Wallet Card Wednesday the Adventures of Wallet Card at Dodger FanFest

Some of you may remember we are participating in a year long challenge/game called Wallet Card. We adjusted the rules to give it some more meaning and we've instituted an official day to catch up which we call Wallet Card Wednesday. For this installment we are doing a bit of a throw back.

Some of you might have been following along on Twitter at the end of January when I took my Wallet Card to Dodger FanFest.  This worked out perfectly because we have a rule in our family, no pictures of just scenery. There needs to be a person in the frame. So having Tug along was very helpful. And yes, I took pictures with my family, but I'm guessing you would rather see a baseball card.

One of the best things about this year's FanFest was it was held on the field, unlike last year when it was done just outside of the Stadium. Here is Tug in the bullpen on the rubber.

And here is what it must have looked like waiting to get sent into the game. (minus the people and pop up tents)

And the view on the approach to the mound.

Then we've got Tug on Second.

Tug on the Warning Track.

Tug checking out Dodgervision

and listening to inspirational words from Tommy Lasorda. "If you have any compassion in your heart, just before you lay down your head on your pillow at night, you'll say a prayer, a prayer for Tommy and the Dodgers."

Tug just about to enter the dugout.

Tug inside the dugout at the phones that go back to the bullpen.

Two funny things about this moment. 1 - When I put Wallet Card on top of the phone Dodger security looked at me quite oddly and then the phone rang. I asked if I could pick it up and I got a resounding 'NO." 2 - Shortly after tweeting it out, it got favorited by rookie shortstop Luis Sardinas, who had just been part of the trade that send Yovani Gallardo to Texas and landing him in Milwaukee.

The reach of the internet still amazes me.

No Dodger FanFest would be complete without a photo with the World Series trophy. It's always fun being next to the hardware. If you haven't seen one up close, I suggest you do what it takes to find the opportunity. So after the photo with the family and the trophy I took this photo to make sure to fulfill my Wallet Card obligations.

Again, weird looks from the security detail, here on the left. This was the last thing on our Dodger FanFest list so we wrapped it up. As we started heading to the car I thought to myself "lost opportunity" I should have asked for a second photo while I was standing there with my family so I could take out the Wallet Card close to the trophy. As luck would have it we passed a face painting and animal ballon booth and my kids insisted on both. The lines were extremely short as the place was starting to close so we stopped for them. Then I looked at my wife and asked her to wait with the kids and I headed back to the trophy. 

The line was just a few people. As my turn came up I asked if the photo could be just the card and the trophy. Now really weird looks from security, must have been a baseball card threat at some point. The photographer laughed and said sure. I bent down below the trophy podium to hold the card up, like a puppeteer and the photographer said "don't do that, just lean it up against the trophy." She snapped the photo and I waited for it to print out. 

Of course, because it was the end of the day the photo printer stared going haywire. the Person doing the printing had to call over a technician and she looked at me and said "it's your photo causing the problem." Needless to say the other families who were waiting for their photos started giving me the death stare. One couple, who had a better outlook on life asked me who was on the card and what was the significance of taking the photo. That gave me the opportunity to explain Wallet Card and that I was donating to charity for every different photo I got in memory of Tug and my close friends. They thought that was great and asked if they could contribute (big win) and I told them just give some money to the charity of your choice.  This also calmed down the crowd.

Turns out the problem with my photo was the photographer changed the distance she took the photo from so it didn't fit into their FanFest graphic. The woman in charge of printing said the graphics would hide the baseball card and they knew I would want to see it. I was amazed they would care that much. They gained my respect. To solve the problem quickly so others could get their photos and move on, they just printed the photo without the additional graphics. Here is the result that I tweeted out.

Not Photoshopped my friends. That is the real deal.  Here is the photo scanned.

And that does it for this recap of and the Adventures of Wallet Card at Dodger FanFest and for this installment of Wallet Card Wednesday. Make sure you check back for more.