Dodgers FanFest 2013

Dodgers FanFest was insanity.  I want to start off by thanking my fellow Dodgers-blogging friends.  I do not think I could have lasted the day without them.  Pretty much the entirety of the event was spent standing and waiting in some sort of line.  I had fun, though.  Perhaps more so than mutual interests, mutual commiseration and suffering tends to build bonds.  I like that I finally got to meet several of my fellow bloggers, of whom I have only known by name and reputation for a few years until yesterday.  I will use the photos I took to help tell the tale of FanFest:

I arrived at Dodger Stadium around 10 AM.  You can see some of the outfield construction and remodeling here.

The line to get wristbands (!) for autographs did not seem too bad from this point.  But, then I crossed the ridge and saw that the line seemed to have no end.  Spiegel of Nomo's Sushi Platter fame met up with me around 10:20ish AM.  Spiegel and I had drawn up a cursory plan to get autographs from Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu.  The plan was doomed to fail from the start.  The autograph line must have been at least a mile long because it wound, folded, and curved on itself.  I thought that there must have been at least ten thousand people there, though Dylan Hernandez said that the Dodgers thought the number was closer to 21,000.  After about an hour of waiting in line and shooting the shit, Greg of Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle fame met up with Spiegel and yours truly.

This was where we were a little more than an hour and a half into our riveting line-standing.  It was almost noon.

At some point during our wait in line, Josh Dodgerbobble, Stealing Home and his son met up with the three of us.  Dodgerbobble managed to score himself a Magic Johnson autographed baseball, the lucky duck.  We all traded a few cards and chatted for a while.  Dodgerbobble and Stealing Home left early.  We finally got to the wristband tent some time between 1:30-2:00 PM.  That was a three hour line!  Spiegel, Zakwin, and I each got our one autograph wristband for Hyun-Jin Ryu and proceeded into FanFest.  It wasn't necessarily better inside the event area than what was outside.

On stage right is Matt Kemp playing at DJ'ing and on stage left is Nancy Bea.  As you can see, it was super crowded inside FanFest.  This was the view from where we were standing in line to get Ryu's signature.

More after the jump...

Tiger! Tiger! 2012 Goodwin Champions box break!

I was bored last week and stopped by Hall of Fame Baseball Cards in Arcadia to buy stuff.  I purchased some supplies and a box of 2012 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions.  The shop is located at 319 E. Foothill Blvd., Arcadia, CA 91006, and they are having a Davey Lopes signing tomorrow (Saturday, 9/15) starting at 10 AM.  Let me know if you plan on going, though I have not decided if I will attend yet.  Now, on to the hobby box, which is definitely one of my best box breaks this year...

'Zo, looking dapper.  Selling or trading this one, I think.

Troy Aikman!  Nice haircut, dude.

Abby Wambach mini-yellow printing plate, one of one!  Sweet.  I believe this is my very first miniature printing plate.

Holy shitballs.  Zoom in for full effect.  Tiger Woods autograph card!  Or rather, a redemption for a Tiger Woods auto!  I better get this card, or there is hell to pay.  Tiger is a "Group A" signature, so he is seeded as 1:1977 packs.  Metal.

Do you think Davey Lopes would be cool with writing "Party Hard" as an inscription for me?  Kevin Kouzmanoff did...

A closer encounter

I met Kenley Jansen yesterday at Paul's TV (inside a Living Spaces) in Monrovia, CA.  He was scheduled to sign from 12-1 PM.  Jansen showed up a bit late to sparse applause, but he signed rather quickly and was a pleasant dude.  Also, he's massive.  I was lazy and did not really get any photos of the event.  However, here's the baseball I got Jansen to sign:

Kenley signed his number... 74!  Sweet.  Jansen's autograph looks like kanji.

This was my first time at a Dodgers signing. I enjoyed it, though it was a rather quick (not the waiting) and workmanlike event.

Some of you may have noticed that I have not posted in a while.  I just moved back down to SoCal after six or so years in the SF Bay Area.  It's great to be back!  And how about them Kings?  Champions!