Player Appearance / Signing Recap : Tommy Lasorda @ Dodger Stadium On April 18, 2015

Dodger fan's favorite, former manager and always pleasant to talk to Tommy Lasorda made an in store appearance at Dodger Stadium this past weekend to promote his current book "My Way".

He "co-wrote" it with his former assistant Colin Gunderson who was also on hand to sign copies for fans. I wanted to pick up a copy sometime this year and just had to find the right opportunity to do so and this was that time. I wanted to go to the Grove a week earlier but life happened as I was needed elsewhere. I learned of the signing earlier in the week and thought if I could piggy back it with an actual baseball game then I could kill two birds with one stone. I had yet to attend a game this baseball season so it gave me more reason to want to go this Saturday so I could take in a game and get an autographed book from Tommy.

Lasorda and Gunderson autographs.

With the Dodgers hosting the Rockies with no stadium giveaways I thought I could score a deal on some tickets to the game which I did and ended up with front row seats in the Loge level. Great view to a great game as the Dodgers beat the Rockies 6-3. It felt great to be back for live baseball. It's been too long. 

As a season ticket holder (STH) I can enter the stadium an hour prior to the general public and I planned to use that perk to get in line early as I expected a crowd for the Dodger great. The signing was scheduled to begin at 4:30 and last for about an hour. The wife and I were in the stadium at 3:15 and once 4 p.m. approached we headed towards the left field New Era store. Not as many people as I expected as we were about 20th in line. Tommy and Colin arrived 10 minutes earlier than scheduled and promptly started to sign for fans.

Like a few other people in line I tried to get an outside item signed and was denied by four different people (security, store employee, handler and Colin himself). Oh well, guess I will have to hit up Tommy in Arizona next year. Approached the table where they were sitting and Tommy happened to be in a good mood this day (I'm going to attest that to this being a public event where he has his best face on) as he even engaged with a few fans. They both signed my copy and Tommy was eyeing my black and white photo I had hoped he would sign and wondered if he would ask to see it and maybe sign it anyways. It wasn't meant to be. I said my thank yous to both gentlemen and headed back to the stadium. 

Tommy signing my copy

Surprisingly as I left there were maybe an additional 20 people lined up for the signing and it was only 4:40. I expected a bigger turnout but maybe because of the late announcement people were unaware. 

Thank you again to Tommy and Colin for the signed copy.

A Tommy signing can't be complete without an attitude attached to it.

Pleasant but I still got the stink eye.

Lol.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

 

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Museum : Tommy Lasorda Canvas Collection Insert

Man, Tommy even looks grumpy in recent card releases now.

Each time I have met him he has never had a smile on his face. Kind of what he looks like on this card so in that sense the artist for this card drew it to perfection.

With not too many cards to chase after in the Museum set and most of the remaining ones having a low cost I don't think it will be too long till I am finished with this set. The canvas collection inserts are unique and I love the feel of them. Demand for Tommy cards I assume are not too high as I locked up this card for a little more than $2 delivered.

A decent priced purchase for the long time Dodger.

Autographs of the Day : 2013 Dodger Spring Training @ Camelback

It's that time of the year. Baseball is in the air and it's time to go see the Boys in Blue. For the second year in a row I have made the trip out to Arizona to catch the team and all their new acquisitions from the off season. Hopefully this will become an annual tradition. I am already making plans for next year and hopefully it will be to see the reigning World Series Champs at Camelback.

The first day that I was there it happened to be Saturday and there were a good amount of people which was to be expected as it was the weekend. I had a few things that I really wanted signed, one, a single signed ball of Puig and Ryu, a team signed ball of the 25 man roster and Matt Kemp to sign the 3rd out ball I got back in Washington D.C. last year.

Around 9:45 a.m. the players and coaches started to come out of the main building to go towards the practice fields and though most players were not signing there were some that stopped and signed. I got in front of at least five guys and missed out on each one. The most irritating one was Yansiel Puig who is an up and coming minor leaguer. Got in front of him twice on his way to the field and both times he stopped signing right before me. That became the theme of the weekend for me with him. So on the morning exodus to the field I zeroed out on the autographs and thought this is different from last year as I got 5 in the morning. I was hoping for the best but not holding my breath. Took some pictures of them jogging around and Manny Mota on his famous bike.

Even during ST Uribe looks like he lags behind everyone and is huffing and puffing. Ugh.

Once on the field the pitchers looked on as they took turns doing some drills on the main practice field. Nothing like seeing Kershaw on the field. Should win the Cy Young this year.

Decided to venture over to the bullpen area where new Dodger pitcher Ryu was getting ready to throw a session and the area became crowded as I wasn't the only one interested in watching what he had. Half way through Mattingly stepped in with bat in hand to gauge the newcomer. Came away impressed.

Once that was over I headed back to the main practice field and saw fan favorites Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier with new batting coach Mark McGwire. Andre has been very chatting with fans lately and a group of us have been talking to him about places to eat in the AZ area as he is a foodie. Kemp as always is very nice with fans and willing to engage with them. Love those rare superstars that don't think they are better than us "normal" people.

Practice was ending and this was the time to get as many autographs as I could. As usual a mad rush towards every player as they walked off the field and they now have two different areas to come and go so they do not walk all together through one entry way. You have to time the ones you want as security will rope you off at times. Makes things more interesting to say the least. So with a few balls in hand I started and luckily I was able to end up with 6 total players on my 2013 team ball. Don Mattingly (sweet spot), Andre Ethier, Skip Schumaker, Jerry Hariston Jr., Ronald Bellasario and Brandon League. And guess what, I saw Puig again and walked up and he was signing a few for a few people then stop right before. AGAIN. That was now twice that day. Ugh. Andre worked the line and signed for as many people as he could as did Ronald. The others you had to track down and hope a little as they signed a few and then just moved on. After the last one I noticed Kemp in the corner getting mobbed as usual and I had two options. Do I give him my team ball or my 3rd out ball for him to sign? I chose the 3rd out ball as it means more to me and I assume I can get Kemp on the team ball at the stadium. With the 3rd out ball done I won't have to carry an extra item into the stadium. I got over to his area and found an opening and was able to hand him the ball and he signed it. He side paneled and I noticed he was doing that to a lot of people so maybe this is something new he is doing. Normally that would irk me but I am just ecstatic I got this one finally signed. That was the end of the day for me. So 7 autographs wasn't too bad considering I had zero to start of the day.

Back at the ranch on Sunday I went for day two of my trip and I was hoping for more luck on the autographs this day. So guess which one of the players came out first? Puig once again. He signed again for some people. I was there, again, and he didn't sign for me, again. Three times now. Sigh. This time a I was lucky enough to get two people as they walked out, Chris Capuano, which is a slight risk for the team ball as he might be traded but for some reason I feel he will be on the team and Tim Federowicz which I got lucky as he signed for exactly two people and I was one of them. So unlike the previous day I got 2 start out of my day. I headed over to watch them practice once again and Ned Colletti came out and even though I got his autograph back at fanfest I thought I would take a pic with him. Nice guy. Question some of his trades but appreciate the interaction with fans that he has.

Tommy Lasorda set up shop again to sign for fans again. I already have his signature but I thought I would get a spare one that I can either sell or use as trade. So if anyone wants a Tommy Lasorda sweet spot signed baseball I have one for trade.

Then all hell broke loose. The Immortal Sandy Koufax arrived at camp and he started to walk towards the field and I have never seen such a mob form in the short of time. I have seen Fernando, Lasorda and Kemp mobs form but nothing like this. I was somewhat close but by the time I got to the area where he was I was about 3 deep and the crowd was growing. He stopped for a few signatures then kept moving and the crowd moved with him. It was crazy. I have read on other blogs that people were punching others and hitting and shoving. I love me some autographs and would have loved to get an IP of Koufax but I will not injure someone to get it. Have some manners and morals people.

Practice was coming to a close and the players walked by once again but this time not too many of them stopped and signed. I was fortunate to get Ted Lilly on the team ball but no others. So that was the end of day two so I headed out. I did glance back and noticed Dee Gordon ( who I chose on to put on the ball ) stood there and signed for anyone that asked for his time and signature. Classy. I like the guy personally as I have chatted with him but baseball-wise he needs to work on his game and hopefully he will make it back to the bigs as we could use his speed.

I was planning to just leave and come home Monday morning but I thought I would swing by one last time to see if I could get any more signatures on before heading out. Got there and this time not a single player signed for anyone on their way to the field. A total blank for everyone. I was finally finished for the weekend. 10 signatures total. Not as good as last year but a successful and fun trip nonetheless. Hope to make it out next year and hope to finish the team ball at the stadium.

Pics of the balls :



Signed Ball of the Day : Tommy Lasorda ( ROMLB Sweet Spot )

Well I have run through my bobblehead posts so I thought I would start another ongoing category. I was on the look out for one last bobblehead and I just won it on ebay so once I receive that then I will do a post on that. I will be taking the newly acquired bobble to Spring Training next week so hopefully I will get it signed. And Spring Training is where we start with this new category.

Most of my autographs are on baseballs but I do have a few exceptions ( bobbleheads, pictures, bats, etc ) so I am going to start with the balls and sprinkle in the others from time to time. I would say around 60% of all my signatures are in person ( IP ). Some people would find it sacrilegious to get an autograph any other way but I don't think it is a crime to acquire it whether by trade with another person or buying an authenticated one on ebay or some other source. The majority of my signatures are Dodgers, past and present, and some are just not realistic to get in person. For instance, I bought Pee Wee Reese's signed ball as he has passed so IP is not possible. I missed Russell Martin when he was a Dodger and didn't know if I would ever catch him again so I bought one on ebay for $15. My collection is built the way I can and want to acquire the autographs and yours should be the same. Don't let anyone else tell you how to get your signatures.

Anyways, back to the new category and Spring Training. Last year was my first time I was able to go to Arizona to catch the boys in blue. My main goal was to acquire as many autographs as I could get and I came away with about 20 in my one and half days there. One thing that I have been adjusting in my collection is if I bought an autograph I would still try to hunt down that person so I would have an IP autograph instead and then I would resell the one I originally bought. Well that was the case here. I bought Tommy Lasorda's autograph as I couldn't never meet up with him and then I have heard and seen stories about the temper he has. I personally have seen it once when I got close so after that I looked and found videos showing the same experience I got. Well I bought his PSA authenticated autograph about 3 years ago and thought I would never meet up with him again. Well on the first day in AZ and towards the end of the day there he drives out on his golf cart and a line of about 20 people line up and he proceeds to sign for everyone. I had my buddy with me and thought maybe he could get my bat signed but I have heard stories about bats so I got my baseball signed and thankfully he signed on the sweet spot. Nothing irritates me more than side paneling unless asked, I'm looking at you Shane Victorino. I didn't want to be the person wanting a signtaure after the signee is pissed off so I went first and then my buddy walks up and Tommy lights up into him and says, " I don't sign God damn bats ". Ahhhh... the infamous Tommy temper came out. Anyways, I got my ball signed and that weekend I sold the one I previously purchased. A great way to end my first day in AZ.