A cross-country childhood trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum inspired a young baseball fan and rookie sports collector to keep Kansas City on his map — later incorporating an array of local major league and collegiate teams into his entrepreneurial venture: a national hall of fame for bobbleheads.
The most recent additions to his bench include four limited-edition Kansas Jayhawks bobbleheads commemorating the team’s national championship success.
“We’re excited to be releasing these new Kansas Jayhawks Bobbleheads to coincide with National Bobblehead Day,” said Phil Sklar, co-founder and CEO of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. “We think these will be very popular bobbleheads for Kansas alumni, fans, students, faculty, and staff everywhere.”
The officially licensed products — created by the Milwaukee-based bobblehead company and sold individually or as a set — feature Big Jay on a ladder pulling down the basketball net, as well as variations of Big Jay in Kansas’ red, white, and blue basketball jerseys.
Click here to check out the pre-sale bobbleheads, which are expected to ship in March. Only 2,022 of the Big Jay ladder bobbleheads are being minted.
Sklar first visited the Kansas City region as a teenager — alongside his family of entrepreneurs, the bobblehead enthusiast recalled. Their sight-seeing ultimately took them to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which left a lasting impression on young Sklar.
A trip years later with bobblehead hall of fame co-founder Brad Novak saw Sklar revisit the baseball museum, as well as the American Jazz Museum in the 18th and Vine district and a Royals game at Kauffman Stadium, among other attractions, he said.
It all provided plenty of inspiration for future KC-oriented products back in Wisconsin, Sklar detailed.
Brad Novak and Phil Sklar outside the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum
“Kansas City area fans are toward the top of the list when it comes to passion for their teams and bobbleheads, and that demand for bobbleheads has led us to produce a lot of local bobbleheads,” he said. “The Negro Leagues bobbleheads are among the ones we are most proud of. … I think we’re up to 125 different bobbleheads for the Negro Leagues and it’s a great way to generate awareness and funds for the NLBM and those pioneering players.”
In addition to its retail offerings, the hall of fame and museum creates high-quality, customized bobbleheads for other organizations, individuals, and teams across the country.
Sklar — a veteran of corporate finance, including a stint at Ernst & Young — capitalized on years of experience and education to launch the bobblehead museum with Novak in 2019. That resume stretched from working at McDonald’s when he was 15 to earning his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, he said.
“I wanted to put my skills to use, not just with finance, but in marketing, strategy, and the other areas that I was able to learn a lot more about during the MBA,” Sklar said. “It just so happened that around that time, we had a collection of bobbleheads that was growing out of control and we had just produced our first bobblehead. During that process, we realized there was a need in the market to produce and promote unique bobbleheads.”
“Out of control” might have been an understatement.
Collectors Sklar and Novak had amassed more than 3,000 bobbleheads over eight years by visiting ballparks across the country on their bobblehead giveaway dates, he said.
“I enjoy them because they’re fun, and they also have significant value — you can see the prices appreciate over time,” Sklar said.
Bobblehead versions of Brad Novak and Phil Sklar, National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum
Opening its doors about a year before the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum quickly pivoted, he recalled, noting it was closed to visitors for more than 14 months.
“When the pandemic started, we put a virtual tour on our website and shifted our primary focus from sports bobbleheads to bobbleheads of people that were in the news on a daily basis — Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, the governors, essential heroes, and even a few interpreters,” Sklar explained.
The likeness of Anthony Fauci — former chief medical advisor to President Trump — quickly became the business’ best-selling bobblehead of all time. It raised more than $300,000 for PPE for first responders and health care workers through retail sales, he said.
Click here to check out the spectrum of bobbleheads available, from “Golden Girls” and “Home Alone” characters to politician Liz Cheney and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
