Dodgers Opening Day Recap

Yesterday kicked off the baseball season at Dodger stadium & it was a great day. Unfortunately the Dodgers lost to the Giants but overall it was a great day. I got to the stadium a little before 10 o'clock when they were going to open the gates, so there was a lot of time to kill. After walking around the stadium looking at all the booths I was able to pick up some free towels & a free t-shirt. I then entered the stadium & here's a great view of the field:

This was on the second level of the field & it paid off visiting here. Just a little after taking this picture I spotted former Dodger Manny Mota by one of the booths here. I asked manny for an autograph & picture & I was able to get him to sign a ball for me:

I walked around this level for a bit & I picked up a nice Dodgers Opening Day pin. I've seen a few fans with a bunch of pins on their hats & while I'm not a pin collector I just thought it'd be an awesome souvenir:

After that I made my way down to the field level to get Ken Landreaux's signature on a few items, as he was scheduled to sign by the right field entrance. Ken was a cool guy to meet & first I got him to sign a '81 team ball that I'm working on:

The line was really short so I was able to get him on my '81 team mini bat as well:

And lastly I had Ken sign a card for me as well:

After getting Ken on my items I made my way over to my seat & decided to pass on Lou Johnson who was scheduled to sign on the other side as I didn't have/need him on anything. Me & my father got to our seats & it was a great view! The Dodgers had a great pre-game ceremony to start off the season. They had navy personal parachute into the stadium & they honored a few former players. After the ceremonies the former players started leaving & I was hoping to get some of them to sign. They all immediately left, but I luckily was able to get Ron Cey's autograph on my '81 mini bat :

I felt fortunate as the only reason Ron had stopped by was to say hi to a friend. Right after he was done talking & he started leaving, I asked him if he could sign & he did. I was the only person he had signed for & I totally forgot I needed him on my team ball as well. But it's all good, I'm just happy I was able to get him. The game then started & it was great to see Matt Kemp back out there. Here's the view of the field that we had: 

That was an amazing sight right there! And as you could see Magic Johnson & Tommy Lasorda were just a few rows in front of us, but there was a small wall separating us from getting to the section they were in. I was really hoping to get their autographs & a few people were going up to them during the game getting autographs & taking pictures with them. I kept trying to ask people if they could get me one of my baseballs signed by them, but no luck :/ Ryu was pulled early from the game as the first two innings were disastrous. Eventually at some point Brandon League started pitching & 

surprisingly didn't give up a run. I swear he's my least favorite Dodger pitcher. Well anyways to end the top of the 6th inning he struck out Pablo Sandoval. Aj Ellis then on his way back to the dugout tossed the ball that was used to strike Sandoval into the stands & guess who ended up getting it: 

I like this ball especially as it has the opening day symbol on it. After that the game continued on & the Dodgers didn't mount a come back. The final score was 8-4.

I held out hope of getting either Tommy's or Magic's autograph after the game. I debated about hopping over the small wall, but chose not to after some guy did it around the 8th inning & ended up getting kicked out. Well as I waited the ball boy came out & tossed a few balls into the stands & I was able to get a second ball :

The ball is in pretty bad shape, but the sweet spot is relatively clean, so I might use it in the future on someone who I wouldn't use a new ball on. People then were lining up by the field to get a picture or autograph from Tommy Lasorda & I saw a guy who just finished getting a picture with Tommy. I 

asked him if he would mind getting me Tommy's autograph & he said sure no problem. Finally 

someone who was kind enough to help me out! After a minute or so the guy came back with my ball:

I thanked him for his help & I was finally able to add Mr. Lasorda's autograph to my collection. After a long day me & my father decided to head home. I keep telling myself to try getting autographs after the game, but that is something I haven't tried yet. One of these days I will though. Overall it was a great day at Dodger Stadium & I look forward to many more. Thank you again for reading.