Don't Look a Bobblehead in the Mouth

Appended July 27, 2006

On Wednesday, the Phillies are giving away "free to all fans" a Ryan Howard Bobble Figurine. (One would assume that said fans would need to purchase a ticket to Wednesday's game to actually receive the giveaway, but this is not stated explicitly.)

I found it interesting that it's referred to as a "bobble figurine" and not the more familiar "bobblehead doll." I wonder if this is a reference to Howard's defensive shortcomings. While Howard has shown future-Hall-of-Fame power in his first full season in the majors, his fielding is still coming along. The phrase, "hands of stone" comes to mind. But he hits a lot of homeruns, so its easily forgivable.

Never-the-less, this figurine, as seen pictured (right) clearly has a bobbling head. But on this week's Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, Joe Morgan commented over and over again how steady Howard keeps his head while hitting. So, his lack of a bobbling head actually contributes to his power at the plate.

Maybe a bobblehands doll would be more appropriate after all.

UPDATE: July 27, 2006
It turns out these bobble figurines were pretty popular. Last night's game set a single-game attendance record at Citizens Bank Park. Either that or a lot of scouts were there to see John Leiber and David Delucci with the non-waiver trade deadline looming. Howard went 0 for 2 with a strikeout.