"Save the Anthem at Ballparks" by Bauman

I saw the name of the article, and I knew i had to read it. Being somewhat musically inclined (though by not much), I enjoy hearing really good versions of the "Star Spangled Banner" before the game. But sometimes, it seems we hear more bad than good. And yes, I know it's a difficult song to sing.

The best version I remember hearing was before a game against the Marlins in July 2007. It was by a ten year old girl. It was the sweetest, most beautiful rendition I can remember. It certainly was one of my favorites. Off the top of my head, my second favorite was when Sherman Pore sang the National Anthem. Sherman Pore, if you remember, went on American Idol in 2007. He sang "You Belong to Me" (the 1952 song, not the new Taylor Swift one obviously) as a tribute to his wife who just passed from cancer. I wish I could've been there to see Russell Martin (Sr.) play the National Anthem on his saxophone back in 2006.

As for the worst ... I don't recall the names. The violinist was probably one of the worst. Sure, it would've been nice if the sound was working. But I still didn't like her rendition anyway. You couldn't blame it on the mic not working properly. It was still pretty bad. And then there was the guy who took like ten minutes singing the National Anthem. It was before the Brewers game on Aug 4. It took almost 3 1/2 hours for the Dodgers to beat the Brewers 17 to 4. Prince Fielder must've been upset that the game took so long, which is why he tried to storm the Dodgers clubhouse. He wanted to find out who picked the guy who sang the National Anthem.

Let's not even get started with "God Bless America" during the 7th Inning Stretch. I'm glad I wasn't at the game on August 18 against the Cardinals when the singer not only couldn't sing in tune ... but she didn't know the words either. It's a hilarious video to watch, but after the first time, you might want to hit mute. It's just fun to watch the players' reactions. Though, there have been a few renditions I liked. The USC Trojan marching band for one.

I had heard that the Dodger Stadium gift shop was having another one of their big sales. There were jerseys on sale for 20 or 30 dollars. I had to check it out. After all, how could I pass up the opportunity to buy a Wolf jersey for only $20 or $30. Original price, it's almost 300 and even on sale it's about 85. It took me a while though. They had one Wolf road jersey and two Wolf home jerseys. They were both from 2007, because they had "52" on the back. I tried three different jerseys before deciding which one to get.


After purchasing my new jersey, I started heading out. As I was driving by one of the parking lots, an animal crossed in front of my car. I had to stop and couldn't believe it. It was a coyote! At least, I think that's a coyote. What do you think?


Here it is, standing in Lot K. You can see the Downtown Gate behind it.

For Olvera St., Nina and I actually got there earlier than we did for ESPN. We got there about 8:30 and there were already about six people in front of us. We knew the first two groups of people in the front of the line from yesterday's event. As we were standing around talking, these two police officers came up and asked us some questions. They had no idea that the Dodgers were going to be stopping by later that day. As any autograph event, people are constantly walking by and asking, "what are you guys in line for?"

One of the funniest things that happened while we were waiting in line. I don't remember exactly how it came up, but one of Ronnie's daughters asked me if I knew who the Jonas brothers were. I think we were talking about what we should tell people who we were waiting for. I said something like I don't know who the Jonas Brothers are. She asked me, "You don't know who the Jonas Brothers are?" I told her, "no clue." She straight out told me (in all seriousness), "You have no soul." I wasn't offended. I just thought it was hilarious and soooo cute.

When the Dodger reps showed up to set up, I recognized one of them from the day before and aid out loud, "oh no. He ain't going to like me." We saw the signs go by. Table A had Matt Kemp, James McDonald, and Jimmy Campanis. Table B had Fernando Valenzuela, Ramon Troncoso, and Steve Yeager. Campanis and Yeager weren't listed on the website. During the rally, they also announced Brad Ausmus and Jaime Jarrin. Guess Ausmus had to leave before the rally. They were speaking in Spanish, so I couldn't understand most of it. Before the rally started, they had music blasting through the speakers. I'm serious when I said blasting. It was so loud it was painful on the ears. They gave away tshirts and CDs. First they had a contest where the first person who blew a balloon till it popped (a t-shirt). The next one I think was a "dance off". Again, I'm not positive because I couldn't understand most of it.

The players arrived and were introduced. Before they were introduced, there was a little boy (Deuce) playing on the steps on the side. Matt, James, and Ramon (I think he did) all came hand shook Deuce's hand or gave him a little first bump. They took turns on the mike. I couldn't catch what Troncoso was saying (he was speaking in Spanish). James McDonald said something like, "God comes first in my heart, then all of you!" Matt Kemp said a few words, and then he started the "Fernando! Fernando! Fernando!" chant.

The players came down. Matt Kemp shook my hand on his way. I figured, why not? He held Cat's hand too when she saw her. They were ready to send us down the line, but there was only one problem. Jaime Jarrin wasn't in his seat yet. Once again, the people who showed up the earliest got short changed. Nina was getting a photo of her and James signed by James, and then Matt was signing a photo I took at Photo Day. Matt saw the photo James was signing, leaned over and said, "awww how sweet." Nina commented that she didn't have one with him yet. Jimmy Campanis signed the cover of my scrapbook. Then James signed a photo of him and me. He didn't write his number by his name ... then again, in the photo he's wearing "52", which now belongs to George Sherrill. Maybe he was confused and didn't know which number to write, since he now wears "31" and he just left it out. Matt signed a photo of him and me from Skateland. I asked him to please add "gold glove and silver slugger" on it.

After we got our autographs, we went to the other side to check out the line. Then we went to the Ticket Truck, where they had set up a table to see what they were passing out. We went back to check out the raffle. They were calling numbers around my ticket and Nina's, so maybe Roberto or Jack's tickets would've won had they still been there. Cat won 4 field level tickets and my friend Stacey won a baseball that had Steve Yeager, Brad Ausmus, Matt Kemp, Ramon Troncoso, and James McDonald's autographs on it. Since I didn't take that many photos at the event, I shall leave you with just this one.

Let me just say ... from the moment I got up, it was one string of bad luck after another. Quick story - accidentally deleted all my Dodger photos from 9/20 - 10/16 (five games, two autograph signings), went to get gas and ended up waiting over 15 minutes for my change, and by the end of the day, I kept hoping for things to get better.

Nina and I got to ESPN Zone a little before nine. There was no one there yet. A few people arrived right after we did. We started on one side of the ESPN Zone, but then found out the line was actually going to be on the other side. So they moved us over. There weren't any signs anywhere, so we didn't really know that it was supposed to start on that side.

Fast forward to right before the event began ... they had two tables and two wristbands. But they weren't telling us who was on what table. All they told us was, there was a cancellation and a surprise guest. We already knew who the surprise guest was. Thank you, Twitter. They weren't even going to tell us anything except "It's luck of the draw" on whose table you got. They handed everyone in my group (just the three of us) a red wristband. They were giving every other group. We went in and got seated. They assured us that when it was time for autographs that they would keep the same order. Guess what? Surprise, surprise. They didn't. On the red table, they had Al Downing, Tommy Lasorda (the special surprise guest), and Tommy Davis. On the yellow table, they had Andre Ethier, Ken Landreaux, Bobby Castillo, and Rudy Law. After lots of cajoling, I manage to swap bracelets with David's wife (he was in line behind us).

Before the players showed up, Josh Rawitch walked by. He stopped to say hi and chat with us. He asked us what time we got there and I told him nine. He said, wow. He had heard people were already there by 10, but he didn't believe it. I told him, if Wolfie was still on the team and would be at the event, I would show up at three in the morning! He said I'd have to go to Milwaukee for that. I mentioned that the Dodgers will be in Milwaukee right after Randy's birthday. He noticed my scrapbook and commented on it. I told him I should have him sign it, right next to the other Josh, since they were always competing with each other during the Think Cure auction.

When it was time to start the autograph session, they took the row of tables in the middle first. Apparently, showing up at 9 AM and being the first people there really didn't give us much of an advantage. You'll see why later on. When it was our row of booths turn to go, we found out that we got the table we didn't want. Nina had photos with Bobby and Ken that she wanted signed. Afterward, we realized I should've gotten the photos from her since I switched lines. Nina and Cat actually got ahead of me, so I managed to get a picture of Tommy signing her baseball for her. He took a spoonful of soup, signed her ball, placed the ball on the table, and then rolled it to her!

It was my turn to get my things signed. Andre was up first. With the help of others, we selected the photo from the paper when Andre "reacts after his bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning brings home the decisive run" against the Phillies in Game 2 of the NLCS. I asked him if he wouldn't mind adding the Silver Slugger on there. I had to think about it, cause I almost said "gold" but then I was like, no, wrong precious metal. So, he wrote "2009 Silver Slugger" and then he paused and added "+" and kept going. After he signed his name, he said "I added that." "That" being, he added "MLB Clutch Performer of the Year". How sweet was that! Since he wrote all that, I was holding up the line. .

At first I felt bad about it. But afterward, I didn't feel so bad anymore. I noticed people were taking photos with him, so I asked him if I could get a quick one. I apologized for holding up the line. I have 3 other photos with Andre, one in 2007, two in 2008. This one was definitely the BEST of the four I have. Sadly, I didn't have one with him in 2009. So I missed a year. LOL I think the only person who I have a photo with EVERY year is Steve Lyons. Last year, the only opportunity I really had at getting a photo with him was either the Caravan or Photo Day. And you all know what happened at Photo Day. If you don't, long story short, Andre didn't stop to take a photo with anyone (at least not that I've heard or seen so far). At last year's caravan, I suppose I could've tried, but I didn't think about it. At least last year, I got a fist bump from him!

Here's Andre signing my scrapbook. After Andre, it was Ken Landreaux, Bobby Castillo, and Rudy Law. I asked Bobby if he had any french fries yet? Last year at Canter's, he came by our table and saw our food sitting there. He said he was so hungry because they hadn't fed them yet. We offered him some of our fries. He took some ... and kept coming back for more! When I came to Rudy, I pulled out a baseball card that I had found in my collection. He saw the inside cover when I pulled it out and he commented that he already signed the book. I told him, yeah, he signed it at least year's event when it was only this (two fingers) big. He asked me how did the book get so big? I told him it does it by itself as I add more articles to it. He told me thanks for coming and I told him, anytime.

After I got my things signed, I went back to our table. We hung around and mingled. I told David and his wife thanks for swapping with me. After people paid for their checks and got their autographs, the screening room cleared out. About half an hour into the event, Tommy Lasorda left and they combined the two tables into one long table so it didn't matter what color wristband you had! Man, too bad we weren't further back in line. I already have Tommy's autograph and so did Cat. We wanted to see our friends Bobby and Ken (and of course Andre). Like I said earlier, apparently being the first people to show up at 9 didn't really give us much of an advantage. I got to talk to Jon SooHoo (the official photographer of the Dodgers - and my fellow John Marshall High School alum) and Josh Rawitch again. I told him I was serious about having him in my book, since I have the other Josh. He made a comment about he's not a player, so he doesn't have a number to put by his name or even KABC like Josh did, so under his name, he wrote "PR Guy". It's great that Josh took his time to talk to us.

 Thanks Josh! Hope we weren't a thorn in your side.

Okay, so I understand last year Wolfie wasn't able to participate in the Dodgers' caravan because they didn't sign him until the event was already done. The lucky Brewers fans however get him as part of their "On Deck" schedule. Not sure how the event works ... but that's okay. It was in Milwaukee, and here I am in Los Angeles. I am looking forward to the series in May.

Anyone remember the delay in Game 1 of the NLCS when Wolfie was put in to pinch run for Jim Thome? Won't that be fun to tell his kids and grand kids one day? "I got to pinch run for Jim Thome and they had to wait for me because I didn't have my spikes on."

So while I was texting Cat and we were discussing the Dodgers' situation, she asked me what happened to Brad Ausmus. Last I heard, he was a free agent considering retirement. Havent' heard anything else. So I googled him to see if there was anything new about it. Nothing new. That's not what caught my eye. This did. A picture of Brad Ausmus from 2008. It's from the cover of The Houston Chronicles's monthly health magazine. The photographer had this to say about the cover photo: "We got tons of calls asking for prints -- and it was pretty much a 50/50 response from women and men. He was teased mercilessly in the Astros locker room and he probably hates me now."

Now we've seen Ausmus shirtless ... how about with some puppies?

Anyone in the Washington DC area looking for a job? The Washington Nationals have an opening for a mail room coordinator. That actually sounds like an interesting job. I'd take it if the Dodgers had the position open!

Okay, so I know it was hopeless and would take a miracle for the Dodgers to re-sign Randy Wolf. But hey, a girl can cross her fingers and hope, right? After all, after a long off-season last year where Randy remained unsigned through most of the season, I kept hoping that maybe the Dodgers would sign him. I didn't think it would happen, but I was still hoping.
Well, I was at school yesterday ... and I got online to check the newswire for anything ... and just about fell out of my chair. It said Wolfie was nearing a three year deal with the Brewers. Yes, I was hoping that somehow the Dodgers would sweep in at the last minute, like it did with Raffy... but I knew it wasn't going to happen.

Guess we know what three games I'll be at for sure next year... May 4th, 5th, and 6th ... the three game series against the Brewers... Think he'll remember me?

I only found out about the Maury Wills signing less than twelve hours before the event. At the time, I didn't intend on going. Until my cousin, Jenny, called me at ten this morning. I had called her the night before about the event. She was on her way to the bus stop (she lives two blocks away from where the event was going to be) and told me she didn't see anyone there. It was a little before ten I think and the event was supposed to start any minute. So, I called the Smart and Final Extra to verify about the signing. It was supposed to start any moment. So, I hopped in the shower and then got my things together for the signing. Jenny met me there and there were four or five other guys in line already. No one else was there really. Maury showed up and then more people starting looking to see what was going on. In fact, when one lady found out Maury Wills was signing autographs and they had 8x10s of him available for him to sign, she almost cut in front of us! Apparently, she didn't see the line of six or seven (maybe more by then) people waiting for Maury Wills to sign their items. Maury signed my scrapbook from last year.

I asked him to take a photo with me. He said, "sure, you want to come around the table?" I got next to him ... and right before Jenny took the photo, he said, "let me fix your jersey." I guess the top was open a little and he fixed it. Jenny actually got a photo of both him fixing my jersey and the photo of the two of us together. After the photo, he complimented the jersey, saying what a nice jersey it was. Then he asked me whose number was on the back. After that, it was Jenny's turn. I gave her a picture of Maury Wills from the Dodgers/Phillies games earlier this year that honored him and he went out and "stole" second base. He looked at the picture and was trying to figure out what it was.
Since Jenny was on her way to LACC when she came back for me,  I said I'd take her. I took her to LACC, got Wendy's, and then came back. I had texted Nina (and several others) about the event and Nina said her dad would have loved to meet him. I told her they should go! There wasn't a lot of people there and they had 8x10s that they were giving away to get signed. So, they met me back there. There were about ten people in line. Nina came with her parents (Jack and Sol).

Jack was hilarious! He told Maury that he watched Maury play for the Dodgers when Jack was in high school. Maury asked him, "was I good then?" Jack told him he was great. Then it was Sol's turn and she was getting a photo signed for Jack's cousin, who's also a long-time Dodger fan. After that, Sol asked Jack if he wanted a photo with Maury. Maury told him to come around the table. Jack knelt down in front of it. Maury told him again to come around. Jack went around to the left of Maury, where there was guy sitting and he wasn't going to get around that way. Maury told him to come the other way. Jack finally got next to Maury, and Sol got in the photo.

While watching the game at JoAnna's on Saturday, we were talking about how many of our players are playing in their first post season in one way or another. For example, our starters each started in their first postseason start. Clayton Kershaw was the only one of the three starters that actually had post season experience, albeit as a reliever.

Randy Wolf spent 8 years with the Phillies, 1 with the Dodgers, and 1 between the Padres and the Astros. No post season appearances in any of his 10 years in the majors. Now in his 11th year in the majors, he finally made it to the post season. As I have mentioned before, Wolf just missed the playoffs with three of the four teams he played with.

Vicente Padilla spent a year with the D-backs before being traded to the Phillies. He was with the Phillies for five years before going to the Rangers for three years before coming to the Dodgers.