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This offer through the Ghirardelli website has been up for some time now. It was initially listed as a special limited offer “just in time for a holiday season” but has been listed for well over a year. On Stashmatic.com, there is a version with a purple ribbon listed. Click here to view the listing. The purple version has Ghirardelli written in gold letters on the ribbon.

On the Ghirardelli site, it is shown with a red ribbon with no gold letters on it. Both versions come with a sample bag of chocolates. Click here to view the order page from the Ghirardelli website. This item has never been listed on the current list of Ty’s website. Nor is it commonly noted by collectors and has gone relatively under the radar over the years as a uniquely identified style.

Recently, while typing in searches for Ty-related queries on Ebay, a small banner advertisement appeared at the base of my search. I instantly saw the Ty logo in the picture with a white bear sporting a personalized red t-shirt. I had not seen this product through various news/rumor reporting sites. Check it out by clicking here. It’s listed under numerous personalization gift queries through the Personalization Mall.com website: Happy Birthday, Corporate Custom Orders, Baby’s First Christmas, etc… On each listing I learned more and more info about the item.

First, I believe it’s name is Snow. Second, it appears to by a Ty Classic product. It has not tag so it is hard to tell. I question whether or not it is sent with a hang tag. But the odd part is that it has “moveable arms and legs.” Most Ty Classic or Plush items do not have moveable parts. It mentions that it has TySilk fabric and sports a cream colored bow under its t-shirt.

If you know anything about this piece, please email us at beaniesource@gmail.com.

The site also has a monkey plush product available that is similar in appearance to an actual Ty Classic. However, it too says it has moveable arms and legs.

During the Brookfield Zoo “Beanie Baby Days”, visitors were able to purchase items to remember the special event. See pictures below.

The Cubs were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) team to offer Beanie Babies as a promotional giveaway. In fact, H. Ty Warner threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the first promotional game.  After two successful game day promotions on May 18 and September 6, 1997 , Ty and the Cubs partnered up to raise funds through a charitable raffle at their 13^th Annual Cubs Convention on January 16-18, 1998. Each January, the Cubs hold a special gathering for fans of the team. For this raffle, 100 randomly selected winners were presented with Cubbie the bear and a special commemorative card. The commemorative card reads: “Cubbie’s 1^st Convention” and has the official date of the convention.

FACTOID: In all, four seperate Cubbie the bear promotions were held through the Chicago Cubs. A record for an individual Beanie Baby at one single sports organization.

 On January 15-17, 1999, the 14^th Annual Cubs Convention was held in Chicago.  At this convention, two special charitable prizes were available. First, attendees were able to purchase a $5 raffle for a chance at one of only 100 Sammy bears with a commemorative card.  The card reads: Sammy’s 1^st Convention” and has the event’s official date.

 In conjunction with the Sammy raffle, Cubbie’s 2^nd charitable fundraiser was held. The corresponding commemorative card dubbed it: “Cubbie’s 2^nd Convention.” Unlike the raffle, the beanie was given to anyone who donated $50 or more to Cubs Care, the team’s charitable organization. Any convention attendee that opted to make a donation received one of these special bears.

FACTOID: The only two “game day” Beanie Baby promotions held in at 1998 Cubs games were Daisy and Gracie. 

 On Wednesday August 11, 1999, the Cubs gave out 500 Neon Beanie Babies to the passengers of the 1999 Cubs Cares Cruise. To accompany the Beanie Baby, a corresponding commemorative card was also given out. The cruise was held on Navy Pier and benefitted the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation (Cubs Cares Charities). Unlike the Cubs Convention Beanie Babies, Cubs Cares Neon rarely appears in Ty-related official checklists or publications. The Neon promotion seems to have “gone under the radar” of most collectors. See pictures.

FACTOID: There were three “game day” Cubs Beanie Baby promotions held in 1999: Sammy, Erin, Millenium. By the end of 1999, the Cubs organization had seen 11 Beanie Baby promotions.

Although most of the sports exclusives possess no particular significance to the venue or team that gave them away, on occasion there were some sport commemoratives with a very clear connection to the team mascot or a player nickname.

For instance, some mascot connections, include: Cubbie (Chicago Cubs), Sammy (Chicago Cubs)Mac (Mark McGuire/St. Louis Cardinals), Waddles (Pittsburg Penguins), Stripes (Detroit Tigers), Roam (Buffalo Sabres), Snort (Chicago Bulls), Whisper (Milwaukee Bucks), Roary (KC Royals/Mascot named Sluggerrrs the lion), Glory (All-Star Game), Curly (Chicago Bears), Blackie (Chicago Bears), Rocket (Toronto Blue Jays), Derby (Indianapolis Colts), Addison (named after street of ballpark in Chicago)

Some player name or nickname connections,  include: Sammy (Sammy Sosa), Mac (“Big Mac” Mark McGuire), Puglsy (Greg “Mad Dog” Maddux), Gracie (Mark Grace), Daisy (former announcer Harry Carey tagline: “Holy Cow!”)

There are even more beanies with subtle connections to the extensive list of sport giveaways from over the years.  I hope to go into more depth about each at a later time.

 But one of the most valuable and sought after sports commemoratives was named after the former Chicago Cubs Manager, Johnnie B. “Dusty” Baker Jr.

“Dusty” Baker was credited for the Cubs’ success during his first season on the job. In his first season as Manager, the Cubs achieved their first Divison Title in over 10 years and were just shy of making it to the World Series. During this landmark year (on May 4, 2003), the Cubs gave away “Dusty” the Beanie Baby to 10,000 young fans. Unlike the vast majority of Ty Sport Commemoratives, Dusty was never available to retailers or even or sale at the ballpark. Only 10,000 were ever produced and all were given away. Click here for an excellent article on the giveaway promotion.

Each subsequent year, the Cubs success began to dwindle. And at the end of the 2006 season, the Cubs did not renew Baker’s contract. Today, Baker serves as Manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Nonetheless, Dusty serves as a unique keepsake for one of the most memorable Cub Seasons in recent history.

According to a brief history site, Rally monkeys are a relatively new addition to baseball pop culture. In fact, Rally monkeys first appeared in 2000 at an LA Angels game. This explains why Ty has chosen to give away two Rally monkey promo items at Angel games.

Click here for the history of the Rally Monkey

I was pleasantly surprised to find the appearance of both exclusives to mirror that of Mooch, an earlier Beanie Baby monkey created by Ty Inc. Mooch was introduced by Ty on January 1^st 1999 and retired on Decemeber 23, 1999 (during the mass beanie line retirement). Mooch would not return in altered form until the first Ty Rally Monkey Anaheim Angels giveaway on May 8, 2007. Rally Monkey appears almost identical to Mooch, except for an embroidered logo on its chest and different tags. Rally Monkey was the first beanie baby to appear as a sports exclusive since the introduction of Dusty in 2003.

 Two years later, in more patriotic form, the next “Mooch-style” beanie would appear as Rally Doodle Dandy on July 2, 2009. Both Rally Monkey and Rally Doodle Dandy did not come with a commemorative card. In lieu of a commemorative card, many collectors insist on obtaining the ticket stub from the game. Ticket stubs serve as a sort of unofficial certificate of authenticity. Of the 18 auctions listings found on Ebay, very few came with the original ticket stub.

 Upon investigation on the official Ty website, both Angel exclusives appear on the retired list.  Rally Monkey was officially introduced on Ty’s website on May 8, 2007 and promptly retired on May 9^th. Although Rally Doodle Dandy is now listed on the retired list of the official Ty website, Rally Doodle Dandy was both silently introduced and retired. Both styles  are particularly rare, like Dusty, these beanies were never made available at retail.

  Rally Monkey (2007)                   Rally Doodle Dandy (2009)

 Bali the lizard

 As a Shedd’s Aquarium exclusive, collectors were able to purchase a Bali lizard with an orange tongue in conjunction with a special LIZARDS exhibit. At regular U.S. retailers, Bali was available with a blue body (and blue tongue). Both these versions introduced on May 30, 2006 have a notation in their tag indicating a portion of the proceeds (15%) will benefit the Aquarium. An original version of Bali, introduced on December 30, 2004 has a brown body and green tongue. Lastly, Shedd’s Aquarium and Pizza Hut of Illinois partnered up with Ty to also offer a Bali (with orange tongue) beanie clip. The key clip tag contains the logos of Shedd’s and Pizza Hut. In all, there are three beanie baby version of Bali and a matching key clip. All three contain the same birthdate and poem.

IL Pizza Huts Bali Key Clip & Tag

U.S. Exclusive Bali (top); Shedd’s Aquarium Exclusive Bali (bottom)

 Here are the introduction and retirement dates for each version of Bali:

Bali (Brown body, green tongue)-Intro. 12/31/04 Ret. 2-24-05

Bali (Brown body, orange tongue)-Intro. 5/30/06 Ret. 7/25/06

Bali (Blue body, blue tongue)-Intro. 5/30/06 Ret. 6/23/06

 Opie the octopus

At the Ty Sea Center, collectors could fetch a red eyed version of Opie the octopus. The beanie was released in conjunction with the grand opening of the Ty Sea Center and the red-eyed version was quickly retired after two days. Opie with red eyes was released on opening day (April 23, 2005) and retired on April 25^th. Later reports from the Director of the Sea Center indicated that demand was so high that their online store website crashed and phone lines were overloaded. At retail, collectors found a blue eyed common version without the Sea Center logo on the tag. The blue eyed retail version was released a few days later on April 29, 2005 and was not officially retired until March 27, 2006.

 Finn the shark

  Also available at the Ty Sea Center, was a blue version of Finn the shark. It is likely that blue Finn was released at the Sea Center in conjunction with an exhibit called: “SHARKS…bit size.” The official announcement was made on Ty’s website on 6/30/06 and shared that it would become available for purchase on July 17^th.  At retail, collectors would find Finn sporting a gray body. There is also a slight variation in the tag poem of both versions. The blue version reads: “a pointed snout” in its poem and the gray version has no “a” before “pointed snout.” Due to the intense demand of phone and online orders, the Sea Center opted to only sell this beanie at its gift shop.

On July 20, 2006, the following message was posted on the Ty CyberBoard:

Finn has arrived at the Sea Center!
Ty Warner Sea Center   (Jul 20, 2006, 07:58 AM)
Message Id: 1113333

Ty Warner Sea Center writes:
All proceeds from the sale of Finn will help support our education and conservation efforts. Because we are a nonprofit marine science museum which specializes in educating the public about marine stewardship, we do not have the infrastructure to take phone orders or online orders. While we appreciate the many requests for phone orders, we are unable to accommodate them at this time. We tried this once in the past with the limited edition Opie, unfortunately our website crashed as did our phone system. By no means do we want to exclude anyone from obtaining Finn, we just can not handle the volume of requests and still fulfill our mission to inspire a passion for the natural world. We appreciate your understanding and support.
Sincerely,
Jenny Theodorou
Director of the Ty Warner Sea Center

On Fri July 21, 2006, presumably due to the inability of the Sea Center to fulfill phone or internet orders, Ty offered blue Finn for sale at the Ty Store. On Aug, 20, 2006, the Ty Store listed Finn as Sold Out.

 Here are the introduction and retirement dates for both version of Finn:

Finn (Blue Ty Sea Center version) Intro. 6/30/06 Ret. 10/25/06

Finn (Gray Retail version) Intro. 6/30/06 Ret. 12/27/07

Striker the killer whale

 Lastly, at Sea World, Ty offered an exclusive Classic whale named Striker. Striker is not available anywhere else at retail. It has no special tagging or cards to identify it as an exclusive to Sea World. This is the only Ty Classic plush available exclusively at any aquarium or zoo. Striker was introduced on April 1, 2009 and should turn out to be a fairly rare piece.

Skimmer the dolphin?

There was a recent spotting of a Shedd’s Aquarium 75^th Anniversary Skimmer Classic w/a special tag. Shedd’s Aquarium’s 75^th Anniversary was in 2005. A collector recently posted a picture of its special tag on Ty’s Facebook page and said it was found at a thrift store. Upon further investigation, I was unable to find any other sources or auctions on this piece. If anyone has information on this piece and its availability or history, please pass it along.