june 3rd, 2009 ... while on "break" from school, i decided to take a stadium tour at Chavez Ravine, dodgers stadium. its pretty much a "behind the scenes" tour for those of us that cant afford a luxury suite or dugout club seats. it was a great visit to dodgers stadium, i got to see what the McCourt's have in stored for the ravine in upcoming years. visited the Tommy Lasorda Training Center as well as a timline of history. but the biggest parts of the tour for me were entering Vinnys press box and having the opportunity to sit in HIS ACTUAL CHAIR !!! now what i forgot to mention was that not only was i THE ONLY "TOURIST" that day, but the infamous manny ramirez was there that morning too for a little training of his own. while in the press box i watched manny take some swings in BP just hearing his thunderous bat just driving some out, unfortunantly i was not allowed to take any type of pictures or vids of him AT ALL. a bit after that, he had to run into the locker room due to a kuik rain out. not expecting him to come out, i got to step on the field and into the dugout. after taking some pix on the field it was time for the dug out. after a couple pix i saw a water bottle a half eaten powerbar, manny of course. while taking a picture in the dugout, i hear someone walk out, i turn around, and there he was !, 6 foot, 215LB beast of a guy ........ i was STAR STRUCT !!!!!
only being able to say "whats up", "haha", and "alright man, ill see ya", just cuz i didnt know what to say, joe, my tour guide, did most of the talking with many. after crakin' a joke about his suspension, and explaining whats his been practicing in training, i had my chance to get a kuik "john handcock" of his ..... and beilieve me, i will kick myself in the ass for the rest of my life because i was running late for the tour, AND LEFT ME SHARPIE IN THE CAR !!!! ... but manny being the swell guy he is, reached into the bucket of his BP balls, grabs one, and hands it to me saying, AND I QUOTE !, "how you come to dodgers stadium with no pen man ?? haha, but check it out man, (grabs ball, hands it to me) OFFICIAL MANNYWOOD BALL, haha". i was just shocked, i was like a a deer at the headlights. then he said his parting words AND I QUOTE ! "ok 'papi', ill see you next time ok." grabbed his powerbar and water and headed to the dressing room.
not your tipical story, which i can understand why people dont believe me. i had not autograph, no pictures, no video, no nothin ... just a dirty ball.
"OFFICIAL MANNYWOOD BALL"
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