2013 was yet again another great year for Caps bobbleheads. The year brought us ten new bobbleheads, even a gnome, from SGA’s to Blood Drives. Most if not all were must haves and only came at the price of a ticket to a Caps game or a pint of your blood. For some that cost may be a bit much, but they are now on shelves all over the East Coast being proudly displayed as they prepare for the New Year. Let’s take a look back at the bobbles that were given out over this span as we prepare ourselves for the bobbleheads of 2014.
The first two bobbleheads almost didn’t happen due to the shortened NHL season, but thankfully the NHL and NHLPA saw that Caps fans needed their bobbles and decided to agree on a new CBA to get the 2012 2013 NHL season started. The Caps Kids Club had a promotion where if you bought a membership you would receive a Caps player bobblehead who just so happened to be Caps forward Jason Chimera. It wasn’t anything too special as they had Chimer standing at attention in his Caps home uniform, however it did resemble him quite well. Jason wasn’t the only bobblehead being given away in the package, as a Slapshot toothbrush holder which also doubled as a bobblehead was given away as well. Now Slapshot bobbleheads always resemble him so no worries there but these two bobbles were a great start to 2013.
Next up was a SGA (Stadium Giveaway) during the lockout shortened season, but it wasn’t a bobblehead. Instead it was a gnome and that gnome was Caps center Nicklas Backstrom. Now this guy received mixed reviews mainly due to the fact that it was one of the creepiest giveaways in Caps history but nonetheless it was still a very unique piece and personally if you were to make any player into a gnome it should be Backy.
A little over a month after that was the Inova Spring Blood Drive which brought us a bobblehead of long time Caps favorite Olie Kolzig. This bobblehead resembled Olie pretty well but kinda lost its detail when they applied about ten layers of a shiny finish on him. Overall it was another great bobblehead though and Blood Drive bobbles are a must have.
It wasn’t until the long and depressing offseason ended that more bobbles were released. To make up for lost time, Monumental released three Caps bobbleheads that could be acquired through their Season Ticket Holder Rewards Program. The three players were Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green all donning their away Caps sweaters. Each took on the generic stand at attention with stick in hand pose but still resembled the players and were the first bobbleheads to wear the new white Caps jerseys so they were definitely a good start to the 2013-14 Caps season.
The next one came in the wonderful month of Movember when Movember Captain Troy Brouwer was immortalized, with moustache and all, in a Caps bobblehead. This SGA severely lacked in a few areas with two downsides being the helmet and a flimsy stick but the moustache is what really made the bobble unique as it felt like a real moustache. The bobblehead could have been better but the creativity of the bobble helped make up for that.
That same week was the Inova Fall Blood Drive which featured the long awaited Braden Holtby bobblehead. This bobblehead was a bit taller than the standard seven inches and had a glossy finish like the Ollie bobble but a lot of improvements were made in the detail of the pads and his facial features were nicely done.
That was it for the Capitals bobbleheads for 2013 but don’t forget about the little Caps in Hershey and Reading as they each had a bobblehead of their own to give away in the last month of the calendar year. Hershey actually took a different approach giving away not a bobblehead but a bobble fist of notable tough guy Joel Rechlicz. Reading went on to honor their captain Yannick Tifu with a bobble of him holding their first Kelly Cup. Both bobbles were must haves for our minor league teams and were both nicely made.
Overall there were plenty of bobbleheads to go around in 2013 and there will be plenty more to come. There are already three confirmed bobbleheads in 2014. Two of them will come from Blood Drives, one being Jay Beagle, and the other an SGA for Hershey, goaltender Philipp Grubauer. I’m sure there will be much more to come with Inova most likely having Summer and Fall Blood Drives and hopefully a few more SGAs. While 2013 was a great year for bobbles let’s hope 2014 is even better! Keep on collecting Caps Fans and let’s our New Year’s Resolution to make our collections bigger!
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Caps Outsider’s Bobblehead Database
