The Atlanta Braves unofficial Bobbleheads Doctor does a Q&A with us

“Doctor Bobble” is a self-made expert on bobbleheads and he’s a huge collector of them (especially Atlanta Braves ones).  I recently had a chance to chat with him about that hobby.  Here is the full interview.

KW (Me): I don’t quite recall how I came across your account on twitter, but after I decided I would write a piece about Atlanta Braves bobbleheads and their cost and I figured you would be a perfect interview subject.

DB: Thanks! I’m pretty passionate about bobbleheads, so I’m always happy to chat about them!

KW: Awesome! To begin, how did you get started as a collector? It isn’t a hugely mainstream hobby to my knowledge.

DB: That’s a great question. I’ve actually not been collecting very long. Technically I have had an old, tiny Upper Deck Andruw Jones bobblehead since I was a kid (I think I picked it up at a yard sale), but I actually didn’t find it at my parent’s house until recently.

The obsession actually started when I was a graduate student at the University of North Carolina. I tried going to as many games as I could as it was free for students.

In 2016, they had a promotional giveaway of a Matt Harvey bobblehead and I thought it would be a worthwhile way to spend an afternoon.

So there you have it.. my bobblehead collection officially started with a Matt Harvey bobblehead. Ha.

The Good Stuff

KW: That’s nothing to be ashamed of.  At least your school’s baseball team gave out bobbleheads!

What would you say is your favorite bobblehead? If there’ a cool story associated with it, I’d love to hear that as well.

DB: Well the first one always means a lot, but I think my favorite bobblehead is the Acuna Matata bobblehead given away by the Danville Braves in 2018.

It depicts Andruw Jones holding up a very tiny Ronald Acuna up in a Lion King-type pose. They only gave away 500 of those that night and we arrived at the stadium two hours before the gates opened.

If you’ve seen the Legion Field in Danville, it could easily pass for a rec-league park. The line of folks extended through the parking lot and folks there said they had never seen a line quite like that one. That bobblehead had become a bit rare and quite valuable.

I was glad I only had to pay the $5 for admission. I was actually fortunate enough to have Andruw sign that bobblehead earlier this year! Hoping I can get Acuna to sign the little guy at some point!

KW: Yeah that really sounds like a steal! I’ll bet that was quite the crowd, that was around when the public at large was beginning to discover just how good Acuna really was. It would be really special if Acuna signed that one as well!

[ ed. note:  he’s not wrong:  it was a steal.  At the moment, there is exactly one of these available on ebay.com, and that seller has set a price of $300 for it. ]

The Price isn’t always Right

I’ve noticed recently that prices for bobbleheads that the Atlanta Braves give out for free has been very high, in my opinion. The lowest price currently on eBay for the recent Ronald Acuna Jr. bobblehead is 55 dollars. What’s your take on the current prices?

DB: Well, generally there’s a large enough crowd of bobblehead collectors that prices are generally determined by supply-and-demand economics.

There are a number of factors that determine a bobblehead’s supply in the market, including factors you might not even consider. The Atlanta Braves drastically reduced the number of bobbleheads they gave out this year, from the first 20,000 fans in 2018 to the first 15,000 fans in 2019.

They also gave it out on a Friday night, where parking can be an absolute nightmare. I know a number of folks who didn’t get bobbleheads because a large number of people couldn’t park until after 5:30pm.

The gates opened around 5:20pm and I heard at least one gate ran out by 6:15pm. That’s over an hour before first pitch! Overall, they were fairly difficult to get, which leads me to demand.

The Star’s the Thing

There are lots of folks across the nation, who aren’t necessarily Braves fans, that were eager to get their hands on this bobblehead. Ronald is becoming a household name for all types of collectors, particularly card and memorabilia collectors. Demand is high, and will continue to be high.

It’s one of the more expensive Atlanta Braves SGA [“Stadium GiveAway”] bobbleheads, but far from the most expensive. The Sid Bream Slides bobblehead from 2012 frequently sells for $80+.

There are a lot of folks who blame the prices on the folks who work to take home multiple bobbleheads, particularly the ones who stand outside the stadium trying to buy them cheap and flip for a profit. I understand that take, but it’s actually those folks who help the hobby thrive.

My wife and I go to games, meaning we take home two every bobblehead game (assuming I don’t bring the whole family). That gives me an extra that I can use to trade for another bobblehead to add to my collection.

Likewise, it puts that bobblehead into another collector’s hands. Prices can be expensive, but the market ultimately sets the price.