…my new bobblehead!
Now, Your Humble Narrator does not make it a secret that he likes him some bobbleheads, and has a small but cool collection of same. There’s the Arizona Diamondbacks Hello Kitty, and the Arizona Diamondbacks Zombie, and there’s the Gorn Captain from Star Trek who stands on my desk, always ready to give me some enthusiastic affirmation if I tap him on the head. But not until a couple of weeks ago did I experience true bobblehead covetousness, when I learned of the existence of a George Alfred Townsend bobblehead!
George Alfred Townsend, as everyone should know, was a journalist and author from Delaware who, under the byline “Gath”—his own initials plus H (it’s also the name of a Philistine city in the Old Testament, supposedly Goliath’s home town)—covered the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination and the pursuit of John Wilkes Booth, among other subjects, and also wrote poetry and novels. He founded an estate near Hagerstown, Maryland, which is now Gathland State Park, and the home of the War Correspondents Memorial Arch.
So from one of my excellent nieces, who happens to be employed by the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, I learned that the Hagerstown Suns (Single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals) were hosting George Alfred Townsend Night at the Ballpark, at which a George Alfred Townsend bobblehead would be handed out! Baseball and Gath in one evening! It pained me deeply that I couldn’t be there, but my niece SENT ME A GATH BOBBLEHEAD!
Isn’t he handsome? And here he is with his new bobble-family…
Left to right, it’s the Diamondbacks Zombie, the Diamondbacks Garden Gnome, the Gorn, Gath, Hello Kitty, former Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero (who recently caught Jake Arrieta’s no-hitter for the Cubs) and Rapa Nui/Easter Island guy.
I’m aware, by the way, that the Diamondbacks Garden Gnome is technically a figurine, not a bobblehead, but around here we don’t discriminate against the Inflexibly-Necked.
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