As a “Seinfeld” and baseball fan, I couldn’t help but be entertained by the stories coming out of Yankee Stadium last week.
Not by the stories of the struggling Yankees dropping a series to Boston or any of the sitcom’s actors making news, but by the lines wrapping around Yankee Stadium to get a now legendary promotional item: A George Costanza bobblehead with the character sleeping under his desk at Yankee Stadium.
By early, I mean 1 p.m. for a 7 p.m. game vs. the Red Sox.
The bobblehead references an episode from season 10, which aired in 1997, and follows the immense popularity of the 2024 Costanza bobblehead. That one paid homage to Constanza’s famous hitting lessons he gave to Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams.
The 2025 bobblehead, which features George’s quote “I love a good nap. Sometimes it’s the only thing getting me out of bed in the morning,” is being sold online for over $200.
I love this story because it’s just so goofy and represents a great partnership between a baseball team, its city and pop culture.
This is where the Rockies come in.
They don’t do much of this connecting to the city and pop culture, or even the team’s history, especially like they used to. They need to start upping their game in 2026.
Of course, the number one priority at 20th and Blake should be to field a better baseball team.
Plus, the Rockies are still averaging 29,799 fans per game at Coors Field this year. They don’t need promotional giveaways to get people to come see them. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have the top attendance in MLB at 49,872 per game, have 22 bobblehead giveaways in 2025. It’s more fan appreciation, a gift for coming out to the ballpark. Since the Rockies are 21-45 at home, they win less than one-third of the time at Coors Field. That’s exactly why they should step up their promotional giveaway game, to treat the fans who are willing to come out and see them.
Even if many of the fans are at Coors Field for other teams, it’s fine. I went to a Rockies-Dodgers game earlier this year when Colorado gave out Rockies straw cowboy hats. I wasn’t early enough to get one, but I found joy seeing numerous Dodger fans in Rockies cowboy hats. So even if the opposing fans are getting them, there’s something gratifying about fans of other teams having Rockies souvenirs.
With so much attention on bobbleheads, I started to wonder why they exist and how they have become such a phenomenon, especially in Major League Baseball. Their history is interesting, and I thought I’d brainstorm some possibilities the Rockies could explore as potential giveaways.
History of Bobbleheads
Did you know there is a National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum? I didn’t until earlier this week.
Located in Milwaukee, the museum hosts thousands of bobbleheads from many sports, comic books, movies and beyond. According to the museum’s website, the bobblehead origin story dates back to at least the 1700s when Chinese nodding-head figures made their way to Europe. A big hit with British royalty, their popularity soared thanks to the Prince of Wales (later George IV) in the late 1700s through the 1800s. They appeared in a short story by Nikolai Gogol in 1842. In addition, they often were animals, from cats to team mascots.
By the 1960s, they were made of everything from ceramic to paper-mâché. Mascots came first, but the first baseball players arrived in the form of Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Willie Mays. As the museum explains, “The uniforms were different but all shared the same face.”
Rockies Bobbleheads
The bobbleheads in my collection are few.
I don’t think I have ever gotten one from an in-game giveaway. I normally get them from others who didn’t want them. My collection currently stands at four, including two from my brother-in-law, who recently won a Rockies memorabilia bucket in a golf tournament that had a Trevor Story 505 (honoring his three-homer night bobblehead) and a Kris Bryant Star Wars bobblehead. Otherwise, I have an Ellis Burks from the Blake Street Bomber days and a now very awkward Nolan Jones from 2024.
This season, the Rockies had two bobblehead giveaways: Gold Glovers Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle.
Both promotional nights happened in June. Last year, there was a Todd Helton Hall of Fame bobblehead to mark his enshrinement in Cooperstown. In 2023, there were just two: Charlie Blackmon and the Jedi Bryant. Germán Márquez (2021 All-Star), Ryan McMahon and Bryant made up the collection in 2022, and the trio of Chuck Nazty (with the American flag shirt he wore to All-Star game), Trevor Story with a clock for Story Time and Larry Walker with a nod to the Hall of Fame made up the bobblehead giveaways, according to the Stadium Giveaway Exchange website.
In the last five years, the Rockies have given away an estimated 11 bobbleheads, making up half of the Dodgers 2025 number.
This hasn’t always been the case.
The Rockies made 10 bobbleheads in 2014, including eight featuring different players, Dinger and even a Sasquatch as gnomes, in addition to two Heltons celebrating his (their?) farewell season. In 2013, Colorado had nine bobbleheads honoring the All-Time greats from the Blake Street Bomber days through Walt Weiss and Troy Tulowitzki.
It’s time to bring the tradition back.
Bobblehead Brainstorm
While it’s hard to compare the culture of New York and Los Angeles in Denver, it’s still very possible for the Rockies to find fun ways to infuse Colorado into their giveaways.
First, bring back themes.
One whole year could be dedicated to “South Park,” putting the characters in different places around Coors Field. Perhaps an accident in the fountains does Kenny in and Cartman could be eating a Helton Burger. For the Rockies who would be featured, which should include Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck to start. They could be stationed at different rooms throughout Casa Bonita, like Black Bart’s Cave, with the cliff divers, in the mine, in the arcade and more.
I would wait in line for those.
For nostalgia, you could feature a purple Robbin Williams as Mork from “Mork and Mindy” (set in Boulder), have a “Dumb and Dumber” double bobblehead with Harry and Lloyd in purple suits at the Stanley Hotel (where parts were filmed) and a “Here’s Johnny!” “Shining” tribute (which inspired the Stephen King thriller). Other figures could honor TV shows with Colorado sets, such as “Dynasty” and “Community.”
The Rockies could be playing at famous Colorado locations like Red Rocks, ski resorts, river rafting in Glenwood Canyon, climbing a 14er, posing at the Garden of the Gods, hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park, riding a roller coaster at Elitch’s, sand sledding at the Great Sand Dunes and more. A head-spinning Dinger also seems long overdue.
You could even do a series with the players and their pets. The Astros have an example they are doing this week.
The possibilities are endless.
The Rockies need to get better. But they also need to find ways to reward fans for sticking with them. One way to do that is to up the promotions and get creative with bobbleheads.
On the Farm
Triple-A: Sugar Land Space Cowboys 9, Albuquerque Isotopes 8
The Isotopes rallied to take a 7-5 lead with a four-run eighth inning, but the Space Cowboys added a pair of runs in the eighth and ninth innings, including a two-run walk-off homer by Miguel Palma in the loss on Thursday night. After falling down 3-0 in the first inning, Owen Miller smashed a three-run homer to tie the game in the second. Adael Amador hit a two-run double, Keston Hiura followed with an RBI single and Michael Toglia also hit an RBI double in Albuquerque’s big eighth inning. Toglia went 3-for-4 on the night with one strikeout, while Amador drove in three runs. Of the six Albuquerque pitchers who appeared in the game, Matt Turner is the only one who had a scoreless performance as he gave up two runs and struck out two in two innings of work.
Double-A: Portland Sea Dogs 15, Hartford Yard Goats 3
The Sea Dogs jumped out to a 10-0 lead after three innings on their way to a 16-hit smackdown on Thursday night. Michael Prosecky gave up six runs on five hits with one walk in 1 1/3 innings before making way to Evan Shawver, who didn’t fair much better, giving up four runs on six hits in 1 2/3 innings for Hartford. Julio Carreras hit a two-run double in the sixth to get the Yard Goats on the board and Jose Cordova hit an RBI ground-rule double in the ninth to add one final run. Juan Guerrero chipped in two hits and scored a run.
High-A: Spokane Indians 7, Tri-City Dust Devils 5
Skyler Messinger hit a two-run single to start a four-run rally in the fourth that carried the Indians to victory on Thursday. In the same inning, Tommy Hopfe scored on a wild pitch and Tevin Tucker scored when Aidan Longwell drew a bases-loaded walk. Messinger totalled two hits on the night, Longwell and Blake Wright both doubled, with Wright’s driving in a run, Cole Messina walked and scored two runs and Tucker also scored two runs on and added a single. Braxton Hyde started the game, giving up three runs, only two earned, on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Alberto Pacheco earned the victory in a hitless, scoreless appearance with one strikeout in 1 1/3 innings.
Low-A: Inland Empire 66ers 4, Fresno Grizzlies 2
Jacob Hinderleider hit a two-run homer and doubled, Roldy Brito and Kelvin Hildago both recorded two-hit nights, but it wasn’t enough for Fresno. Zack Morris gave up six hits for three runs, only one of which was earned on a night when the Grizzlies committed three errors, while walking one and striking out five in five innings to earn his first loss of the season (4-1).
For more on the Rockies farm system, check out this week’s Pebble Report.
Rockies’ Antonio Senzatela headed to bullpen, German Marquez returning to rotation | Denver Post ($)
After struggling all season and leading MLB in losses, longtime Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela is moving to the bullpen. With Tanner Gordon recording impressive starts, McCade Brown just getting a call-up and Germán Márquez returning from the IL, the Rockies are currently going with that trio, Kyle Freeland and Chase Dollander for the five-man rotation.
Kevin Henry catches up with Griffin Herring, who came to the Colorado Rockies organization in the trade that sent Ryan McMahon to the New York Yankees. The starting pitcher who is now with the Spokane Indians talks about what it was like to be part of that trade and how he is finding the new environment in the Pacific Northwest.
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