The Decade in Bobbleheads: 2000

PITTSBURGH, Pa. / January 25, 2010

While the 2000-2009 decade was a pretty awful one on the field, the Pirates excelled in issuing more bobbleheads than just about any team. Sadly, the giveaway of bobbleheads has decreased to the point that Andrew McCutchen is the only player being honored this year. In this installment of "The Decade in Bobbleheads" we take a look at those halcyon days of 2000, when Tom Gorzelanny was but a twinkle in his father's eye. The Pirates gave away just one bobblehead, making this an easy post to write.

Bill Mazeroski
July 29, 2000
Worthiness: A
Execution: F

Bobblehead giveaways in Pittsburgh got off to quite an inauspicious start with this disaster. While the 1960 World Series hero and seven-time All Star Mazeroski clearly deserved to be honored with a bobblehead, he looks like he just lined into a triple play, or did something worse. I can kind of see how it looks like him, but there's not much detail. The jersey lettering is poorly done, and if he's holding a bat where's the end of the bat? Furthermore the box picture looks better than the real thing, evidence of poor production. A final complaint, I would prefer to see Mazeroski in a fielding pose since he got into the Hall of Fame for his glove.

The Pirates drew 30,118 fans for the only bobblehead giveaway ever at Three Rivers Stadium. This was a disappointment as they had ordered 35,000 bobbleheads. At least those fans got to see Brian Giles go 5-for-5 in a 10-2 win over the Padres. Maz and other members of the 1960 Pirates were there signing autographs.

The disappointing bobblehead was not a Pirates-specific problem that year; pretty much every team's giveaways that year were apparently made by the same company which did a poor job. I guess you have to start somewhere.