Apparently, Milwaukee will soon be the home of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. There is a preliminary display at Redline Milwaukee, at 1422 North 4th Street, to give folks a first glance at what to expect from the museum once it’s open. Memberships are being sold, and the display at Redline includes a large number of bobbleheads, as well as a store where you can buy Hall of Fame memberships and bobbleheads, including (as one might expect) a large selection of Milwaukee Brewers players.
All of this sounds fun, and who hasn’t collected a bobblehead or two in the name of fandom? Here’s my question: For their inaugural induction, the folks in Milwaukee chose … Pete Rose? Of all the choices they could have made, the connotations of this particular choice carry a sort of skewed message. We all know Rose is not getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and we all know why. We also know he was not a Milwaukee Brewer.
Sure, he was one of the greatest hitters in the game, but he has also proven to be one of the most clueless of poor role models in most other aspects of life. Betting on baseball, continuing to bet on baseball, and most importantly, continuing to not even understand why people can’t get over him … well … betting on baseball.
In a city where Hank Aaron and Robin Yount are household names, and both still perfectly able to attend an inaugural ceremony, you are stuck with a couple of possible explanations. Perhaps the whole thing is such a joke that real name players, even those in Milwaukee, are too expensive for a public appearance or don’t care to participate. The other possibility is that the people behind the bobblehead museum just don’t “get” it and thought, hey, the Hit Man! We’ll put him in first.
Any way you slice it – as fun as this new facility sounds, I’ll be giving that first induction ceremony a hard pass. It’s a very shaky choice for one of the more oddball baseball attractions I’ve encountered on or off the net.
If you are interested, you can visit the Museum on the web. There are giveaways, contests, and if you have famous or rare bobbleheads, you can put them on loan or display.
If you fall on the side of Pete Rose, and believe (for some odd reason) that he’s had a rough shake in the Hall of Fame department, he’ll be at the ceremony answering questions and signing autographs. There will be a limited edition Pete Rose bobblehead given to attendees, and there will be a display of the various Pete Rose bobbleheads throughout the years. Not the event of the season, but it might be fun if you are in the area.
The event is scheduled for Saturday, April 4, 2016, at the Pabst Theater. Doors open at 1:00 p.m. and the ceremony begins at 2:00 p.m. It’s a chance to get the only Pete Rose Hall of Fame autograph you are likely to see.
As you most likely know by now, Pete was voted in by fans not the bobblehead hall of fame people. Thank you.