Today's Bobbleheads Gain Popularity

The modern bobblehead may be decades old, but business is still booming.

When the NFL and MLB began using bobblehead dolls as promotional tools in the early '60s, they sparked an obsession with the trinkets. After a two-decade slump in popularity beginning in the '70s, the bobblehead stormed back after the San Francisco Giants distributed a Willie Mays figure at a 1999 game.

Today, the bobblehead business is anything but wobbly. John Brey, who runs auction Web site nodderexchange.com and...