My Final Thoughts About The 2015 Michael Brantley Bobblehead

photo courtesy of an indians.com newsletter

before i got the Michael Brantley bobblehead courtesy of Progressive Insurance, i saw a photo of it and wrote a sneak peek blog with my first impressions about it. now that i've gone to the August 8 game versus the Minnesota Twins and have the Brantley bobble in hand, i can do a final analysis of it. i'm going to include pictures in here so you will know exactly what it looks like and what i'm talking about. all the pics were taken by me and have my watermark on them.

first, here are a couple photos of the box that the bobblehead came in (which, unlike last year, does not have an opening in the front making the bobble visible prior to taking it out of the box):

Sneak Peek of the August 8 Michael Brantley Bobblehead Giveaway!

the Indians released their 2015 promotional schedule on January 24, and that is when we learned there was a Michael Brantley bobblehead on it. also at that time, i promised a follow up blog once i found out what that bobble looked like. today, the Indians decided to post a picture of it on their snapchat account. the first 15,000 fans who attend the August 8 game vs. the Minnesota Twins at 7:10 pm will receive this bobblehead courtesy of Progressive:

Another Brantley Bobblehead Giveaway!

today, on January 24, the Indians unveiled their 2015 promotional schedule at the 3rd annual Tribe Fest at Progressive Field. and i am very happy to report that there is a Michael Brantley bobblehead giveaway on the schedule for the Saturday, August 8 game against the Minnesota Twins! the first 15,000 fans will receive this bobble. game time is 7:05 pm and there will also be a Rock 'N Blast fireworks show after the game. you know i'll be there!

so the first thing i thought after seeing this promo was "is this the same bobblehead that they're giving away during spring training this year on March 7? the Silver Slugger bobble? or is it going to be different, and maybe somehow represent Michael being an MVP finalist or first time All Star?" since the specifics of the bobblehead were not made clear on the promo sched, i asked this very question,

Brantley Silver Slugger Bobblehead Revealed

who's up for another Brantley surprise today? this one's pretty sweet.

so back on November 21, 2014, the Indians' promotional schedule for spring training 2015 came out and it included a Michael Brantley Silver Slugger Bobblehead giveaway on March 7. and if you recall, i was extremely upset about not being able to get this bobble.

well today, in honor of it being National Bobblehead Day, the Goodyear Ballpark twitter account revealed what Michael's special bobblehead looks like:

Brantley Silver Slugger Bobblehead Giveaway!

look how far he's come. last year at this time, Michael didn't even have 1 bobblehead; now, he's getting his 2nd! it was announced today that a Michael Brantley bobblehead will be given away at the Saturday, March 7, 2015 spring training game at Goodyear Ballpark against the Los Angeles Dodgers at 1:05 pm mountain standard time. this bobble will be limited edition and honor Michael's 2014 AL OF Silver Slugger Award. only the first 1,500 fans will receive this special bobblehead. no picture has been released at this time, which probably means the bobble has yet to be constructed. but as soon as i get more info, i will let everyone know.

i personally will need to pull off some kind of miracle in order to get this, as going to Arizona for spring training is absolutely out of the question for me. and what's sadder than Michael's #1 fan not having his Silver Slugger bobble? this would have been a fantastic promotion for a regular season Tribe game and i have to express my disappointment that the Indians opted to hold this giveaway for a Cactus League game. maybe they did it in hopes of drawing more fans to Goodyear, but that's not really fair to those of us who would love this bobble but can't fly out there to get it. i supported Michael long before he ever became a slugger, back when he was batting .118 as a rookie, and i blogged about every career moment he had this season. i am super bummed and totally jealous of all the fans who will end up with this exclusive Brantley bobblehead. it really is a tragedy that i won't be one of them.

despite my bitterness, i'm still happy that the team is once again recognizing Michael for his extraordinary talent. so congratulations, Michael, on adding another bobblehead to your collection, this one in celebration of your outstanding ability at the plate! you most definitely deserve it! =D

Final Thoughts About Brantley's Bobblehead

header cropped off Indians.com

before i got the Michael Brantley bobblehead, i saw a small preview of it and wrote a sneak peek blog with my first impressions about it. now that i went to the September 1 Labor Day game against the Detroit Tigers and have the Brantley bobble in hand, i can do a final analysis of it. i'm going to include photos in here so people will know exactly what it looks like and what i'm talking about. all the photos were taken by me and have my watermark on them.

so here it is.

this is the first bobble i've ever gotten where it was "open" in the front and you could actually see the bobblehead before taking it out of the box.

now here it is out of the box and protective plastic, from all sides.

i was right about this cream colored jersey not having the name on the back, which i don't particularly think is a good look for a bobblehead. however, i will say this. in person, his bobble's skin tone looks better, or closer to actuality, than i originally thought it was. so that was a pleasant surprise.

but i knew from the promo photo that his face was not much of a dupe of the real thing. let me zoom in on this bobble's face for you.

this does not look like him at all as far as facial features go. it's pretty generic. that doesn't look like Michael's smile or jawline and that is definitely not his nose. i'm shocked they got his brown eyes right. then again, the eye shape is wrong and it almost looks like he's about to doze off lol

another big issue i initially had with this bobble was, prior to getting it, i had no idea what kind of catch this was supposed to be representing. well, the side(s) of the box clarified that immediately.

so look at the bobble again and then look at the box. this would have been a nice catch to emulate in bobble form, but the designer really punked out on the formation of the mold. i said in my sneak peek blog that no player makes a catch with his arm just resting straight up by his head. this particular catch doesn't seem like it would be too tough to do, so why wasn't it done right? i know for a fact that there are other diving catch bobbleheads and jumping up catch bobbleheads that have the player's arm at a different angle than the rest of his body. i just don't see why this catch could not be re-created to a T.

other than body positioning, what else do you see different from the box picture and the bobble? that's right, he's not even wearing the same uniform. face palm. this is the road blue jersey with the gray pants. so why the hell did they decide to put him in the home cream uni? is it because they just recently gave away a Jason Kipnis bobblehead with the blue jersey on? that's not Michael's fault. and they gave him long sleeves. where is that in the original catch? nowhere.

idk if the Indians used a different company to make the bobble or if it was sponsored by someone else who just didn't give a fuck about the process and/or result or what. but the end result is disappointing when you see what it should have been. i remember how eager i was to learn more about this bobblehead when it was first added to the promo schedule, and now i'm like, really? this is what i waited for? this is what you came up with to give me? sigh.

maybe Michael will get another bobblehead made of him next year because he was the best player on the team this season and maybe they'll do better. it would be sweet as hell if they made one of him in his All Star jersey. but i have a feeling Michael's not going to have any more promotional items featuring him for a while, if even ever again.

should i just be grateful that the Indians made a replica jersey for him last year and a bobble this year? probably. am i being overly critical about something that should be considered a sign of respect and admiration? yes. but i'm a stickler for details and i'm so sorry Michael but this bobblehead was such a fail. i hope they do better next time, because you absolutely deserve better.

Sneak Peek of the Michael Brantley Bobblehead Giveaway

photo from Indians.com

here it is. the Michael Brantley bobblehead that's being given away to the first 12,500 fans who attend the Labor Day game vs. the Detroit Tigers on September 1, 2014. this is not the best photo of the bobble, but it's the only one i could find online right now. so let's critique it, shall we?

i know bobbles don't normally look much like the player, but at first glance i think this is one of the worst bobbles i've ever seen. unless i need to go get my eyes checked, this pic makes Michael look light-skinned. so right off the bat, i'm not feeling this.

and what is this pose? the Indians obviously wanted to make this a catch bobble, but that's a very unrealistic catch position. they couldn't make an over-the-shoulder catch? or at least put his glove hand down so the ball is falling into his glove. i wasn't expecting a diving catch because they just did one of those for Bourn earlier this year, but even a newbie baseball fan knows that a player doesn't just hold his arm up next to his head to make a catch. and his footing doesn't work with this "catch" either. the best theory i can come up with for this bobblehead is that Michael is currently in the middle of transferring the ball from his glove to his throwing hand and is about to throw the ball in to a cut-off man. and even that's a bit of a stretch. i mean why would you want to capture that moment in bobble form? i don't get it.

why couldn't they just make Michael's bobble an All Star bobble? that would have been a sweet bobblehead. even Michael in his batting stance would have been better. seriously, who was the designer of this concept? it's not great.

i also dislike that they gave him the cream colored home jersey. so, if this is true to form, that means his name's not going to be on the back of the jersey; only his number (23) will. (when i actually get this bobble in my possession, i will confirm or deny this in a new blog. with bigger pictures.) and because he's wearing the cream jersey, he's gotta wear the hat that goes with it, the C instead of the Wahoo. i'd rather he be rocking the chief on his hat. not to mention i don't like that he's got long sleeves on. is that supposed to represent him at the home opener when it was cold or something? idk.

i'm disappointed in the (lack of) likeness of this bobble, i can't lie. there are many other player bobbleheads out there that are more true to reality and i'm sad his isn't. and because Michael is currently the best player on the team, i think this bobblehead really should have been made with better attention to detail. but maybe i'm just biased because i'm his #1 fan.

regardless, i will be attending the Labor Day game and getting this bobble. who knows? i might actually like it when i see it in person lol i've wanted the Tribe to do a Michael bobble giveaway for so long and i'm very happy he finally got one. if i'm lucky, i'll get Michael to sign it, but considering the fact that i haven't gotten his autograph once yet this season, i'm not going to hold my breath. hopefully he'll take time after the game and sign autos in the players parking lot and i can get it then.

so congrats on your bobble, Michael! and good luck to you in your final month of the season. this has been one hell of a career year for you and i am so proud of you! =D