Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout smiles after unveiling a life-sized bobblehead doll before a baseball game against the Texas Rangers on Friday.
The way Mike Trout has played throughout his career thus far, he can seem larger than life for Angels fans. Two All-Star game most-valuable player awards, rookie of the year and, of course, MVP.
But on Friday night, Trout seemed relatively small standing next to a 6-foot-6-tall bobblehead in his likeness.
In commemoration of his 2014 MVP season, the Angels unveiled the bobblehead before their game against the Texas Rangers. The bobblehead itself stands 6-2, Trout’s actual height, but rests on a four-inch pedestal. It features Trout in a home uniform holding the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award.
“I don’t think it can fit in my bedroom,” Trout joked at the ceremony. “It’s spot-on, though. Pretty cool.”
The giant bobblehead was the brainchild of Angels senior marketing manager John Rozak, who noted the popularity of bobblehead giveaways with the fans, as well as that of the Angels-themed Mickey Mouse statue outside the stadium, and decided to marry the two.
“I started this back in February,” Rozak said. “It takes a while to produce something like this, usually 60 to 90 days, and then we shipped it over from China.”
Rozak said he hoped to make the Trout bobblehead the first of a series, with several more to follow next season. He said if that happened, the next bobbleheads would honor team history by featuring iconic Angels.
In the meantime, Trout’s bobblehead will become a permanent feature on the concourse outside section 101 down the third base line near the foul pole, or “The Trout Farm” as it is called.
From Los Angeles Times by Greg Hadley – (Photo Credit: Alex Gallardo / AP)