I arrived at the first Dodger FanFest at noon. There were a lot of people there waiting for the gates to open. The first thing I did was have my baseball card made. This is my third baseball card but this one has the Dodger schedule in the back. The next thing I did was the Dodger flip book. Basically you put a glove on and pose for pictures pitching, catching while the camera rolls and they make that into a tiny book.

It was already hot so when I saw sosmeone with a paper fan with half of Matt Kemp’s face, I asked where they got it. It is KCAL CBS sponsored with their broadcast schedule in the back. They gave you three rubber baseballs and if you made it thru the big hole you got the fan. If you made it thru the smaller hole you got Dodger tickets. I wanted the fan but I only came close. Lucky for me my brother Victor was with me. He aimed for the big hole and got me my fan! How do I look?

When Mattingly was on stage, I went to the mike and asked him what Lilly had done to get tossed in Chicago. Also I said on the Mike while wearing my Vote for AJ Ellis button (I took the image from MikeSciosciatragicillness blog and glued it to one of my buttons. Mattingly said “yes, I am voting for AJ.

Here is Matt Kemp on stage being interviewed and taking questions.

The longest Dodger infield was missing the iron man Steve Garvey. He had an emergency so only Russell, Cey and Lopes were there. I thanked them for 1981 which was my first year as a season ticket holder and told Lopes that back in 1981 I had given Bobby Welch a greeting card to make him feel better because he was not doing well. He said something like “you don’t know how much we appreciate that when we are not doing well..” That year in December 1981 I received a postcard from Lopes thanking me for my support. I still have it.

Vin Scully also made it appearance! He talked and we listened only with the “WE Love you Vin!” “No, you are Great!”

Next it was Pepe Yniguez, Fernando Valenzuela & Jaime Jarrin. Pepe funny as usual and even Fernando. Jaime great as always.

Earlier I had gone to the section where the Dodgers had the Tommy Lasorda wine tasting. This section was only for season ticket holders. Later on Tommy was going to walk around talking to fans there posing for picures but I had a conflict since it was the same time Vin Scully was going to be on stage. Anyway, after Pepe, Fernando and Jaime appearace on stage, Tommy followed. He was funny, inspirational and full of Dodger Blue energy. He got the crowd going. I asked him “what kind of food I should have with two bottles of his wine I have at home. He said “Save it!” “And when the Dodgers win the World Series I will drink those bottles of wine with you!” 🙂 Tommy: I got plenty of witnesses!

I left in time to watch some batting practice. Clayton Kershaw pitched a great game. He blanked out the Cardinals 6-0,