Bud Black May 7^th

Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Bautista April 3^rd

Roberto Alomar July 31^st

San Francisco Giants

Cody Ross June 4^th

Aubrey Huff June 25^th

Buster Posey July 10^th

Tim Lincecum August 27^th

Saint Louis Cardinals

Stan Musial April 24^th

Matt Holliday August 28^th

Washington Nationals

Jayson Werth

Ian Desmond

　

The most expensive bobble-head today is The Beatles Bobble-head, and its priced at $32,000 dollars.