August 16, 2008 – 90’s Luncheon at Dodger Stadium.

I have alot to write. Mostly dissapointed stuff. But I will try to ignore it and tell you the positives things. Well…not one great player from the 1990’s was able to come to this event ? Yeah wow, Matt Luke, Billy Ashley, Todd Zeile, Jim Gott, Tommy Lasorda, and Don Aase ? Yeah a “Aase” event it was. O.K. I had to write that first. Now to the positive things. Me and Liz arrived at 12:20 pm. We were instructed to park the car and walk towards the Lodge level. Upon arrival, I was excited. My mind was thinking “Karros, Piazza, Mondesi, Nomo, Hollandsworth…” All the Rookies of the year. Right away, I knew it was true from what I read and heard. This event was not going to be that great. I changed my mind set and just go along with the flow and enjoy it. Sat in a table and checked out the buffet. The food was pretty good. I didn’t take pictures. Sorry. I’m not going to blog it like Andre Ethier! Anyways, ate food and then noticed a couple of players were already there. I noticed Gott was signing autographs so I decided to get up and take a picture with him. I told him I remember him pitching for the Dodgers. He was very nice. He talked alot and was a cool dude. He seemed happy being there. Later I got a item for him to sign. It’s a Dodgers magazine edition of 1993. He said “Wow that’s a long time ago” I said “Yeah it took me forever to find it in the garage” After I said that, I knew I blew it. He probably thought I meant it’s junk. But what I meant was that I have alot of baseball magazines saved in the garage and I explained it to him. No harm. Sorry dude. Next up was Billy Ashley…. 

Do you remember Billy Ashley ? Well if you are old enough, you should remember him. I grew up watching the Dodgers in the 1990’s. Players like Delino Deshields, Greg Gagne, Dave Hansen, Lenny Harris Darryl Strawberry, Eric Davis and the list goes on. Not exactly your 1927 Yankees. But I remember them. When I think about Billy Ashley, the first thing that pops out is a Baseball card that Upper Deck produced. It was from 1995. The first time I saw this, I noticed Erik Karros in the back smiling. I never understood why Upper Deck would produce this. Just weird. Another memory that I have of Ashley is that he was a top prospect in the Dodgers organization. He was the next big thing. Better than Mike Piazza. Check out his Minor League stats. Great stuff, huh ? Well it didn’t work out. He just couldn’t hit a breaking ball in the big leagues. While surfing articles on Ashley, I found this one. While I finished reading it, I noticed it was posted by I. Baly. I believe that’s my brother from another mother. Not sure though. Next up is Todd Zeile….

Todd Zeile is the only player in history to hit a home run for 11 Major League teams. Wow. He played with so many teams that he never got the chance to stay for a while with a team. Finished his career with 253 bombs. I got a ball for him to sign. Thanks for coming Todd. Next, the old guy who almost fell from his chair…. 
 

Who else ? Tommy Lasorda. On camera, he is a funny guy huh ? But behind the scenes, this is a miserable man. He tells you the funniest stories and later he will tell you “Move it!” or “You got to be ready!” or “You already got an autograph!”  I have a idea for Tommy. Well I guess it’s an idea for the Dodgers. If it bothers him to sign autographs, then why come? Even the Dodgers employees are scared of him. One of them said “get your items ready, he is not in  a good mood” I think I saw him in good mood back in the mid 90’s. He was signing autographs at a West Covina mall. I don’t remember him being so mean. He was nice. Then 2 years ago I saw him walking inside Dodger Stadium. I approached him and he looked scared. He thought I wanted a autograph. Plus with the mean face, I didn’t bother. I just got a pix. Back to the luncheon. Well as far as the autographs go, I was able to obtain 5 autographs from Lasorda at this event. Don’t ask me how I did it because I don’t remember 🙂 I got him to sign a Hall of Fame ball, a 1981 World Series program, a Bobblehead, a Los Angeles Times magazine from 1987, and a LP Record. Awesome. Check out the items…

Then the event started by Charley Steiner asking questions to the legends of the 90’s. After some questions and the people almost falling asleep, a surprise came. My hero Josh Rawitch, brought my other hero, Vin Scully. It was incredible. Check out the pictures…

 

I think the Dodgers staff knew the fans were not happy about the “Legends” they brought in. So they decided to ask Scully if he can come in and say a few words. I might be wrong, but I believe that’s what happened. Either way, it was cool seeing Scully and speak to us. He said something along the lines that he respects every player that has come up. He remembers only the “Sunny moments” from each player. Very nice. I have this on dvd. I took my camcorder. I should be able to post it on YouTube soon. Well the event ended around 3:30 pm. The staff let us watch the Dodgers practice. We sat on the lodge seats. Here are a couple of pictures of the Dodgers practicing.

Los Dominicanos Juntos..

 

On to the game. Dodgers were scheduled to play the Milwaukee Brewers. It was Fireworks night. Dodgers lost. It was a fun game but we lost. Some pictures…Meeting Chan Ho Park. Got his autograph on the ticket stub….

 Beware of this dude…

That’s about it. Peace !