.@Yankees Thumbs Down Guy is now getting his own bobblehead https://t.co/MUKvd2wFo9
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) October 18, 2017
Gary Dunaier, AKA “Thumbs Down Guy,” is getting his own bobblehead doll. Yes, this is real. And it’s going to be spectacular.
According to the Brett Bodner of the New York Daily News, New York Mets fan Gary Dunaier, whose claim to fame was giving the New York Yankees—Todd Frazier specifically—a thumbs down after Flava Fraiz hit a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays in a game played at Citi Field due to Hurricane Irma, is going to be memorialized with his own bobblehead.
“We reached out to Gary late last week with the idea and he loved it,” said Phil Sklar, co-founder and president of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame in an email to the Daily News. “We got the ball rolling right away in order to release it early this week.”
The bobbleheads won’t be licensed by Major League Baseball, the Yankees or the Mets, but will have pinstripes on the base. They are expected to go out in February and will cost $25 each, plus $8 for shipping and handling.
Fans can pre-order the dolls now, but buyer beware—the doll does not have a movable thumb, although that was considered by the creators. They decided against it in order to depict the moment more accurately.
“We actually thought of having the thumb bobble in addition to the head, but after second thought decided against it,” Sklar said. “If you watch the moment again, he was very still. If he had been waving his hand around, we would have made it bobble for sure.”
Dunaier, 54, who will get “a very fair percentage” of the sales by the Hall of Fame, is perfectly fine with all of this happening. In fact, he finds the whole thing pretty funny.
“I meant it as derision and they’re taking it as a positive thing,” Dunaier told Bodner. “That’s funny. It’s hilarious. What else can you say, you know?”
The Yankees have made the gesture their own—a rallying cry of sorts—with players flashing it during big moments in games and designing their own shirts with a big thumbs down on the chest.
