Yankees' George Costanza 'Seinfeld' sleeping under his desk bobblehead still drawing big dollars on eBay
Who knew there’d be so much interest in a bobblehead from a '90s TV show that was supposed to be about nothing?
Last week, the Yankees gave out a “Seinfeld” themed bobblehead to the first 18,000 fans to pass through the gates at Yankee Stadium. It depicts George Costanza – the fictional Yankees assistant to the traveling secretary -- sleeping under his desk.
The “George Costanza Nap Bobblehead” was an instant hit. And an expensive one.
As of Wednesday, the treasured trinket was being offered on eBay for between $130-$369 with an average price of about $200.
“It actually exploded before the bobblehead even came out,” said Les Wolff, longtime hobby expert and owner of Les Wolff Sports in Plainview. “Presales on eBay. The prices have actually gone down. There's usually a hype with these things before the giveaway. Because it's 'Seinfeld,' George Costanza, and it's the Yankees, people wanted it pretty badly. It's a funny one anyway, napping under the desk. That's probably what the Yankees did during that game, the way they played.”
The online buying and selling frenzy going on now is apparently nothing compared to what was happening inside and outside the stadium before the Yankees’ 6-3 loss to the Red Sox.
Fans lined up outside more than five hours before first pitch to make sure they snagged a bobblehead. Some people bought tickets only to get one and then left. Memorabilia collectors and “Seinfeld” fans who didn’t get one on the way in were offering big bucks to those who were lucky enough to get one before and during the game, which drew a sellout crowd of 47,036. That was the Yankees’ fourth-highest attendance of the season, ranking only behind the Subway Series games against the Mets in May.
“My wife kind of wanted one,” Wolff said. “But people got up at nine o'clock in the morning and were waiting outside to get the bobblehead.”
An entire market was created around a painted piece of plastic from a show that went off network TV more than 27 years ago but has reeled in an entire new generation of fans in reruns.
One of those fans is 24-year-old Michigan native and Manhattan resident Tej Seth.
“I was going to the game solely for the purpose of getting the bobblehead,” Seth said. “Just as a fan of the show, a fan of the character. I really wanted one so I ended up heading to the stadium. I got there a little after 4:30 and when I got there, it was already thousands of people deep. I was standing in line and starting to get a little bit worried.”
Seth got one and then had to fend off people who wanted to buy it from him. He never wavered.
“It was pretty crazy in the stadium,” he said. “There were all these people who wanted to buy your bobblehead. They kept coming by. Some were collectors – you could see that they had a bag that they were collecting them in to resell them. They were offering, like, $60-$80. Then there were some people who came too late to the game who were big 'Seinfeld' fans and they were just looking to buy one because they were sad that they missed out. Every time I just said no.”
It was Seth’s second trip to Yankee Stadium. He stayed “one or two innings” and then went home, opened the bobblehead and placed it in its new home -- on his desk, not under it.
Longtime Yankees fan Lori Perkins of Riverdale got one and has no plans to sell it, even though a man on her Metro North train home was offering everyone $50 on the spot.
“My son is a huge Seinfeld fan and his birthday is on the 30th,” Perkins said. “So guess what he’s getting.”
Still, the man on the train piqued Perkins’ interest about the value of what she was toting home for her son, a Stony Brook University graduate.
“I went home and Googled what people were getting for it,” she said. “I saw on eBay they were going for $400.”
Not everyone at the Stadium that night was driven by the profit motive. Katelin Burns of Manhattan arrived for the game with her husband Brian and two young children, Shane and Elle. She was aware of the giveaway but arrived too late to get any.
Or so she thought.
“I was walking to my seat and I saw a group of people and they had quite a few tote bags full of the bobbleheads,” Burns said. “I think they said they were there with like 40 kids. So they had a huge haul of them. And then one of the gentlemen said, ‘Oh, would you like one?’ He offered one of his. I was surprised and so grateful. I was delighted. It’s a hilarious episode — and it’s a hilarious bobblehead.”
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
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