Skip to main content
SI

Let’s Talk About MLB Bobblehead Giveaways

Why do teams distribute items to less than half the people in attendance?
Jimmy Traina|
The Yankees will be giving away George Costanza calzone Bobbleheads on Aug. 27.
The Yankees will be giving away George Costanza calzone Bobbleheads on Aug. 27. | New York Yankees

1. I’m not a bobblehead guy at all. The only bobblehead I own is one of myself that was sent to me a few years ago by Prime Video and I’m still scarred by all the gray hair they gave me. I’m like 50% gray, yet they made 100% gray, but I digress.

My point is that I learned a lot about bobbleheads and MLB ballpark giveaways on Monday.

While doing a social media scroll, I saw that the Yankees are giving away a George Costanza calzone bobblehead at an upcoming game.

Right away, I noticed that only 18,000 fans will get the bobblehead, so I sent out what I thought was a benign, straightforward take:

I was blown away by the response. The reaction also made me feel extremely naive.

There were two main themes: ) Teams do giveaways for a limited amount of fans to build up demand; 2) Teams do giveaways for the first X amount of people so those fans get into the ballpark early and spend their money on food and drinks.

I’m a dope. I thought having a giveaway was a nice gesture for fans who are already getting ripped off left and right at a ball game.

But, no. It’s about resale value, creating demand, selling the item on eBay and making fans show up hours earlier than they need to so they can shell out cash for concessions.

I was strictly coming at this from what I thought was a commonsense standpoint. If there are X number of people in the stadium, then that many people should get a bobblehead. Why should anyone in attendance get shut out of getting whatever item is being given away?  I had no idea this was such a radical take.

My favorite responses were from people telling me it would be too expensive to do the giveaway for 30,000 to 40,000 people, as if the Yankees don’t print money. Don’t come at me telling me about “cost” when the Yankees are involved. It’s insulting.

On the flip side, I got a lot of responses from baseball fans telling me that the Dodgers do a great job with giveaways and distribute to all in attendance.

It was stupid of me to approach this from a commonsense point of view, though, because bobbleheads and other giveaway items are big business.

Apparently, these Costanza bobbleheads are already being sold on eBay.

To sum up, bobbleheads (and other giveaways) are not given away just to give fans a treat. They’re given away so fans can get to the game hours and hours earlier than first pitch, spend hundreds of dollars on beer and food and then when they get home, they can put the bobblehead on eBay.

2. SNY analyst Ron Darling had a very raw and real reaction to the Braves letting pitcher Connor Thomas get shelled for 11 runs in 2 ⅔ innings while throwing 78 pitches against the Mets on Monday. This was good TV.

3. I get that Caitlin Clark has bizarrely become a lightning rod in the sports world and beyond, but it’s disturbing that we can’t go one day without some sort of controversy.

On Monday, ESPN’s Monica McNutt seemed like she was trying to defend Clark but then ended up knocking Clark.

“Caitlin Clark is 24,” said McNutt. “She’s a shining star in the galaxy of the WNBA. But I do think, as she continues to matriculate through this league, there’s room for a little bit more accountability and self-awareness, in terms of her role in the larger sisterhood, if she sees it that way in the WNBA.”

What does this even mean?

It would’ve been nice if McNutt offered specifics about the “accountability” and “self-awareness” Clark needs to have more of in the name of sisterhood.

4. Phenomenal call here from Tigers broadcaster Jason Bennetti, who gave us full play-by-play of a squirrel getting on the field during the team’s game Monday against the Orioles.

I can’t imagine the level of embarrassment that Baltimore’s grounds crew had to be feeling after it took 10 billion people to get the squirrel.  

5. I have zero issue with ESPN promoting the WWE since WWE PLE’s air on ESPN Unlimited. But it will always be bizarre that ESPN makes its talent breakdown a WWE card as if it’s not a scripted event. It’s especially weird that ESPN makes one of its top college football voices (Joe Tessitore) do this. The network should hire a WWE analyst and let that person do these segments. I’m aware that Tessitore calls SmackDown for USA Network, but that’s what makes this even stranger.

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina, featuring an interview with Puck media reporter John Ourand, dropped on Thursday.

Ourand goes in-depth on the ESPN layoffs, explaining why they happened and how they happened. We also discuss the unfortunate situation with Ryan Clark finding out while he was on the air that he was being let go, how the NFL Network factors into all this, why the network parted ways with longtime broadcaster Karl Ravech and much more.

Other topics covered with Ourand include the bidding war for the broadcast rights to the next World Cup in 2030, why the NBA is anxiously waiting for LeBron James to make a free agency decision, Tom Brady’s very busy weekend and the NFL’s negotiations for new broadcast deals.

Following Ourand, Sal Licata from SNY TV and The Sal Licata Show joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss the World Cup final and the halftime show, a wild story about James Dolan and Madison Square Garden, Fanatics Fest, Larry David’s new HBO show, most buzzed-about New York sports event and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This is bombshell movie news.

We got a taste of an older Kevin McCallister in a 2025 commercial. Hopefully a full-length movie is next.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published | Modified
Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

Home/Media