One Pennsylvania icon’s bobbleheads are missing, another is taking credit for it and all of hockey Twitter put on their wisecracking hats as a tale of sports’ latest true crime saga emerged on Thursday morning.
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Thursday morning that the 18,000 Jaromir Jagr Bobbleheads that were scheduled to be distributed at Thursday night’s game between the Penguins and the San Jose Sharks had been stolen in California.
“The Penguins announced today that the shipment carrying the Jagr bobbleheads for tonight’s game has been stolen en route to Pittsburgh. As a result, the bobbleheads will not be distributed at tonight’s game, but will be distributed at a later date.
All fans in attendance will receive a voucher that includes a one-time scannable barcode that will be required to pick up the bobblehead at a later date. Location and dates for pickup will be shared when the items are safely located or new bobbleheads are produced and available for distribution.”
Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty declared itself behind the heist and @tweeted a gif of “Game of Thrones“ character Olenna Tyrell saying: “Tell Cersei ... I want her to know it was me.”
Meanwhile, Twitter had thoughts, including many from baseball writers.
Sports Illustrated’s Emma Baccellieri tweeted
“Not sure which is funnier, someone planning to deliberately pull off a bobblehead heist, or someone just stealing boxes as opportunity arises only to realize they have thousands of Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads and the Pittsburgh Penguins are not happy.”
MLB.com’s Mike Petriello referenced some of Jean Claude Van Damme’s finest work and tweeted
“Man, Sudden Death 2, about the Jagr bobblehead heist, is going to be *awesome*”
Steve Gardner, a fantasy baseball writer for USA Today went for the unavoidable dad joke and tweeted:
“On the lookout for a ... Jagr-heister!”
Boston fan influencer Shukri Wrights didn’t believe Gritty was capable of such a crime, but tweeted a possible suspect:
“#LetsGoPens Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads gets stolen, There’s only one man capable of pulling off such a heist: Bane”
Pod Street Bobbthought another trouble-making Flyer might be behind it. He pointed at suspended coach John Tortorella and tweeted:
“Torts suspended for 2 games, truck full of Jagr bobble heads goes missing. Not saying these 2 are related, but…”
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski had a vision of how the fenced merchandise might be moved and tweeted:
“Yo man, I got Rolexes ... Cartier ... 17,000 Jaromir Jagr bobblehead dolls. What you need?”
Longtime Buffalo News hockey writer Mike Harrington doesn’t think this was the work of a criminal mastermind.
“The only reason anybody had to buy a ticket to see the #Pens and San Jose was to get the Jagr bobblehead. Who steals 18,000 bobbleheads and thinks they’re getting away with it? You can’t put em all on EBay.”
Penguins Jesus was waiting for the inevitable documentary and tweeted:
“The Great Jagr Bobblehead Heist is premiering on @netflix in Spring 2025.”