…Where Life's a Pitch

At the Game: Dodgers vs. Brewers

Posted on August 8, 2018August 8, 2018 by BBCARDZ Leave a Comment

Oh my gosh, what a great time we had at this game (Thursday, August 2). First, we stopped for a pre-game meal at a landmark Los Angeles deli which is also a very popular long-time hangout for Dodgers fans. I’m talking about Philippe’s (open since 1908).

After dining on traditional French-dipped roast beef sandwiches, we headed over to the stadium and entered the gates in time to see the Dodgers taking batting practice. I was pleasantly surprised because normally, the Dodgers players are done with batting practice by the time the gates open for regular fans. I’m pretty sure we got to see the Dodgers batting practice because of the early 6:00 pm game time and the fact that the Brewers did not take BP after the Dodgers (is it possible the Brewers took BP before the Dodgers did?). Plenty of batting practice baseballs were hit into the left field pavilion but amazingly, none were hit into the seats near the left field foul pole where we were standing. C’est la vie…

The celebrity first pitch was rather notable with reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian and comedian Kevin Hart pitching to Matt Kemp and Kenley Jansen.

The game itself was also awesome as Clayton Kershaw was the Dodger’s starting pitcher and pitched a good game giving up two runs over six innings.

The Dodgers went on to hit seven home runs and win big, 21-5, setting a Dodger Stadium record for most runs scored. One of the big thrills of the game was seeing Cody Bellinger hit a grand slam of the right field foul pole. Even though most of the game’s drama was gone after the fifth inning with the Dodgers leading 10-2, I did stay the entire game (as is my custom). Things were so bad for the Brewers that they brought in IF-OF Hernan Perez to pitch the seventh inning and catcher Eric Kratz to pitch the eighth inning. btw, new Dodger acquisitions Manny Machado and Brian Dozier each had a pretty good day with the bat.

And now for the reason you probably tuned in here…the cards!

This set is the fifth installment of six sets of Dodgers stadium giveaway cards that celebrate the Dodgers 60 years in Los Angeles. And as was hinted at in the Dodgers promotional videos for these cards, Clayton Kershaw is the featured Dodgers legend. These cards look really great although the design here does differ markedly from the original 2001 Topps design below.

The original 2001 Topps design had a thin gold foil border around the photo, the player’s name etched in gold foil and a gold foil “Topps 50 Years” logo. No gold foil appears on the stadium giveaway cards. Also note the slight difference in how the Dodgers logo is displayed in the front bottom left corner. The 2018 border is also a bit more green than the 2001 border. Despite these differences, I think Topps did a very nice job here. Again we give a Stadium Fantasium shout-out to the Dodgers, Topps and the sponsors of these great card giveaways.

The sixth set of Dodgers 60th Anniversary cards (the 2010’s) will be distributed on September 4th (Dodgers vs. Mets). Who will be the featured Dodgers legend in the sixth set? Vin Scully perhaps? Stay tuned…