Pirates Releasing Exclusive Paul Skenes Bobblehead
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have had great success promoting star pitcher Paul Skenes, especially when it comes to him and bobbleheads.
The Pirates will unveil a new Paul Skenes bobblehead for fans in 2026, but that isn't the only bobblehead they'll release next season.
Pittsburgh will give out another Paul Skenes bobblehead, honoring him winning the National League Cy Young Award. This bobblehead is similar to one that they'll release next season, but has one big change compared to the general release.
Pirates Releasing Exclusive Paul Skenes Bobblehead
The Pirates will give out an exclusive Skenes bobblehead this season, only available for season ticket holders. It honors Skenes for winning the National League Cy Young Award and is in all gold, with PNC sponsoring it.
The Pirates are releasing a Skenes Cy Young Bobblehead for all fans on April 18, as they take on the Tampa Bay Rays at PNC Park, which is the same as this exclusive bobblehead, but not in gold.
The general bobblehead has Skenes in the regular home uniform, black jersey, white pants with yellow stripes and a black line down the sides, black Pirates cap, glove and also socks, with yellow cleats.
It also shows Skenes in mid-throwing motion, containing his entire body, with the Cy Young Award at his left foot.
Pirates Have Great Success With First Paul Skenes Bobblehead
The Pirates released the first Skenes bobblehead back on April 19 against the Cleveland Guardians, bringing in a crowd of 37,713, the second highest-attended game at PNC Park in 2025. This honored his 2024 National League Rookie of the Year campaign.
Only one game eclipsed that attendance, which was for the Mac Miller bobblehead giveaway against the Chicago White Sox on July 19.
They originally had a limit of 20,000 bobbleheads, which saw fans line outside hours before the gates opened and supplies run out quickly.
The Pirates then announced that they would honor every fan that scanned their ticket for the game with an electronic voucher for a Skenes bobblehead at a later date, which they revealed details for later in the season.
Pittsburgh had less success on the field, as they suffered a disappointing 3-0 loss to the Guardians, which saw fans demand owner Bob Nutting sell the team.
Skenes had a strong outing, allowing just two earned runs off of two solo home runs to Guardians designated hitter Kyle Manzardo through seven innings with four strikeouts in the defeat.
History of Paul Skenes Bobbleheads
The Pirates also released two other Skenes bobbleheads throughout the 2025 season.
The next bobblehead came out on June 22 against the Texas Rangers, which was a Superman Skenes bobblehead, a collaboration with DC Comics. Fans that wanted the bobblehead bought a special ticket, as it wasn't a Pirates giveaway.
Pittsburgh also unveiled a Fanatics MLB Debut Skenes bobblehead that came out on Sept. 2 vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, but fans had to spend $200 in the team store to get the bobblehead.
Both of these bobbleheads are far less ubiquitous, due to their exclusive nature, making them a big draw for collectors.
Cy Young Award Completes Great Season for Skenes
Skenes just won the NL Cy Young award on Nov. 12, honoring the best pitcher in each league, with Detroit Tigers left-handed starter Tarik Skubal winning the American League Cy Young Award.
He beat out both Philadelphia Phillies left-handed starter Cristopher Sánchez and Dodgers right-handed starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, winning the award unanimously.
This made Skenes the third Pirates pitcher that won the Cy Young Award, along with Doug Drabek in 1990, who announced Skenes as the winner on MLB Network, and Vern Law in 1960.
Skenes had just a 10-10 record in 32 starts with the Pirates, but posted a 1.97 ERA over 187.2 innings pitched, 216 strikeouts to 42 walks, a .199 opposing batting average and a 0.95 WHIP, along with a 10.36 K/9, a 2.01 BB/9 and a 5.14 K/BB.
He ranked amongst the best pitchers in the MLB, with the lowest ERA, tied for the fourth most strikeouts, the fourth lowest WHIP, the sixth lowest batting average and the 10th most innings pitched, plus the fifth best K/BB, seventh best K/9 and ninth best BB/9.
Skenes also ranked highly in the National League, with the lowest WHIP, the fourth lowest batting average, tied for the second most strikeouts and the fourth most innings pitched, as well as the second best K/BB and both the fifth best K/9 and BB/9.
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.