The Atlanta Braves baserunner who got in a pivotal first-base tangle in the 1991 World Series with Minnesota's Kent Hrbek said Friday that the Twins 2011 bobblehead immortalizing the play is "pretty neat," even if the umpire blew the call.

Ron Gant, now a television and MLB.com analyst for Braves games, said "all of my friends were e-mailing" as soon as the Twins recently announced the bobblehead's Aug. 5 giveaway and released a photo of the figure.

The Hrbek/Gant collision came in Game 2 of the World Series at the Metrodome, when. Gant was called out as he retreated to first after hitting a single. The out short-circuited a Braves scoring chance in a game they eventually lost by one run on their way to losing the Series in seven games.

"I didn't realize it was 20 years," Gant said. "Everywhere I go, people still talk about it."

Gant, 46, said he's still convinced that Hrbek "pulled me off the bag. I never faulted Hrbek. If I was him, I would've done the same thing. I just faulted the umpires."

Gant said the design of the bobblehead captured the moment fairly accurately, and he has asked a friend in the Twin Cities area to get one for him.

"It's actually pretty neat," he said. "But I hate that they had to make one."

If he had to do it all over again, he said, "I wish I would've slid into first, rather than standing up going into the bag."

The bobblehead will be given to the first 10,000 fans for the Aug. 5 game.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482