Larry Brown Sports

Ask and ye shall receive. Former Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar complained last year that there wasn’t a statue of his likeness outside Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the problem was rectified on Friday when a bronze statue of him was unveiled.

The statue depicts Abdul-Jabbar wearing goggles and short-shorts, and it captures him doing his signature sky hook move. The statue will sit outside Staples Center alongside the statues for former Lakers greats Magic Johnson and Jerry West. Magic, West, and other Lakers legends such as Elgin Baylor, and coach Pat Riley were in attendance at the press conference on Friday where Abdul-Jabbar’s statue was unveiled.

Kareem played 14 seasons for the Lakers, helping lead the franchise to five championships. He won three MVP awards while with the team, and six total for his career (the other three were with Milwaukee). A 19-time All-Star and basketball Hall of Famer, Kareem is one of the best players in NBA history. The statue was long overdue.

In addition to the statue being unveiled, all fans in attendance for Friday’s Lakers-Suns game received a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar bobblehead doll that shows him in goggles and doing the sky hook. This is one of the sickest bobbleheads we’ve seen:

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The Dodgers held a Kirk Gibson bobblehead giveaway on Tuesday night to celebrate the former slugger’s memorable pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series. Though the gesture was cool, and the idea to have the figurine’s fist pump also bobble was awesome, the giveaway comes at an odd time; Gibson now manages the opposing team.

“It’s got to be weird for the Dodgers,” Gibson said before the game. “We’re going to try to beat their tails tonight.

“I have the Diamondbacks red on tonight. I dislike the Dodgers a competitive, respectful way,” he said, per Jack Magruder.

Gibson said before the game that he agreed to the giveaway before realizing he would be managing the opposing team the night fans received it. I’m sure Dodgers fans won’t mind; even if the team loses, at least they got a cool souvenir.

And being on the opposite isn’t the only aspect of the giveaway that’s drawn attention; the positioning of Gibson’s fist-pumping arm is too:

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Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline gave us a Phillies mini-firesale, with the club shipping two-thirds of its starting outfield westward. Not too long after trading Shane Victorino to the Dodgers, the last-place Phillies sent right fielder Hunter Pence to the Giants. The latter deal, however, poses a problem to the team’s promotions department, which had scheduled a Pence bobblehead giveaway day for Aug. 21′s game against the Reds.

But, fear not, bobblehead aficionados and Hunter Pence fans:

For those wondering … Pence bobble head giveaway is still on as scheduled Aug. 21.

— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) July 31, 2012

We’ve seen the A’s do this previously with Jason Giambi. The truth is ball clubs get promotional items weeks, sometimes months, in advance of their distribution date, often long before unforeseen roster transactions happen. So, the Phillies somewhere in the doldrums of Citizens Bank Park have thousands of cheap toys that marginally look like Pence readily stashed away, and they are not just going to throw them in the dumpster.

But it still has to be weird for the Phillies to celebrate a guy they unceremoniously shipped away three weeks prior. The Phillies can’t do anything right when it comes to bobbleheads.

H/T Big League Stew
Photo via Jeff Kolakowski

Ryan Roberts won a fan vote conducted by the Diamondbacks to have a bobblehead made in his honor. The first 15,000 fans in attendance for Saturday night’s Giants-Diamondbacks game will receive this snazzy Roberts bobblehead:

Typically when you see bobbleheads they look nothing like the player. I’m actually convinced that the same mold used for a Miguel Cabrera bobblehead is also used for a Justin Verlander one. They just change the name and number. But that Roberts one not only looks like him, it also has all his tattoos. Now that is worth a trip to the ballpark. And suddenly Dusty Baker has competition for the best bobblehead of the year.

Forearm bash to Nick Piecoro for the picture