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Dodgers To Make Crypto, Sports History With Digital Bobblehead

The professional baseball team’s promotional giveaway is scheduled for a Sept. 21st game against the San Diego Padres.

Everything else has gone digital, so why not bobbleheads?

At a Sept. 21 game against the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to make a bit of bobblehead history with what’s believed to be the first-ever crypto giveaway in sports – and it all centers on digital bobbleheads.

Upon arriving at the ballpark, the first 40,000 ticketed fans will receive a card with a unique code and directions to a website where a digital bobblehead can be accessed and added to their Ethereum Wallet. Available digital bobbleheads – which exist only online as digital entities – will be Dodgers players Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner and Kenley Jansen. The player crypto token received will be randomly selected, with an equal number of Kershaw, Turner and Jansen codes distributed at the stadium gates.

What’s an Ethereum Wallet? Glad you asked. It’s an app where digital Crypto tokens and digital assets built on blockchain can be stored – similar to storing concert and game tickets in your Apple Wallet. And just what do you do with your digital bobbleheads once you unlock them? Good question. From the Dodgers:

“Fans will be able to buy, sell, gift and trade their Crypto tokens on MLBCryptoBaseball.com/Dodgers. The digital bobbleheads are Crypto tokens, which utilize blockchain technology to prove ownership, verify authenticity and prevent unauthorized duplication. It's the same technology used for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Over time, the Dodgers hope to be able to create more Crypto tokens not only as stadium-wide giveaways, but to celebrate events and special achievements.”

Certainly, some folks are pumped about the giveaway:

The Dodgers say they are doing the digital bobbleheads to reach all segments of their fanbase. “Just like segments of the team's fanbase love to collect and display physical bobbleheads, there's a segment of the fanbase that collects digital assets,” the team said.

But don’t worry. Actual physical bobbleheads that exist in the really real world aren’t going anywhere – at least not at Dodgers games. “Bobbleheads are a staple of the team's promotional schedule,” the team said. “This year, the team had 13 bobblehead giveaways, and will give away three more on the upcoming homestand - Matt Kemp (Sept. 18), Manny Machado (Sept. 22) and Orel Hershiser (Sept. 23). The team plans to have a full slate of physical bobblehead giveaways in 2019 and in the foreseeable future as well.”

Even so, it’s a brave new world for bobbleheads – and the rest of us -- isn’t it folks?