“Get a life and grow up.”

These words were uttered by Dave Kaplan. He was referring to this. Take a gander, it’s great.  We had a similar situation with the Hawk Clock on the southside. So yearly, I seem to make this same kind of post about SGA’s (stadium give aways), but teams don’t really change it up.  Why you ask?  Cause it works for them.  How?  Let me tell ya.

For the Cubs “Final Out” bobblehead it was destined to fail.  In our bobble circles, it was hyped (as most Cubs releases) and the cost of tix to the Cubs aren’t the cheapest.  Now, the original date is was to be given out the Cubs called the game right before the gates were to open due to “threat of rain”, and it never rained.  People were pissed, some had flown into town for the release (and I am hoping a Chicago vacation). It spawned a video from a fellow collector that had a guy screaming “Just give me my FREAKIN’ bobblehead!”.  It was lovely and sad all rolled up like a big loser burrito.

If you aren’t a collector you don’t understand. These things make people mad, for reals.  The secondary market exploding doesn’t make it any easier either.  As they say in the video, they were up on Ebay for $80.  Many sold for over $100.  That is straight cash homie! Minus 13% that Ebay and it’s step-sister PayPal takes from the total.  Y’all know I collect these guys and I have spent a ton of money to get my collection. I own every bobblehead the Sox have ever released, and a bunch of retail ones too. It was a labor of love, fun to complete but left me with nothing to search for (or buy).

Teams, although they say they don’t, fucking love this.  At the “Final Out” release people lined up at 8am to get in the gate first.  Those people got in early and of course they had to eat, drink, buy more shit and they had plenty of time to do that.  The guy who missed out on that one, will be sure to get there earlier next time which makes it even harder to get there early enough.  If you didn’t get your Sox sweatshirt, or Hawk clock, I bet you showed up early enough to get that sweet hawaiian shirt didn’t you?  Of course you did!  And you drank an extra Modelo and crushed a nacho helmet cause that is what you have to do when you get to a Sox game early.  So more money makes up for the promo cost (word is bobbles cost about $3 each to produce, which could be high) cause what do you think they make off a $9.75 beer?  We pay about a buck per beer for Modelo, so the Sox might pay 75¢ to make $9.  In the 108 alone, they make bank!  In fact, I am sure we paid for a part of Tim Anderson‘s contract extension.

There is a group of guys (I might or might not be one of them) who procure extra bobbles for trading or selling purposes.  They might see it as a service to fans that can’t be there.  They might see it as it is, an opportunity to make some extra cash.  Many haters like to remind these people that the bobblehead is “free”, you are paying for the game after all. They deploy this theory in hopes to get a bobblehead from you for cheaper, with no work. I’d like to set the record straight, ain’t nothing free brah.  Gotta get the ticket.  Gotta get the parking. Gotta get the beers.  Gotta get the food.  Gotta drive there. Gotta drive home. Let’s say you live in Southern Illinois.  You gotta drive up to Sox park.  Gas ain’t free.  Let’s say $20 in gas.  Parking is $20.  Tickets, let’s say you get $7 tickets, with fees those are like $13.  Right now you are in for $53 to get your bobble, and you are thirsty and hungry.  But’s it’s free right?!?!?  Many Sox releases go for much less shipped on Ebay.  For most releases it is more cost effective to buy than it is to go.  Think about it like that.  Stop the hate.

So how can teams make this better?  Simple, up at Wrigley North (although soon enough Wrigley could be known as Miller Park South, Brew Crew Risin’) they have it all figured out.  Bobbleheads are “ALL FAN RELEASES”. If you are gonna buy 10k bobbles, buy 40k instead. If CostCo has taught me anything, you save if you buy in bulk. Over in Cleveland, you can pay $5 with your ticket to get the giveaway, called a promo pass.  On the web it says this –

“Promo Pass tickets are only available online for the featured games and can be added to the purchase of your game ticket for an additional $5. Passes ensure you get the promotional item even if all the items have been given out at the game. Any promotional items allocated to the Promo Pass program will be in addition to those already available at the ballpark gates.”

Guess what else?  As an Indians season ticket holder, you can cash in points to get promo items you might have missed.  You listening White Sox?  Points! I want points! If I had the option to buy a promo pass on a $7 ticket to get my bobbleheads, I would spend the extra money for a no stress life.  Sox have been doing “Special Ticket” bobblehead releases the past 3 years, they are fucking brilliant.  With this year being the exception. They did one on a Yankees game.  Why oh why do you need to reward people for going to a Yankees game?  Ugh.  Last year they did a Superhero Lawrie Bobblehead and it ended up being a slight cost upgrade on the ticket, it was great.  The Yanks tix are already overpriced and then they added in this fee for the bobblehead.  Bastards.

That’s it.  That is how you solve this issue and shut Dave Kaplan the fuck up.  He don’t give a fuck cause he get’s whatever he wants anyways.  Many people also pointed out that Dave hosts a show where they show off high end sports memorabilia.  That Jordan game used jersey only cost the Bulls a couple hundred, that should be the price right?  You can order it online right? GTFO Dave.

Problem is that some teams don’t wanna do that, cause they want that extra money that bad.  Some local minor league teams don’t give them out till the 5th inning! You get the voucher at the gate, have to stay there for 5 innings, THEN they give you a bobblehead.  Just raking in that dough.  In the 108, I am about the only guy who really cares about the promo items.  The boys are good for a few a year, but mostly it’s about getting as much beer as possible in before we walk than it is to get the promo.  I stopped asking them soon after I met them if they could come early and help a buddy out.  I hit that line early with Bobble Jim and #WallyMoney.

In conclusion, if you want everyone to be happy, give away more.  No fights. No secondary market. No problems.  But that isn’t what a promo is supposed to do right?

*I am sure I am not done of this subject yet and expect an in depth article about it before the end of the year.  BeefLoaf has been cracking the whip, needed to get some content out.  Love ya buddy.

-MSS

UPDATE! As I am sure you saw, last night we drank 62 beers (spoiler, we drank more) to honor Jose Quintana.  It was called #62forQ.  Check out our Twitter to see the pics, @fromthe108