Potomac Nationals Create A Buzz With New Bobblehead

By Josh Norris
on August 9, 2017

The Potomac Nationals over the last few years have become famous for their uber-creative bobblehead series. This year alone has featured the Stephen Strasburg "flame thrower" bobblehead as well as a salute to Tommy John surgery figurine, which featured a flexed elbow with detachable ligament.

But over the past couple of years, they've strung together a series of dolls that feature one connecting theme: Real hair. Their Jayson Werth "bobblebeard" doll won national recognition, and their Michael Taylor flat-top bobblehead was a hit at the box office as well.

The next up in the series is the Anthony Rendon "real electric hair" bobblehead, which will be given away on Aug. 19, when the Winston-Salem Dash come to town. The idea for the particular pose came from a scene during a Nationals game last year, when Rendon's always luscious locks had poofed up in the midst of what likely were extremely humid conditions in the nation's capital.

"There was a solo shot shot that somebody got last year of Rendon on the top step, and he had essentially a de-facto Afro. To be honest, it’s basically a play off of (that) Afro," Potomac general manager Bryan Holland said. "It’s the style of hair that we’re depicting in the bobblehead is as if he put his finger in a light socket, and that’s what you get. There were only maybe three screen grabs that we saw of it."

The bobblehead will be given away to the first 1,250 fans at Pfitzner Stadium on the day of the giveaway. As part of the overall theme of electricity for that evening, the P-Nats are bringing in one of the most electric arms in the game's history. Although he has no real connection to Potomac or the Nationals, Dwight Gooden will be on hand to sign autographs.

Bobbleheads usually have to be dreamed up and ordered well in advance, so there was no way to predict what kind of season Rendon would have heading into his giveaway night, but he's been a star in D.C. this year. He's hitting .304/.409/.561 with 21 homers and 65 RBIs. His .970 OPS is second on the team behind only superstar outfielder Bryce Harper.

“With the year that Anthony’s been having—of course we couldn’t prognosticate that—but he’s obviously one of our marquee homegrown guys we figured he was the guy to go with," Holland said. "I think there’s a lot of fun with ‘real’ electric hair."

No, Rendon's hair doesn't actually emit an electric current, but the bobblehead is certainly doing a fine job of creating a buzz.