White Base Notes:

This is the first Japan set that featured all 20 teams of the era (Mets and Colt 45's entered the league in 1962) and appears to have been a big improvement over the 1961 Color Base set. Nice quality overall, not as bright and colorful as the later Green Base set however its much nicer overall than the Gold Base. Two new head styles,  the intro of the "mascot" heads, and the inclusion of base decals was a welcome improvement on the Color Base series. As mentioned above, the original first run included the custom illustrated boxes, I guess they realized quickly that it would be a lot cheaper and more practical to stick them in generic boxes with a stamp rather than have to mix and match the dolls with their correct box.

On a historical note, the players they chose to have their own dolls had great years in 1961, Maris and Mantle had their famous home run duel in 1961 and they were the talk of baseball. Willie Mays was also regarded by most as the best player of the era. (Ever, if you ask me).  Clemente led the National league in batting with a .351 average and Latin born players were just starting to make there mark in the big leagues.. Frank Robinson, who was the NL MVP in 1961 and led his team to the World Series doesn't have a doll... I wonder if he was considered?  Ditto Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax and Ernie Banks. Keep looking, you never know.

 Mays and Mantle were the most popular players of the era, so it makes sense that both dolls were reissued later (about 1966) and were made in greater quantities than the Maris or the Clemente.

Also interesting is the Washington Senator doll. The Senators were a long time AL team that moved to Minnesota and became the Twins in 1961. It is assumed that the Color base Senator (which is extremely rare) represented that "Old" Senator team and was quickly replaced by the Twins doll which is very abundant.  The "old" Senators were replaced immediately with a new expansion team (also called the Washington Senators, later the Texas Rangers). The White base Senator is really a doll representing one of the 2 new expansion teams. (LA Angels the other).

Speaking of the Angels, they planned to move from LA to Anaheim during the 1963 Season. The makers of Bobbing Heads responded by sticking paper labels, stars, or whatever else they could find on the LA white base dolls. Who wanted an LA doll if they were moving? Turns out the move took quite awhile, they played for several years in LA before finally moving and becoming the "California Angels". (See the California Angels Gold Base Doll). Its interesting to note that every once in awhile you can come across a Green Base doll with the Anaheim sticker. I guess things were still up in the air when they started the Green Base set...

Set includes a Spokane Indians Pacific Coast League doll. It's a Cleveland doll with a paper label. It's very rare but not all that sought after except for your serious collectors.

Colt 45 Blue Jersey variation was based on a real all Blue Uniform that the team wore on special occasions.