Tom Browning Bobblehead Review

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone reviews a 2008 Cincinnati Reds Tom Browning bobblehead. 

2018 Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum Bobbleheads Review

2018 featured some pretty cool Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum bobbleheads. The Reds Hall of Fame continued its tradition of distributing bobbleheads to fans on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays of each month during the season with the purchase of an admission ticket. I did not get every bobblehead that the Reds Hall of Fame handed out this season as some were of repeat players. In this post, I will review the bobbleheads I added to my collection courtesy of the Reds Hall of Fame.

The first bobblehead I received from the Reds Hall of Fame this year was a members’ exclusive bobblehead of Chuck Harmon. In order to obtain the bobblehead, you had to be a Reds Hall of Fame and Museum member. This is the first ever Reds bobblehead of Chuck Harmon and the reason why I became a member. The membership also included some other perks, but the Harmon bobblehead is the best benefit of being a member in my opinion.

The second bobblehead from the Reds Hall of Fame that was added to my collection was a 1988 Rookie of the Year Chris Sabo bobble. Sabo is a bigtime fan favorite among Reds Country, and this particular bobble honors his Rookie of the Year award. I do not actively try to get repeat players unless the bobblehead is significantly different. I have the 2010 Sabo bobblehead that the Reds gave out when he was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame. The 2018 bobblehead came free with my Reds Hall of Fame membership, and even though I already have a Sabo bobble, the Rookie of the Year version is a pretty cool addition to my collection.

Third on the list of Reds Hall of Fame bobbleheads that I received was a bobblehead of Ernie Lombardi. He is a Reds legend, and I had been wanting either the team or the Reds Hall of Fame to give out a bobblehead of him for what seemed like an eternity. This bobblehead looks great and came free with my membership.

Fourth was a double bobblehead of Johnny Vander Meer. Like Lombardi, I had been wanting the Reds Hall of Fame or the team to give a bobblehead of Vander Meer for a very long time. He was on the 1940 World Series Championship team and became the first player in history to throw back to back no hitters. As such, his bobblehead is a double bobble and it might be one of the best that the Reds Hall of Fame has ever produced.

The fifth Reds Hall of Fame bobblehead for my collection in 2018 is a Tom Browning on a Building bobblehead. This bobblehead commemorates his famous 1993 stunt in which he left Wrigley Field during a game and perched himself on a roof across the street from the stadium. This is a fantastic bobblehead of Browning, and I consider it significantly different from other Browning bobblehead in my collection. 

The final bobblehead of 2018 that the Reds Hall of Fame gave out was of Harry Wright. This bobblehead was given out in exchange for a donation to the Reds Hall of Fame "150th Anniversary Legacy Campaign" to help cover the costs of renovating the actual Reds Hall of Fame and Museum building. Wright is the "Father of Professional Baseball" as he paid every player on the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings making them the first professional baseball team. This is by far my favorite Reds Hall of Fame bobblehead of 2018. 

Those are all the bobbleheads that I added to my collection courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum in 2018. They all look great and do an excellent job of representing different generations of Reds history. My favorite from this batch might be Ernie Lombardi. It’s hard to beat a bobblehead of a Reds legend and National Baseball Hall of Famer which is what Lombardi is. The only bobbleheads from the 2018 Reds Hall of Fame lineup that I did not get were Adam Dunn and Johnny Bench as I already have bobbles of them in my collection, and I felt that the 2018 versions were not significantly different enough. 2018 was a solid year for Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum bobbleheads, and I cannot wait to see what the Reds Hall of Fame unveils for 2019.

Tom Browning on a Building Bobblehead Unboxing

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone unboxes a Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum Tom Browning on a Building bobblehead. 

Bengal Graphs 2017 Part 4

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shows the different autographs he has gotten during the 2017 season of the Cincinnati Bengals. 

The 2018 Reds Hall of Fame Bobbleheads Are...

The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum announced their series of bobbleheads for the 2018 season. It will feature many Reds legends from different generations that are sure to make excellent bobblehead collection additions. Some players that are featured are repeats while others are long overdue to have a bobblehead made in their likeness. In this post, I will discuss the bobbleheads that the Reds Hall of Fame plans to give out in 2018 as well as share my thoughts on them.

The first bobblehead of the year will be given in April and will feature Chris Sabo. It will commemorate the 30^th anniversary of Sabo’s rookie of the year award. The Reds have given out two bobbleheads of Sabo in the past, and this is the first time the Reds Hall of Fame has featured “Spuds” as a bobblehead. While it is sure to be a cool bobblehead, I already have the Sabo bobble the Reds gave out in 2010 and do not plan on getting this one.

The next bobblehead will be featured in May and will immortalize the great Ernie Lombardi. This bobblehead celebrates the 80^th anniversary of Lombari’s MVP award. Lombardi is a baseball hall of famer and should have had a bobblehead a long time ago, and I am very happy that the Reds Hall of Fame is finally immortalizing him as a bobblehead. This is a bobble I plan on adding to my collection.

June’s bobblehead will feature another player who should have been immortalized as a bobblehead years ago. Johnny Vander Meer will have his back-to-back no hitter showcased as a dual bobblehead in order to celebrate the 80^th anniversary of the amazing accomplishment. I have been begging for a Vander Meer bobblehead for a long time, and I couldn’t be more excited to get my hands on this one during the 2018 season.

The July bobblehead will be of Adam Dunn to honor his induction into the Reds Hall of Fame. Dunn was one of my favorites as a kid, and the bobblehead the team gave out in 2002 of him was one of the very first bobbles I had in my collection. Since I have the 2002 bobblehead, I will not be getting his bobblehead from the Reds Hall of Fame during the 2018 season.

The August bobblehead is really cool and one I am on the fence about getting. It will honor the 25^th anniversary of Tom Browning leaving Wrigley Field to watch the game from a rooftop across the street. While I already have a bobblehead of Browning, this bobblehead just sounds too awesome to pass up on adding to my collection.

September will feature a bobblehead of hall of famer Johnny Bench that will showcase the 50^th anniversary of his rookie of the year award. While there is absolutely no doubt that Bench is the greatest catcher in Reds history and possibly MLB history, this will be the 8^th bobblehead of Bench that either the Reds or the Reds Hall of Fame will give to fans. I already have a Bench bobblehead and do not plan on getting this one.

Once again, the Reds Hall of Fame has a good series of bobbles planned for the upcoming baseball season. While I would have loved to see more new players featured alongside Lombardi and Vander Meer, it is great that two of greatest Reds players form the 1940 World Series Championship team are finally being honored. If you are looking to add some Reds bobbleheads to your collection, head on over to the Reds Hall of Fame during the 2018 season.

2015 Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum Bobbleheads Review

Earlier this year I wrote a blog post previewing the 2015 Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum series of bobbleheads. They gave away five different nodders on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from April to August and all were of a member of the 1990 World Series Championship Cincinnati Reds team. In this post, I will share my thoughts on every bobblehead I received from the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.

The first bobblehead I got from the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum was of former first baseman Todd Benzinger. I thought this was an awesome looking bobblehead and a great way to start of the series as Benzinger had never been immortalized as a bobblehead. The pose they chose was also topnotch. It features Benzinger making the final out in the fourth game of the World Series to both end the game and give the Reds their fifth World Series title in franchise history.

The second bobblehead was of Joe Oliver. He was the popular catcher on the 1990 team whose clutch hitting scored Billy Bates in walk off fashion in Game 2 to put the Reds ahead two games to none over the Athletics. In fact, that moment is what the bobblehead was based on and in my opinion, they mirrored that moment almost perfectly.

The third bobblehead of the series was of Billy Hatcher. He was one of the most popular outfielders on the 1990 team and also serves as the current first base coach for the Reds. Hatcher being featured as a bobblehead was a no-brainer because of his record setting performance in the series as he had a batting average of .750. I’m shocked that he hadn’t been featured as a bobblehead sooner because he is just as popular today if not more than he was in 1990 with members of Reds Country. They did a nice job with this nodder, and it is my personal favorite of the bunch.

The fifth bobblehead was of Ohio native and former Reds outfielder Paul O’Neill. This was the last bobblehead the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum gave away, and they picked an excellent player to immortalize as a nodder. Even though he might be more famous as a Yankee than a Red, he will always be considered a member of the Redlegs to me and to other members of Reds Country. This bobblehead looks great and was a fantastic way to end the series. It was also flying out of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum as its release was on the same day as the Devin Mesoraco bobblehead game and virtually every fan who attended the game hit the hall before going to the game. That’s what I did, and at the end of the night, I left the game with both the O’Neill bobblehead and the Mesoraco bobblehead.

You probably noticed that I did not pick up the fourth bobblehead in the series. It was of Tom Browning, one of the pitchers on the team. The reason I did not go and pick up this one was because I have a Cincinnati Reds Tom Browning bobblehead that the team gave away in 2008, and I usually only collect one bobblehead of a player per team. 

In conclusion, the 2015 series of Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum bobbleheads were great and the best series of nodders that they have done to date. My only gripe with the series is Browning being featured as I thought that should have gone with somebody else other than him as he has already been featured as a Reds bobblehead. I think Jose Rijo, Glenn Braggs, and Lou Pinella would have been great choices. Hopefully the Reds or the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum make bobbleheads of these guys in the future. If you were not able to get your hands on any of these bobbleheads, then eBay is your best bet to find them. All fans of the Reds need these bobbleheads in their collection as they celebrate the only wire-to-wire team in the history of the Cincinnati Reds.

Make sure you check out the unboxing videos for these bobbleheads by clicking here!