Dodgers vs Giants Series La Gran Fiesta Viva Los Dodgers Recap

Dodgers vs Giants Post Game 9-13-13

The Giants were in town for a four game series vs the Dodgers. My goal this series was to get Tim Lincecum's autograph since I am the only person in the autograph community in Southern California that still hasn't gotten Timmy's autograph. I've tried for the last few years and I always missed him.

Initially I was stuck in traffic thus I thought I wouldn't make it on time for postgame graphing. Luckily I was able to arrive at Dodger Stadium in the bottom of the 9th inning.

It felt like the playoffs as the entire stadium was filled to capacity. Even though the Dodgers pretty much have the division won it was nice to see the fans stay and watch the full game. Unfortunately the Dodgers ended up losing to the Giants 4-2.

As soon as the game was over Tim Lincecum walked out and signed a photo for my friend Alex. Afterwards he grabbed my ROMLB and pen and ran toward his car. I guess he didn't want to get mobbed by the fans. It was weird since I had to chase Timmy down to get my baseball back. I wasn't sure if he was going to keep it and drive off or hand me the baseball back. Luckily he sat in his car and signed by baseball and tossed it back to me.

I was happy to finally add Tim Lincecum's autograph to my collection. What's unique about the baseball is that it looks like he drew a happy face like how Brett Butler signs his autograph.

That was pretty much it for postgame graphing as none of the other Giants signed. I was glad to knock Timmy out of the way the first night I tried graphing this series.

La Gran Fiesta Viva Los Dodgers 9-14-13 

I decided to check out La Gran Fiesta Viva Los Dodgers Event since I missed out last year due to work. The scheduled Dodgers to sign were Adrian Gonzalez, Juan Uribe, Jerry Hairston Jr, and Ronald Belisario from 2-2:30pm; Billy Ashley, Bobby Castillo, Sweet Lou Johnson, and Kenny Landreaux from 3:45-4:15; Fernando Valenzuela, Manny Mota, and Pepe Yniguez from 5:15-6:10.

My goal was to get either Adrian Gonzalez or Juan Uribe autograph today. I wanted to get my 2010 All star bat signed by Adrian Gonzalez and a photo by Juan Uribe since he rarely signs.

As expected the event was extremely crowded.

The Dodgers created four autograph lines. Unfortunately nobody knew where each player would sign so it was randomized. I decided to get in line 3 with Josh, Jessie, Benson and Larry. My buddy Spencer was in line 4.

I get really unlucky when it comes to lines so it was no surprise that I was in the Jerry Hairston Jr line. No offense to Jerry since he is a great guy in person and a World Series champion but I didn't have anything but a card for him to sign today so I was a bit upset. Adrian Gonzalez ended up in line 1, Juan Uribe ended up in line 2, Jerry was in line 3 and the biggest surprise were two unannounced signers Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig in line 4. My buddy Spencer pretty much hit the jackpot. The organizers of the event let people in line four to choose between getting Hanley's autograph or Puig's autograph.

Ironically my buddy Spencer actually came to the event just to get his Yankee plaque signed by Jerry Hairston Jr. I had nothing but a measly card for Jerry to sign so Spencer asked me if I could get his plaque signed for him. Sure enough I agreed since I knew my buddy's Yankee's plaque project was more important than me getting my card signed. In exchange Spencer agreed to get me Yasiel Puig's autograph which is simply the most generous trade ever. Unfortunately I didn't have a bat on me that was appropriate for Puig to sign since I only brought my 2010 All Star bat with me but my buddy Larry who was in line with me immediately noticed the situation and gave me one of his bats so I could get Puig's autograph. I didn't want to drop a ball on Puig either since he was side paneling everyone since he is under "contracto."

I ended up getting Jerry to sign Spencer's Yankee plaque and he was nice enough to inscribe 09 World Series Champs.

Spencer handed me this signed Puig bat afterwards.

I want to thank Spencer for getting me Puig's autograph and also Larry for hooking me up with the bat. It's good to have nice friends in the autograph community. I felt really lucky to get Puig since I soon found out that Puig and Hanley weren't signing bats that day. There was a kid who tried to get a bat signed that got denied by the handlers running the event. Somehow Spencer was able to convince Puig so sign my bat. Hanley and Puig ended up signing for less than five minutes for about 20 fans and ended up leaving early as Belisario took their place. A lot of fans in line 4 were upset when this happened. I'm glad I dropped a bat since I soon found out that Puig was side paneling every baseball since he is under "contracto." My buddy Juan even tried to use a sweetspot cover aka "ball condom" to get Puig to sign on the SS but he ended up peeling it off to side panel the baseball.

Afterwards we entered the stadium to graph the Dodgers during BP. The first Dodger to sign was Paco Rodriguez near the bullpen. Unfortunately I missed him as he finished up signing by the time I was able to hand him my photo.

Then Carlos Marmol signed two cards for me. It was nice to finally add his autograph to my collection.

Next up was Michael Young. Today was my lucky day. First was getting Puig's autograph on a bat due to the generosity of my buddy Spencer. I recently ordered a 2006 All Star Baseball earlier during the week so that I could get Michael Young to sign it for me. My buddy Benson ran a bit late today before meeting up at my house to carpool to Dodger Stadium together. My mailman literally dropped off the baseball as Benson arrived at my house. Had we left for the stadium earlier I wouldn't have been able to get Michael Young to sign my 2006 All Star baseball. Michael Young was cool as usual and signed my 2006 Rawlings All Star baseball under the logo. He also hooked it up with the '06 ASG MVP inscription.

That was pretty much it for me and the rest of the day for graphing the Dodgers. I did take some action photos of my buddy Josh aka Dodgerbobble getting Don Mattingly's autograph near the dugout.

The Donnie baseball autograph came out sick. Another great pickup for Josh.

The best autograph that anyone got at the stadium today belongs to Josh's agent Benson. Among Dodger fans, graphers at Dodger Stadium, and graphers in Southern California Josh has become a cult hero. Benson ended up getting a 1 of 1 spotlight photo signed by the legend Dodgerbobble.

If any true Dodger fan or OG grapher needs a photo of Josh or his autograph feel free to contact his agent Benson.

I want to thank my buddy Spencer again for helping me get Yasiel Puig's autograph and also my buddy Larry for loaning me the bat I used to get Puig's autograph. It's nice to know good people and friends in the autograph community.