The Les Grobstein Talking Bobblehead
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame & Museum in Milwaukee (Provided photo.)
Just when you think there’s nothing but bad news in this world along comes word that the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum is releasing a talking Les Grobstein bobblehead.
The Grobber Bobble will be available starting today (March 11), which would have been the beloved Chicago sportscaster’s 70th birthday. The bobblehead is being produced by the Milwaukee-based museum in conjunction with Grobstein’s family and Autograph1. Grobstein died on January 16 in his Elk Grove Village home.
The bobblehead audio is a mash-up of Grobstein’s “planet pluto” rant, his WSCR-AM (670) introduction, and “the hell with them and the horse that rode in on them.” The bobblehead depicts Grobstein carrying his vintage tape recorder. It all brought a smile to my face.
Making this story even more weirdly wonderful is that Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot has issued a proclamation declaring March 11, 2022, as Les Grobstein Day in Chicago. It begins: “WHEREAS, the City of Chicago has long been home to tenacious, talented, and hardworking men, and one such resident–Les Grobstein–was a testament to this fact....” And it calls Grobstein “a walking sports encyclopedia.”
Courtesy of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Grobstein bobblehead was a no-brainer. His late night-early morning shifts at The Score connected with many of society’s outliers. He spoke to those of us who were alone. He took phone calls from all kinds of listeners, regulars, poseurs, and weirdos.
Maybe most importantly, he knew that Cubs outfielder Dwight Smith had a bases-loaded single off of Dave Smith in the bottom of the 10th inning on the sunny afternoon of August 29, 1989, that gave the Cubs a 10-9 victory over the Houston Astros after clawing back from a 9-0 deficit. Grobstein was down but never out.
Grobstein spent more than 50 years chronicling the carnival ride of Chicago sports. His bobblehead is $30 each with an $8 shipping charge. They are only available through the museum’s online store at this link.
Each bobblehead will be individually numbered. The Score gave the family and the museum permission to use their logo and audio clips. A portion of the proceeds goes to Grobstein’s family. The bobbleheads are going into production now with expected shipping in July.
Grobstein’s defining moment was when he let his tape roll to catch an April 29, 1983, profanity-filled rant by Cubs manager Lee Elia after the Cubs lost 4-3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a wild pitch from reliever Lee Smith. There were 9,391 fans at Wrigley Field. Elia’s post-game reflections began, “Fuck those fuckin’ fans who come out here and say they’re Cub fans that are supposed to be behind you rippin’ every fuckin’ thing you do….About 85 percent of the world is working. The other 15 percent come out here…..” and you get the friggin’ drift.
Lee Elia unplugged. He also played for the White Sox.
I wondered why the Elia rant wasn’t at least 15 percent of the Grobber Bobble. “That’s a good question,” said Phil Sklar, Co-Founder, and CEO of the bobblehead hall of fame and museum. “We did work with his son Scott to get the quotes. I think the main reason we didn’t work with that was that there might be licensing. Les had the clip, but I don’t know who has the copyright. Maybe it is something we could add. The bytes we have are all on the bobblehead.
“You push the button, it plays the first one, you push the button again, it plays the second one, and then the third one. ” Perhaps a companion Elia bobblehead is down the line. Fans could also ignite it.
Grobstein liked bobbleheads but he did not collect them. Scott said, “He did end up getting my boys (grandchildren) the Home Alone collection (from the bobblehead museum) and he was very excited about that.” Grobstein did a semi-regular “Home Alone” segment on his show.
Oddly enough, Grobstein was rarely home alone. With the assistance of Grobstein’s family, the museum created this head-spinning resume:
Grobstein was the Sports Director at WLS-AM radio from 1979-1989 and worked for WLUP-AM and WMVP-AM. He had worked for Associated Press Broadcasting since 1975 and ABC Sports Radio since 1980. Grobstein had been The Score’s weeknight overnight host since 2009. They did miss Grobstein’s gig at Sports Phone, the late-1970s 24-7 call-in service for fans and gamblers to get the latest scores and news.
Grobstein’s play-by-play assignments included the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League, Northwestern University Wildcats basketball, Chicago Hustle women’s basketball, Chicago Sting soccer, Chicago Horizons soccer (they only lasted 1980-81 playing inside the Rosemont Horizon) , UIC Flames basketball, and hockey, Chicago Cheetahs roller hockey, the WNBA’s Chicago Sky and many high school football and basketball contests. With Les, there was always more.
Chicago Sky fan/bobblehead influencer Mayor Lori Lightfoot (left)
Grobstein now joins other Chicago cultural figures in the museum gift shop.
Blackhawks National Anthem vocalist Jim Cornelison has a singing bobblehead. Loyola University superfan Sister Jean was blessed with a 2021 bobble. (The first batch sold out.) Mayor Lightfoot has a bobblehead that does not talk. Timeless Chicago baseball fan Ronnie “Woo Woo” Wickers was the second bobblehead the museum ever produced. Fans press a button to hear Ronnie woo and woo.
“We collected bobbleheads long before we had the idea for a museum,” Sklar said. “My Dad and I were at a Cubs convention and my Dad said, ‘Ronnie needs a talking bobblehead’. They say once you have a bobblehead, you’ve made it.”
The Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum opened on Feb. 1, 2019, in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Here is my 2019 bobblehead story.
By March 2020 the museum had to shut down because of the pandemic. “The museum was closed 14 months to the public,” said Sklar, who founded the museum and hall of fame with Rockford, Il. middle school friend Brad Novak. “We kept busy online. Online shopping picked up during the pandemic. And since sports went on pause for several months, we shifted to what was in the news. Dr. Fauci, the governors, essential heroes.”
Within a week of getting released in April 2020, the Dr. Anthony Fauci bobblehead became the museum’s all-time best seller with more than 50,000 sales. (Bernie Sanders with his inauguration mittens is second and Sister Jean is third.) There are ten versions of the Fauci bobble including Labcoat Fauci, White House podium Fauci and Black Suit Fauci. That’s an epidemic. The museum donated $5 of every Fauci bobblehead sold to the American Hospital Association’s Protect the Heroes Campaign to support the 100 Million Mask Challenge.
Sister Jean, 102-year-old Loyola super fan. (Courtesy of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.)
“We reopened to the public June 1, 2021, and returned to pre-pandemic visitor levels,” Sklar said. The museum and hall of fame had been receiving 10,000 visitors annually. While the museum was closed, nearly 500 new bobbleheads were added to the collection. The total bobbleheads now on display measure over 7,000.
The museum doesn’t miss a beat. Besides Grobstein, recent gift shop bobbleheads include Ukrainian President Zelensky (portions of sales benefit the Ukraine crisis relief fund), a set of Golden Girls bobbleheads, and First Pets White House bobbleheads. There is no Putin bobblehead, whom Grobstein would honor with a “Bum of the Week.”
“I knew a lot about Les,” Sklar said. “I’m a Chicago sports fan except for the (Milwaukee) Bucks. A friend of mine in high school from Rockford used to call into Les quite a bit during high school and he would tape the calls. After his unexpected passing several people said we should do a bobblehead of Les. So we connected with his son. At that time we didn’t realize his birthday was Friday (March 11). So the timing worked out.”
Oh, and Les would want me to mention that the trippy Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis (1945-2008) and the ageless ex-Cubs pitcher Rich Hill were also born (1980) on March 11.
Bobble on.
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