Dodgers vs Padres Labor Day Game 9-3-12

I decided to go to the Dodgers vs Padres Labor Day Game with the intention of graphing during BP. It's already been a long weekend of graphing and it can get tiresome at times so Benson and I decided to graph during BP and leave as soon as BP was over.

We arrived at the stadium at around 1:45pm and I ran into Don Newcombe at the parking lot. He was with his wife/manager. Any time she is around it's always a hostile situation since she's always mean to fans whenever they request Don for an autograph. She is always assumes fans are out there to make money off of her husband yet she is the one sending him to all these public autograph signings to make a profit off of her husband. I asked Don to sign my Dodgers 50th Anniversary baseball underneath the logo. I figured that wouldn't be too much to ask since I wasn't asking for a sweet spot signature. Then his wife asks me why I don't want Don to sign on the sweet spot as he was signing away and asked me who I would add on the baseball. I told her that the baseball was just for Don and that I wouldn't be adding anymore signatures to this ball. I felt as though she was testing me. To make matters worse she then adds I lost out on the chance of Don adding any inscriptions for me today since I didn't ask him to sign on the sweet spot. The entire time she was giving me a hard time about it. I never even thought of asking him to inscribe in her presence and I don't even expect him to do that. Then she added that she knew I would come up to him for an autograph since she can spot graphers a mile away. Every encounter I had with this lady she has been rude. I was just happy I got his autograph and wanted to get out of there. I think I am done asking Newk for an autograph from now on. Luckily I don't have anymore items for him to sign.

When we entered the stadium the players were warming up.

Ted Lilly and Tim Federowicz were doing a bullpen session. As soon as they finished they signed autographs for the fans. Ted signed my 2012 Gypsy Queen card and Tim signed my 2012 Topps card.

During the tail end of BP I convinced Randy Choate to throw me a baseball. The toss up was short and landed on the base of the wall near the outfield. An usher picked up the ball and handed it to me. It was a 50th ball.

Afterwards we headed towards Aisle 27 to get more autographs. Like the previous game it was dead again. Benson and I were sick of waiting in the first group so we got out and went in line for the second group. Towards the tail end of the first group we noticed that John Ely stopped to sign and Don Newcombe signed a few. Then all of the players went inside the clubhouse. We noticed that Don Mattingly was signing for the fans with VIP on field access tickets near the dugout as the second group was being called in. We walked in and Don went back in the clubhouse denying autograph requests from fans in the autograph corral. We waited a bit longer and the only member of the Dodgers staff to sign was Dave Hansen. Since I had nothing for him to sign I didn't get any autographs. Thus during back to back trips, the autograph corral was terrible. Normally i've had success there in the past but it's been bad lately.

I decided to go to the Padres side in right field to see if any of the Padres would be signing during BP. As I was walking near the Padres dugout I noticed that Jesus Guzman had a ball with him as he was about to walk down the dugout. I asked for the baseball even though I was decked out in Dodgers gear. Surprisingly he threw me the baseball and it was one of the most cleanest BP baseballs I have ever gotten during BP. The entire baseball is clean minus the grass stain near the Rawlings logo.

Graphing was dead on the Padres side as none of the players signed. It was a hot day so BP was cut short and they went back into the clubhouse.

I decided to wait by the Dodger bullpen to try to get some autographs from the Dodgers pitchers before the game started. I ended up getting John Ely to sign my BP ball I got from Jerome Williams at Angel Stadium a few weeks ago. That's the dirtiest baseball I've gotten from BP this year.

It was another strange day of graphing at Dodger Stadium. I can't wait to go back to graph at home at Angel Stadium when the Tigers come into town this weekend.