If you ask my wife, I've been very active on eBay recently... Maybe, it's true. The stack of broken down boxes waiting for the trash pickup is a little larger than usual. My excuse: There have just been too many good deals to pass up!

Actually, though she doesn't understand the idea of "collecting", my wife is generally OK with my often obsessive eBay habits. In fact, she even exclaimed, "Oh, cute!" when I unpackaged my latest purchases: Three Clearwater Threshers, 2008 World Series Champions SGA bobble heads - Cole Hamels, Jayson Werth and Pat Burrell.

These bobble heads were originally scheduled to be handed out at Threshers games over a number of dates during the Summer of 2009. The full promotion included nine players: Cole Hamels and the regular starting eight from the Phillies Championship team, concluding with a dual bobble of closer Brad Lidge with Carlos Ruiz. However, the promotion was doomed! After the first two dates had passed, the Tampa Bay Rays protested that the giveaways infringed on their "territorial rights" and forced its cancellation. This all means that only the figurines for the first two games were actually handed out as intended (Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley).

I have been aware of these since 2009, but haven't seen too many come up for a decent price. It would be interesting to know how they ended up in circulation after the promotion was cancelled. The three I bought at least get me started toward completing this unusual set. Guess I have a reason to keep scrolling through the eBay listings now...

Update: I received a message from Brian Fauerbach on Facebook letting me know that besides the Rollins and Utley that were handed out as planned, the Threshers only ended up ordering bobble heads of Werth, Burrell, Hamels, Victorino and Howard. Unfortunately, they never produced the dual Ruiz/Lidge bobble.