Sabes & Salvy: World Series MVPs

It was up high and unboxed, on top of a glass display case at the antique mall. It’s not much of an antique, considering it was an exclusive season ticket member bobblehead in 2019. Curious and familiar, I went over expecting to see at least $50 on the price tag. I knew these had sold online for quite a bit more, too. Shocked to see $20, I waltzed out of the antique mall with my new purchase for my collection: the Bret Saberhagen & Salvador Perez World Series MVP dual bobblehead. In this series at Royals Keep, I’m looking back on Royals history from this century (and beyond), the good and the bad, through the lens of memorabilia.

I didn’t realize until working on this article that in 2024, Baseball-Reference retired its fun Oracle of Baseball tool, which allowed users to basically play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but with ballplayers. However, I did my best to connect these two Royals greats, and a strong, if unlikely, connector is the great Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo. While Saberhagen closed out his career in Boston with three games in 2001, Nomo won 13 games for the Red Sox that season. He kept playing through 2005, then resurfaced for three outings with the 2008 Royals. Salvy didn’t make his debut until 2011, but several Royals were on the 2008 and 2011 squads, including Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, and Mitch Maier. 

The bobblehead depicts each MVP holding the World Series trophy, and I love the little details in their uniforms. Saberhagen is in his trademark stirrups, and his jersey has a 1985 World Series logo. The lettering on Salvy’s jersey and cap is golden, a nice homage to the gold threads worn in the years after the 2015 title. 

Both of these men were well-deserving of World Series MVP honors. Saberhagen remains the youngest to ever win the award. At the age of 21, he threw two complete games in the 1985 World Series, besting the Cardinals in games 3 and 7. Only allowing one run, he struck out 10 and walked a single batter over his 18 innings. He had a whopping 25% Championship Win Probability Added. Perez led the Royals in hits and OPS as they defeated the Mets in 2015. He wasn’t behind the plate for the final out, however. Backup Drew Butera got to catch the final strikeout from Wade Davis after Perez was lifted for pinch runner Jarrod Dyson, who scored the go-ahead run in the 12th inning.

This bobblehead is not the only time Saberhagen and Perez have “appeared” together. Right before the 2016 season, Ford introduced the F-150 “MVP” model, and these two MVPs appeared in advertisements, including this commercial. And, in a wild segment befitting of late-night TV, Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez were on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in the days after the clinching game in 2015. Fallon dug up Saberhagen’s Ford commercial, a 1980s classic where he raps (!), and brought out an actor who awkwardly raps wearing a Saberhagen jersey. Then, the real Saberhagen comes out! Hosmer and Perez appear confused. Take a look for yourself here, and see if you’re as confused as they are!

I can’t say I expected to go down a Ford truck commercial rabbit hole when I bought my $20 bobblehead or started writing this piece, but that’s what I enjoy about memorabilia: the rabbit holes, the connective tissue found throughout baseball, and yes, the goofy commercials and marketing opportunities done by players then and now. Hopefully, the Royals win another World Series soon, so a trio of World Series MVP bobbleheads can be produced!