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Mickey in the Big Leagues
Mickey Mouse and Major League Baseball are both All-American icons. So it only made sense in the fall of 2001 that the two should c
ome together in the form of another American classic: a bobblehead doll!
The linchpin of the licensing agreement Alexander Global Promotions signed with Disney that year, the creation of Mickey Mouse in official Major League Baseball uniforms held exceptional promise. Alexander Global had already been successfully designing and selling bobblehead dolls of a wide variety of Major League players, so the teams were already aware of the company’s talents. Making Mickey, however, provided its own challenges—not in se
lling, but in getting his look just right.
“Our first sculpting efforts were done in China,” says Michael Ryan, Disney Brand Manager for Alexander Global. “Mickey Mouse is a well-known global icon, but the sculptors there had never attempted to carve him as a three-dimensional character before. As a result, our first prototype looked more like Mickey’s distant third cousin—twice removed—than Mickey himself.”
A second prototype, sculpted state-side, came much closer to the mark. Both dolls followed a preliminary sketch that depicted Mickey in a classic pose, though the second prototype enlarged Mickey’s head to give it a more trad
itional bobblehead doll appearance.
As the third and final sculpt was completed (with, after much discussion, a proportionate head), MLB team enthusiasm began to escalate, and it became obvious that Mickey didn’t have to take the field alone. The observant collector will note that while Mickey is “posed” with a ball in one hand and leaning on a bat with the other, both Donald and Goofy—added to the lineup later—assume more active poses as catcher and pitch
er, respectively.
The dolls were a major league success in spring of 2002, so much so that Mickey, Donald, and Goofy promptly crossed over into the National Football League and the National Hockey League that same year. In 2003, Mickey and his pals stepped up to the plate once more in a “Hitters Series” of poses for Major League Baseball, and coming up for Opening Day 2004, fans can expect a brand-new take on the Disney-MLB crossover bobblehead dolls.
So, which MLB team uniform was the most popular with fans and collectors? Ryan can’t say for certain, though he notes that “when Anaheim won the World Series, we shipped a healthy supply of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in Angels uniforms down to the Disneyland area!”
