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Let’s start with a brief history of bobbleheads. 2000 : Bobbleheads seemed to be 20th century relic by the turn of the century until a promotion by the San Francisco Giants brought the bobblehead back to the public eye. The Giants offered a Willie Mays bobblehead to the first 20,000 visitors on May 9th to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Candlestick Park, which was the last year of the Giants playing at that stadium. New variations of the bobblehead were made including the mini-bobblehead, bobble computer sitters, bobblehead banks, and even bobblehead air fresheners. The Guinness Book of World Record for largest bobblehead was set for a bobblehead in the likeness of TV show host Chuck Woolery. The bobblehead weighed 900 pounds, was 11 feet tall and was originally displayed at the McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois.

How are bobbleheads made? We begin with the head of the bobble head doll. The body is made of hollow plastic that is covered by felt cloth. On the head, a metal clasp is connected to the downward portion of the head to connect into the bobble head dog’s body. At the far end of the body is a bolt that acts as a weight for the head. When attached to the body, this allows for the bobble head to sway and bob around. Without the weighed bolt at the end, the bobble head would simply rise to the top of the body in a fixed position. Next up is the body of the bobble head doll. The body, which in this case is about 4″ (10.16cm) in length, is made of a hollow core like the head, but the mold is not enclosed in order to allow space for the head piece to attach to the body. To attach to the body, a small metal anchor is attached inside the upper portion of the body to allow the clasp from the head to rest in the center of the anchor. When the head is attached to the body, the bobble head bobs and glides with ease. The movement can be endless as long as the bobble head doll is in contact with motion to jostle the parts enough to cause movement.

Among the most popular bobble head dolls, bobble head dogs continue to lead the way. The bobble head animals are popular due to the love of various animals, their compact size, and the ability to place the bobble head on the car dashboard or back window. In the United States, the availability of bobble head dogs have been limited greatly over the past several years. As of late 2013, one of the top producers of ceramic bobble head dogs discontinued their product line.

The first known mentioning of the bobblehead doll is in Nikolai Gogol’s 1842 short story “The Overcoat” where one of the characters is said to looks like one. It is also believed that moder bobblehead dolls originate from 18th century Germany where they were made of ceramic. These dolls in turn originate from Ancient Japanese and Chinese string dolls. Modern bobblehead dolls were first made from paper-mache, ceramic and plastic. 20th century bobblehead dolls were first made in 1920s. New York Knicks basketball player bobblehead was produced trhen but interest in them waned by 1930s and didn’t renew until 1950s.

Alexander Malcolm would become one of the largest bobblehead sellers and a key figure in the history of bobbleheads, producing 48-49 million of these sentimental nodding heads. But he did not know it at the time when he sat down at a business meeting with the San Franciscio Giants during the 1990s. He was just hoping to sell some sort of promotional item for them. When Malcolm asked what they were looking for, The San Francisco Giants replied, “bobbleheads”. Malcolm agreed to provide thousands of Willie Mays bobbleheads to the professional baseball organization to be passed out to their fans for free. Malcolm went to work, but did not know he could get away with using the traditional cartoonish boy bobblehead. Instead, he made a much more real version of Mays (although Mays would disagree). So, on May 9, 1999, to celebrate the anniversary of Candlestick Park, the last year the Giants would play at this stadium by the bay, 20,000 visitors each received the Willie Mays bobblehead. It was a success! The crowd loved the semi-life-like yet cartoonish novelty item. That one game made way for the bobblehead era revival. The next year, eight Major League Baseball teams had bobblehead giveaways. And Malcolm’s small business in the 1990s flourished into the global enterprise it is today.

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