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Saturday, September 08, 2001

By Dan Gigler, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A standing-room-only crowd of nearly 40,000 will be at PNC Park tonight, but not because of the battle for last place in the National League Central Division between the Pirates and the similarly miserable Cincinnati Reds.

	One of the Roberto Clemente bobblehead dolls that will be given to fans attending tonight's Pirates game at PNC Park. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette)

Credit a 7-inch ceramic doll with a jiggly head.

Fans attending the game will join in a pop-culture phenomenon when they receive free Roberto Clemente bobblehead dolls.

Bobbleheads, sometimes called "nodders," have been all the rage this summer at ballparks and elsewhere. They're 6- to 7-inch ceramic dolls with cartoonish likenesses of athletes' bodies and oversized heads that rock and roll.

First made popular as a kid's toy in the 1950s and 1960s, bobbleheads have made a comeback in the past two years as giveaway items at sporting events and have become a hot commodity for collectors.

How hot?

When teams have tried to limit the giveaways to children, "we've heard stories of adults treating Little League teams to games just so they can get a dozen or more dolls," said Steve Avanessian, vice president of marketing for Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, the Woodinville, Wash., company that produced the Clemente doll.

Fans in Minnesota lined up 51 hours before game time when 15,000 Kirby Puckett dolls were given away to honor the former player's induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

An Allen Iverson bobblehead giveaway at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game nearly caused a riot.

Fans with tickets to tonight's Pirates game can rest easy -- the team counted its supply of Clemente dolls by hand to make sure there were enough for every patron holding a ticket.

As of yesterday afternoon, Clemente bobblehead futures were being sold on eBay, the Internet auction site, for up to $75.

"We routinely see these things pop up on eBay with their game ticket stub before the game is even over," Avanessian said.

Bobbleheads bobbed up in May 1999, when the San Francisco Giants gave 20,000 fans attending a game Willie Mays dolls. But the Minnesota Twins are widely recognized for kindling the craze.

For an early-season promotion last year, the Twins gave away 5,000 bobbleheads of Hall-of-Fame slugger Harmon Killebrew. The game was at night and fans started to line up at 6 a.m.

Every Major League Baseball team has followed suit with a bobblehead promotion, as have teams in other sports leagues, including colleges.

The Milwaukee Brewers gave dolls of announcer Bob Uecker, and the Detroit Free Press sponsored a bobblehead night for longtime Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell.

Last year, the Pirates honored Bill Mazeroski with a bobblehead, and drew an above-average crowd of 30,118 to Three Rivers Stadium.

Clemente, one of the team's most popular players, was a natural choice for this season.

"From the get-go, this was one of our best-selling games. This one will be up there with Opening Day," said Joe Billetdeaux, a Pirates marketing spokesman.

Billetdeaux anticipates that the fad will last for at least another season or two and said the Pirates are planning several bobblehead giveaways for next year, featuring a mix of past and present players.

Unlike Beanie Babies, the last "must-have" item at ballparks, the bobbleheads' appeal seems to lie in adults' nostalgia for their childhood.

"People are drawn to these things," Avanessian said. "They reach a much bigger demographic and sentimental interest than the Beanies ever did."

Avanessian said Bensussen Deutsch has produced close to 1 million bobbleheads for stadium promotions, and that once each promotion is done, the molds are destroyed, adding to the dolls' value as collectibles.

Vintage 1960s dolls go for more than $200. Don McCray of Sports World Specialties, a Downtown collectibles shop, has sold a 1962 Clemente bobblehead for $1,200 and has seen them fetch as much as $4,200 at auction.

Before you start tearing the attic apart, McCray warns, "Just because it's old, doesn't mean it's worth a ton." Condition, rarity and popularity all factor in.

Of the modern bobbleheads, Seattle Mariners' star Ichiro Suzuki's doll, the various Minnesota Twins dolls and a series of rare Arizona Diamondbacks bobbleheads are among the most valuable, fetching $200. McCray and Avanessian both think that tonight's Clemente doll will be a big-ticket item.

"This doll is smokin'," Avanessian said. "Clemente isn't only a Pittsburgh icon, he's a baseball icon."

And soon, a bobblehead icon as well.