2016 Dodgers Fan Fest Recap and a White Whale Finally Caught After EIGHT Years

What thankfully is now a yearly traditional in Dodger land, yesterday was the annual Fan Fest which each year is getting bigger and bigger. There were so many people there it felt like it was game day. Line for the bathroom, food was slow to acquire but surprisingly the beer line was non existent. Interesting to say the least.

Every year though I seem to get less and less autographs but this year there was a one I just had to have. The problem was that I was sure everyone had the same idea. Since that happened 30 minutes after I entered the stadium I will recap the day backwards.

My good friend Jimmy and his beautiful wife Michelle and their happy little boy helped me acquire an autograph for a project that is now more than half way done. I was planning to get my one and only autograph of the day and leave but Jimmy said he had no real use for Bill Russell and that I could have it. Couldn't pass that up and I decided to pay him with with a beer.

This is my 1970's photo of the Dodgers which I hope to complete one day. I haven't been lucky enough to see Bill around the stadium lately but I also didn't want to pay $25 for his autograph but a beer and some time with good friends is a great deal and I got to add Bill to this photo. That is now 6 of 10 players I have acquired. Should be able to get Monday this year but Dusty, Don and Reggie will be harder to track down.

Thursday the wife and I went to Select a Set for Season Ticket Holders and though I upgraded my seats I did not get a chance to sit in them at the event. Usually when you upgrade you take the tag on an available seat and take it to the office and get your seats changed. Well I did pick up a couple of tags but when I sat down with the Dodger rep I asked if there was anything that wasn't advertised and surprisingly there were and I was able to move over 1 full section and 10 rows down. I can not move over anymore without going into the next price bracket which I will not be doing so this might be my final upgrade.

Walked up to Loge 157 and saw that the row had a marker which not all rows have which I think is kind of cool. Plus if for some reason a friend or God forbid I get lost I can find my way back to my seat by looking for this marker. Ha ha.

My new view from row F in 157. I still believe the Loge level has the best view in the stadium and I am happy to say I am a season ticket holder in the this wonderful section.

Now to the big event of the day. It was announced a day before the sale for Fan Fest that there would be 3 meet and greets at the event. They have had these before but I was never interested in any of them and the cost of them ($150) was/is cost prohibitive. This year was different though.

There was a Lasorda meet and greet and a Valenzuela meet and great. That's nice and all but I am not paying that amount when I get them for free on almost anything I own. This year though they announced that none other than CLAYTON FREAKING KERSHAW was going to be one of the 3 meet and greets. Hot damn. I was lucky enough to be at his MLB debut back in May of 2008 and I have been carrying the ticket from that game since then trying to get him to sign it. Year in and year out I have been close but each time I was denied by him. Now was my chance to get him.

$150 was worth it to me but as many of you know I am a hustler online and while many would frown upon a practice I like to do, money does not grow on trees and where there is demand I hope to come in with a supply. I knew that Puig would sell so when the 12 p.m. sale went on for autograph tickets I secured tickets for Yasiel for the sole purpose of selling them to pay for the Kershaw event. I indeed bought the Puig tickets and flipped them on eBay which made the cost of the Kershaw event ZERO dollars for me.

When the Kershaw event went on sale there was no mention of his name (nor Lasorda or Fernando for that matter) so you had to know which event each player was in. I could have ended up paying 150 for Fernando. Now that would have pissed me off royally. I noticed when I went to go pick up my tickets that I was "seat" 7 which is cool since that is my marriage number. Lucky number 7 strikes again.

Now for the amazing part. When I arrived to the Stadium I assumed/expected that for a 30 minute event that there would be maybe 75/100 tickets sold for it. Considering there are 30K of Season Ticket Holders and countless more fans I considering myself immensely lucky I snagged 2 tickets for this event. While my friend and I waited for the time to go see Clayton we noticed there were just not that many people. Everyone was in pairs, which I expected as most would buy 2 not just 1 ticket for this, and there definitely not 75/100 people. We all started to talk and found out the highest ticket number was 30. 30? That's all for this event? Holy crap. Upon further conversing it was rumored that only 20 were offered to STH's at 10 and there were 10 left over for the general public at 12 so the Dodgers could not be accused of giving everything to STH's. I personally met 3 from the group at 12 purchase time so it seems this story rings true. That means if the 20 tickets sold at 10 were bought in pairs that would mean that only 10 people out of literally thousands of people were lucky enough to get their hands on tickets for this event. Man, I beat the odds and yes I went and bought lotto tickets yesterday to see if my luck will transfer there. Lol.

Off the group went to the club level to meet the best pitcher in baseball. Clayton was more than nice with every fan that he met and I gave him the thumbs up for him showing up. This may be the only time he ever does Fan Fest as every previous year he has been with his wife in Africa doing his charity work. The thinking among fans is he stayed in the country this year as he had his first kid last year so she might be too young to travel for a year or two. If this is the only time I meet Clayton then it was a great one time event.

Of course here is the ticket which will soon be slabbed by BGS and stored away and even though it is not the most valuable Kershaw piece in my collection it is my most cherished one.

I debated on which color to use as I just didn't think blue would pop on this ticket since it is mostly blue itself. I settled on black and I think it came out great.

I can't believe I finally own this completed piece. Thank you again to the Dodgers for hosting Fan Fest and a special thanks to Clayton for taking the time to meet a handful of fans.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Attended Game Recap : Cardinals 4 at Dodgers 2 On June 7th, 2015

Even though I have been to a few games this year in multiple states I have been slacking on doing these game recaps. I wanted to get back to doing more posts that were not just about cards so I have started up the movie reviews again and I knew sooner or later that I would get back to these recaps and yesterday's game was the perfect one to welcome myself back.

I informed the wife earlier in the month that I wanted to go to this game as the hated Cardinals were in town for their one and only visit to Dodger Stadium during the regular season (see you guys in the playoffs though) and with this being a Sunday night game it would the perfect opportunity to grab a couple of tickets at a discount price and to insure we were sitting in the shade. Both of those goals were accomplished. I found out that Manny Mota would be signing at Viva Los Doyers prior to the game and even though I have a few autographs from Mr. Mota there was one a picture of him on his famous tryke that I wanted him to sign. With that we headed to the stadium early and went over to Lot 6 were Mota was signing. As always he was very nice and personable and signed everything that people put in front of him and he posed for pictures with anyone that asked.

Mota and I with signed photo

A closer look.

The pic is a little dark but his signature is in blue sharpie.

Thank you again to Manny for accommodating me and everyone else and their requests. 

After that the wife and I decided to walk around the event to pick up some freebies. We ended up with a couple of Dodger cups, milk chocolate and some lip balm. Everything is nicer when its free. Thank you to all the sponsers for their handouts.

With that done we headed into the stadium and since we were hungry (me moreso) we went straight to Fries, Fries, Fries as I am a fry whore. We tired the new Lasorda aka Italian styled version with meatballs. Not too bad. With stomachs full we headed to our seats in Loge 153 and that's where the fun began.

The game itself was decent enough until the Cardinals drove Greinke out of the game and our bullpen once again crapped the bed and what was a 2-0 lead turned into a 4-2 deficit. Zack did his job but the bullpen did not. It was nice to see Puig back on the field and it looks like his hamstring is doing much better as he scored from 1st on a double by Turner to give them a 1-0 lead. Yasiel is still rusty though as he let a "routine" single turn into a triple by Holliday which changed the whole dynamic of the game which the Dodgers could not recover from. 

The redbirds are the team that the Dodgers are going to have to figure out how to beat if they ever hope to make it back to the fall classic. Unless one or both of these teams completely collapses they are destined to meet once again in the playoffs and I am saying it right now that whoever wins between them will win the 2015 World Series no matter who comes out of the American League. Time for the Dodgers to man up. 

The game with the wife was fun but getting yet another 15 seconds of Dodger fame made it all the better. At the top of 5th inning representatives of the Dodgers made their way down our aisle and stopped at a couple behind us and asked them a question. I wasn't really paying attention till I heard "contest" and at that point I listened in more. They declined as English was their second language and we don't think they really realized what was being asked of them. My lovely wife steps in and volunteers me stating, oh yeah, he will do it. Now the pressure is on. The game I was to play was "Quarter Minute To Win It" where I was to be given a topic/word and I had to name as many words associated with that word and hopefully that would be more than what my Dodger competitor could name. My opponent? One Yasiel Puig. English barrier advantage for the Penguin. The prize?

The contest

Gift card at stake

Even though I don't shop at Sports Authority much if I was lucky enough to win it I could flip it for an eBay card for more autograph purchases. Yes, I already had a plan even though I hadn't won anything yet. 

This oh so friendly young lady came down with her camera man prior to the contest and set up shop. While nice enough she could have been more personable but I am sure she has to deal with a lot of problem people so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Giving the wife a thumbs up as I was ready to go. Let's do this.

Her and I talking as we are being broadcast over Dodger vision with me of course "talking" with my hands once again. Anyone that knows me knows I love to gesture talk.

Her and I again from a different view as everyone in the stadium can now see my lovely mug on Diamond Vision. You're welcome everyone. Ha Ha.

Time to play. What would the topic be? Hopefully something "easy". Here it is.

What luck as the wife just made us a fruit smoothie before we left for the stadium so "fruit" was still fresh in my mind. Now, could I name more fruits than Puig in 15 seconds? I was pretty confident but I still had to perform. Ding and we were off. I rambled off strawberry and banana, as that was in our smoothie, and then I paused for a moment. D'oh. Slight brain freeze but I started up again and named off some more and with a little help from the crowd (thank you) I believe I got up to 10-11 before my time was up. Now it was Puig's turn and he said banana to start off with and then said some Spanglish words that I couldn't understand and 15 seconds later I was declared the winner.

Here's me with gift card in hand rambling about the Dodgers into the camera. Thankfully I won as you don't want to be that person that didn't win. I've been to enough games to know how the crowd reacts to them.

So while the Dodgers didn't win the game and yet lost another opportunity to pad their lead in the west the wife and I had fun together and I got to have some fun and win a gift card. Thank you again to the Dodgers for running the contest.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Player Appearance / Signing Recap - Paul Lo Duca @ Dr. Liu's Optometry On March 21, 2015

This past Saturday Dr. Liu was hosting yet another former Dodger for a in store appearance at his practice and I knew I would make my way over there. Paul Lo Duca was the player and even though I met him at Harry's Dugout about 20 months ago as seen HERE that was when I acquired all my autographs on baseballs. Well that was then and this is now and I no longer had that ball and needed to pick up Paul's autograph on an 8x10. Also since I was heading out there I swung by Whittier to complete a trade which I will post about tomorrow so this trip was made to accomplish two things.

The signing was scheduled to start at 3 in the afternoon and even though I knew I wouldn't be there early I wanted to be there by 3:15-3:20. That did not happen as every single freeway from the 405,105,60 and 91 were backed up. Where was everyone going? After the trade was completed (which I was a little late to as well) it was already 3:20. I did not arrive to Dr. Liu's until 3:52 and when I got out of the car I noticed a line of about 15 people. It was busy. Good for Alex. I walked up to the door and said I wanted to speak to the Dr. and got in and chit chatted with him and he said that Paul would accommodate everyone. Paul always has been fan friendly and it shows once again. I picked a photo to my liking and hopped in line.

Closer view

Approached Paul and he took notice of the shirt that I was wearing and said he believes UCLA has a chance. We shall see on that but that is more proof that Paul is a good guy. He initiated the conversation not me. Placed the photo down for him to sign and then asked for a picture with him which he obliged.

Another autograph reacquired for my collection has been obtained. Thank you again to Paul for coming out and signing for the fans and thank you as always to Alex Liu for hosting the event and having it run so smoothly just like all past events. Season is about to begin and can't wait for more in store autograph events.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

2015 Photo Recap of Dodger Spring Training Trip

What now has become the yearly tradition of the wife and I travelling to Arizona at the end of February or beginning of March has come and gone once again. Unlike 2013 this time I came away with an autograph from Yasiel Puig. Two years ago he denied me all 4 days I was there but this time I got him on the 1st of 2 days I was there. Go figure. I did come away empty handed on the one I really wanted (like everyone else) as Kershaw denied me both days and on the 2nd day he skipped right over me and went to the guy on my left. UGH... Maybe next year.

The 1st day was far and away the better of the two quantity wise but could have been trumped by getting Kershaw's autograph on the second. It just wasn't meant to be. Here are my pictures of the autographs that I did acquire and they are all on 8x10 photos. A few random pictures are also included as I actually did leave the ballpark.

On our way to Arizona the wife and I stopped over at the Patton Museum for a break to stretch our legs. The #walletcard game was in full effect and those standings will be updated later today.

What is my personal tradition whether I am going by myself or have friends and family in tow I head over to the local Chick Fil A for a meal prior to going to Camelback. Breakfast of champions.

The entrance to Camelback Ranch which has a handy map for those that are visiting for the 1st time or have just forgotten where everything is.

When players first come out for the day they usually don't sign but Zach Lee was kind enough to sign for a few fans. I got him back at the Dodger FanFest last month so I didn't need anything from him.

Kershaw walking by. He never signs in the morning but he did at least acknowledge fans on his way to the fields.

The 1st autograph of the day was probably the "worst" of the trip. I asked Davey to sign above his head so the silver ink would pop but he signed on his pants instead so the silver sort of blends with the white. Oh well.

Kershaw jogging by.

Practice was over so autograph hunting commenced in full force. Ryu walked the line and signed for everyone that put something in front of him. I wanted something different so I went with a "batting" picture. I do love me some interesting photo shots and this falls in that category.

Yeager and Lopes walked by and I was able to get them both to sign this black and white photo project that I started last month. Sadly, Lasorda was not at Spring Training yet so I will have to wait to get him.

On day two A.J. was signing for just kids and some women but thankfully I got him on the first day when he signed for almost everyone.

Right behind A.J. was appropriately the catcher that will take a lot of A.J.'s playing time. Grandal was the focus of the Kemp trade and since I didn't have a photo of him in Dodger blue I had to settle for him here in Padre colors.

Pedro was a late addition to Dodger FanFest so I missed him there but thankfully I was prepared this time and though he was quiet and didn't really interact with fans he signed for everyone and smiled.

I have missed Turner on 4 separate occasions when he did a free signing and I was starting to wonder if I would ever get him before his time is through with the Dodgers. Thankfully I won't have to find out as he signed for people right after practice and then when most fans left he popped out again from the clubhouse and engaged with fans. Good guy this Turner kid.

Close to be my favorite get of the trip. I was able to acquire Andrew Friedman's autograph even though he was on the phone at the time. No, I didn't bother him as I think that is rude but someone that did was right next to me so I just slide over and had him sign this photo. Andrew even added the Go Dodgers inscription without me asking. Thank you again Andrew.

The funniest autograph get was from 3rd base coach Lorenzo Bundy. When he saw the picture he told me I should burn it. I asked why and he said it looks like a black man that stayed out in the sun too long. Toasty!! Great sense of humor. Love it. Thank you for the autograph on your hated picture.

On top of the black and white project this Simpson's one is the other long term one I am doing. Don started signing before his normal area and I yelled out to him that I have his Simpsons photo and he either was playing dumb or just playing and said he had to see it to believe it. Got him to sign and I now have 2 autographs on this very hard project.

The final autograph of the day was the biggie. Puig as with Kershaw are the two real big stars on the team and have mobs of fans trying to acquire their autographs. Puig was jogging off the practice field and I was waiting and prepared for him. Just like Kershaw he jumps around signing for various people but luckily for me he chose to sign my photo. Go figure, in 2013 he denied me when hardly anyone was looking for his autograph but here in 2015 he is in high demand and I barely have to fight for it. You just never know how things pan out.

Day was over for me at Camelback but the plan was to come back the following day for some more autographs but till then I had a day to kill.

I met up with the wife and her friends and we headed downtown to a Piazza joint she wanted to try but the wait was so long we ended up at T.G.I.F.'s in Chase Field. Even when I am not trying to do something baseball related I end up doing something baseball related. #walletcard game once again was in effect.

It was night time but I still wasn't sleepy and our friend's kids wanted to watch a movie. They wanted to see Sponge Bob. Yeah... Hell no. = ).
Luckily there was a movie more to my liking so I sent the kids into watch their movie while I watched mine.

Day two and I had a partner in crime tagging along today. The Dodgers brought the freaky Lasorda bobblehead from Dodger Stadium so I had him take a picture with him.

While I missed Kershaw once again, Brandon League was tailing him when they were coming off the field so I was able to get League's autograph once again. He is always pleasant so thank you once again Brandon.

Now that Julio Urias is becoming a bigger name in the baseball world I am always prepared and have a spare picture or two for him to sign when I know he might be around. This year was a polar opposite unlike last year when he could walk around and no one was bothering him. Not like a Kershaw mob but Urias did draw a big crowd. I think he is still getting used to it. He signed for me once again. I've been very lucky with Seager and Urias IP autographs.

To end my two trip at Camelback I decided to get Don's autograph one more time. This time with him in Yankee colors. As always he was cordial with all fans and signed for everyone after practice. Thank you again Don for your continued interaction with fans.

Well that's it for another year at Dodger's Spring Training for me. Quantity wise this was the best year ever for me. If I would have landed my elusive Kershaw autograph it would have been the perfect trip but it wasn't meant to be. One day it will be mine. Next year I hope to meet up with some friends that are going this year but we were all on different schedules. Thank you to all the players that signed and good luck to all the autograph hounds that are still out in Arizona.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.
-Penguin

2015 Dodgers Fan Fest Recap

The yearly Dodger extravaganza known as Fan Fest was this past Saturday and once again I attended and couldn't be happier to be back among my "friends" in blue. Official baseball season is just around the corner and this event starts the countdown to it in earnest.

While there are other things to do and see the main reason I and a lot of people attend Fan Fest is to acquire autographs of current and retired players along with some coaches. As a season ticket holder I had the opportunity to purchase tickets prior to the general public and also the chance to buy during that time as well. My main focus was to get Mark McGwire and to hopefully get more than one ticket as I had a photo and a black ball I wanted signed by big Mac. After all was said and done from the two sale times I ended up with 9 autograph vouchers with each one getting you autographs from two separate players. Unlike last year they were not spread out as I was double dipping in a couple sessions and I was scheduled to be done around 1:30.

I decided to arrive early as I did not want to deal with the massive onslaught of cars entering the parking area. Mark was in the 1st session so I wanted to be near the front of the line. I also had another person that I bought a voucher for but more on that tomorrow as that changed mid last week. Even with me being in the stadium parking area early I still ended up being around 40th in Mark's line. No biggie. First up in the Dodger pairing though was Zach Lee

Zach was probably the nicest and most engaging Dodger of the day. Hopefully he can help the big league club this year as I am sure he will get called up at some point even if it is just in September. He has a "quick" signature which made the autograph streak a little. Little disappointed in that.

... but since I had two vouchers I switched to blue sharpie for the second auto. Came out a tad better but his pen stroke causes streaks either way. Still came out good though.

Big Mac hitting dingers. I couldn't find a good enough picture of Mark in Dodger blue to my likely so I went with one during his glory days with St. Louis. Love this pic as the bat is just "floating" in the air and with his hand gesture it looks like he is commanding it. My favorite picture of the day. No streaking here.

And with the second voucher I got this black ball signed. This was the main focus of the whole event as I wanted Mark on the sweet spot of a black ball. I knew that he signed slow so the odds of streaking would be minimized and the result did not disappointed. Don't have many signed  balls left but this one is a keeper.

While I was acquiring those four autographs my friend Jimmy was in line for Orel Hershiser's autograph who was paired with Chris Withrow. He didn't really want or need Chris's autograph so he was willing to trade it off. Again, I had a ticket for that line but more on that in tomorrow's post. I handed him a photo and a pen and he got this 8x10 for me. Great signature with no issues. Thank you again Jimmy for the autograph.

I had a hour till kill before my next autograph session so I decided to roam around and saw that there were camera lights on near the 1st base dugout. I decided to see what was going on and I'm glad I did. Jerry Hariston was setting up for an interview and he started to engage with the fans and sign autographs. I did not buy a voucher for his session so this was a nice little bonus for the day. Great signature and placement.

Resting time was over and it was time to double dip again as I had two vouchers for Joc Pederson and Mickey Hatcher. Found this great photo of Mickey from an Old Timer's game but when I approached the table I found out that my silver decos (all of them) had run dry. Ugh. Hence why his autograph is on his leg. I only had blue pens left to use for the remainder of the day and a blue autograph on a blue background doesn't look good. Asked him to sign on his leg which was no problem. Odd placement but Mickey was accommodating.

Now for the odd signature of the day. When I approached Joc's part of the table he asked me my name which I found odd and knew right then what he was planning to and did do. He personalized the photo. What? Why did he do that? Didn't notice him do that to anyone else. Why me? You notice though that he also added his old number to the autograph as that is the number he is wearing in the photo. So since I had two vouchers what would he do on the ball?

Well he knew my name but thankfully he did not personalize the ball as well. You notice on this though he put his new number on it. So I ended up with a 65 and a 31. Nice. This was a replacement for a black ball I got signed by Joc last year at Frank and Sons where the signature streaked a little. This time it's much better with minimal "issues"

Down to the last two (4 autographs) sessions of the day. I needed to reacquire Tim's autograph as I sold the signed ball that I had of his but I couldn't find a decent picture of him playing as a Dodger. I decided to go back to his roots and printed out one of him as an Expo. The only issue I have here is the placement of the autograph as he put it right on his uniform which would be fine if the pen wasn't blue !!! Still a nice autograph though.

I acquired Howie's autograph last year when he was an Angel but I wanted to get one of him as a Dodger but since he hasn't played on the field yet there are no photos of him in that situation. So why not print one of him in a Dodger hat and jersey during his press conference? Good enough for me. As always, Howie is one of the nicer players and his signature is one of the best.

Last session and I finally got get Kenley's autograph in person. To me it is still one of the odder ones out there as is looks like a seven but hey, we all have different signatures and this just happens to be his.

What better way to end the week and Fan Fest than to get the Penguin's autograph one more time. I started off the week getting Ron's signature on a photo at Select a Seat and now he was last on my to do list for Fan Fest. Once again, Ron as always was cordial and pleasant.

That finishes up my day at Fan Fest. 13 signatures in under 4 hours. Not too shabby. Thank you again to Jimmy for the trade and it was great seeing friends such as Luis, Bill, Eddie of Harry's Dugout Fame, Franz among others. Thank you again to the Dodgers for hosting another smooth running Fan Fest event and I look forward to next year's when we celebrate the 2015 World Series Championship team.

= )

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.
-Penguin