Monday, July 6, was about as good a day for an ageing Los Angeles Dodgers fan as could be imagined – every person in attendance at Dodger Stadium for the game with the Philadelphia Phillies was given a Maury Wills bobblehead doll.
The nimble shortstop was a leading figure during the Dodgers’ most successful period at Los Angeles, from 1959 through 1965, when they won the World Series three times, something fans of a certain age remember fondly.
The ceramic doll shows Wills stealing second base, a fitting tableau given that he broke Ty Cobb’s 47-year-old record for steals in a season, with 104 in 1962, and almost single-handedly restored the steal to its historic place as an important offensive tactic.
Bobblehead dolls, with heads attached by springs, have a history going back to Germany in the 1850s.
Over the past decade the dolls have become a common marketing tool in North American sports, and especially so in baseball.
Many fans collect the dolls and many collections are extensive. Players such as Wills typically are amused to see their faces on 15-centimetre figurines.
If any player was more important to the Dodgers than Wills during that surge of greatness five decades ago, it was Sandy Koufax, the left-hander who won three Cy Young Awards, given to the best pitcher in the league.
A former colleague in the media box had set aside a Koufax bobblehead doll, distributed during last season, and gave it to the visiting fan early in Monday’s game.
Koufax and Wills bobbleheads on the same night made it special indeed.
Also, the Dodgers won the game 10-7.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
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