"Paciro" Bobblehead Night (T-Minus 1 day)
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
10
97
Trip End
Sep 15, 2008
Seattle,
Washington,
United States
Friday, April 25, 2008
Don & Lorretta reported to the Mariners reception office in plenty of time to deliver a 7 pm first pitch. In the lobby they met a delightful Mariners employee by the name of Star, whose prime responsibility was the distribution of Ichiro bobblehead dolls. Star was blown away by the thought that someone would want to take her picture. We were met promptly at 6:15 by Mandy Sundblad, a very pretty young marketing coordinator for the Mariners, who ushered us to the Green Room, where Andy and his grandson, Jonah, played video games while Don and Loretta chatted with guests of the powerful Rob McPherson who sang the National Anthem. Then Mandy escorted us up "the tunnel" and into the center of attention of 44,000 of the most happy and hopeful souls a person could ever imagine standing in front of. It was a surreal experience listening to public address announcer Tom Hutyler telling the story of Don's imminent trip from the Space Needle to The Empire State Building. And to see our own photos of Don displayed on the BIG SCREEN! We thought that the highest point of our evening was the incredulous shock and awe from the crowd as Don fired his secret weapon- his patented Submarine "Eephus" Pitch- on a stealth mission to the dish. (The pitch was so elusive that it very nearly bamboozled celebrity backstop Dave Valle.) But then we were dumbstruck as we left the ballpark and one of those 44,000 chased us down and handed over a fistful of $20 bills- a total of $300- for us to use against Huntington's Disease. It was truly a night to remember!
