The Dodgers love their bobblehead giveaways, but the one they announced Friday is a bit different. Fans will not get an actual bobblehead doll.

Instead, in a promotion the Dodgers believe is the first of its kind in the sports world, fans will get a virtual bobblehead doll at the Sept. 21 game against the San Diego Padres. They will get an actual card, scan the code on the card, and download a digitized cartoon version of Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen or Justin Turner.

Real bobblehead dolls — the kind you can touch, take home and display — are popular collectibles. Fans can buy and sell them on eBay.

A virtual bobblehead doll might be an offbeat souvenir, but is it worth anything? Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling, a certified stockbroker, said he is skeptical.


“It may have some value of some sort because it’s the first of its kind,” Stripling said, “but at the end of the day, I just don’t see it holding a lot of value.”

Fans can buy and sell virtual bobbleheads using cryptocurrency, or digital currency, an online unit of money. The real-world value of cryptocurrency has fluctuated wildly.

“It’s basically trading something that doesn’t exist for real money,” Stripling said. “That’s what cryptocurrency is.

“I think it’s basically me handing you a box of air. And then, in six months, you hand me that box of air back and say it’s double the price.”


Stripling said his teammates deluged him with questions about cryptocurrency this spring.

“I just don’t really believe in it,” he said. “I think if I was a Kershaw or a Rich Hill, and I had some serious play money, I might throw some in it. It’s fun to follow. It’s absolutely insane and unprecedented.”

Rotation roulette

The Dodgers switched their starting rotation, bumping Alex Wood from Sunday here to Monday in Cincinnati. Hill is expected to start against the first-place Rockies on Sunday.


Manager Dave Roberts said matchups played a role, but the team also wanted to grant Wood an extra day of rest. Wood has started 26 games this season. No other Dodgers pitcher has started more than 22.

Hill has a career earned-run average of 7.17 in Colorado and 3.38 in Cincinnati. Wood has a career ERA of 9.75 in Colorado and 1.32 in Cincinnati.

Short hops

Roberts said he would not name a weekend closer in Jansen’s absence and dropped the names of six pitchers he could use in the late innings: right-handers Kenta Maeda, Ryan Madson, Dylan Floro and Stripling, and left-handers Scott Alexander and Caleb Ferguson. Jansen stayed home out of concern the high altitude could trigger another episode of atrial fibrilliation. … Joseph Lasorda, 83, the youngest brother of Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, died Thursday night in a car crash in Boca Raton, Fla. Tommy Lasorda is 90.


bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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