New York Yankees Bobblehead History

Yankee Bobble Babble: Between 2001 and 2025, the New York Yankees hosted 94 bobblehead giveaway events, featuring a total of 93 unique bobbleheads.  They were the 17th MLB team to incorporate bobbleheads into their promotional schedule.  There is a pretty long gap in their bobblehead timeline starting in 2004 with only two releases throughout the next ten years (one during spring training and one was a Snoopy).  During that timeframe the Yanks were pretty focused on giving out figurines, both “bronze” and… well, not bronze.  But they got back in the bobblehead game in 2013 and haven’t looked back.

• From 2001 to 2025, the Bronx Bombers posted a cumulative record of 2,501-1,725, reflecting a winning percentage of .592.  On bobblehead giveaway nights the club’s record recorded a .573 winning percentage (51-38).
• The average attendance during this timeframe was 42,230 fans per home game. On bobblehead giveaway nights specifically, the Yankees averaged 41,538 fans in attendance.  Yankee Stadium I (where they played through 2008) held upwards of 57,000 fans, and Yankee Stadium II holds around 47,000.
• Of the 93 Yankee bobbleheads:
  • 71 of them were athletes.  Of those, 43 were on the roster at the time and 28 were legacy players.
  • 29.6% of the athlete bobbleheads featured infielders, 25.4% are of outfielders, 42.3% make up the battery, and 2.8% are Giancarlo Stanton who primarily operates as a designated hitter.  Of the infielders, 33.3% played first base, 14.3% played second base, and 52.4% were shortstops.  Pitchers outnumber catchers almost four-to-one.
  • Amazingly, the Yankees are one of the only MLB teams to completely shut out a position with zero third base bobbleheads.  I guess Alex Rodriguez, Wade Boggs, and Graig Nettles haven’t made the cut.
  • The only manager bobblehead in the collection is the 2002 Joe Torre.  Joe Girardi, who managed the team from 2008 through 2017, was also immortalized in bobblehead form in 2014, but his bobblehead clearly references his playing days back when he caught for the team from 1989 through 1995.
  • Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling, long-time Yankee radio announcers, also made an appearance in 2022 as a dual bobblehead.
  • The other twenty bobblehead giveaways became a virtual cornucopia of New York paraphernalia including Frank Sinatra, Jerry Garcia, Mo Willems characters, George Costanza, Eli Manning, and Billy Joel.  They’ve also thrown in some Peanuts, Star Wars, Scooby Doo, and Hello Kitty characters for good measure.
  • Bernie Williams has the unique distinction of being featured as both an athlete (in 2002 and 2019) and as a non-athlete when he was released in his musician form in 2025.
• All 93 Yankee bobbleheads were handed out ahead of games, though three were done during spring training.  Two of them, Mariano Rivera and Scooby Doo, were handed out twice.  The 2013 Rivera reappeared in Florida in March of the following year (but with a different box), and the same Scooby Doo was given out in September of 2021 and again in April of 2022 (with exactly the same box).
• As of the end of the 2025 season, the least attended Yankees bobblehead giveaway was the Hideki Matsui SGA on September 8th, 2003, with only 8,848 fans in attendance (New Yorkers hate Mondays).  The highest attended was the franchise first Andy Pettitte on May 24th, 2001, with 55,592 (but apparently love Thursdays).
• The Yankees seem to think that any day is a good day for a bobblehead.  Fridays are their busiest day of the week with 29% of all of their giveaways happening on that day, but their next biggest day is Thursday at 18.3%.  Saturday with 10.8% are actually less common than Wednesdays at 12.9%.  Not a lot of teams have a more-or-less equal split between weekday and weekend giveaways.
• AT&T has been the Yankees’ bobbleheads greatest supporter with 29 unique sponsorships.
• The Tampa Bay Rays have been their most common bobblehead night opponent by far with 20 matchups over the years.