Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Star Wars Night at Dodger Stadium 2015

Star Wars Night at Dodger Stadium came early this year, as R2 and a number of Star Wars characters converged for another fun night of Dodgers baseball and Star Wars!



I arrived around 3:30pm with my helper Ralph, and unloaded the droid.



Once inside, I put R2 in his usual picture spot for arriving employees to take pictures, as we waited for the rest of the characters to arrive. Tommy Lasorda, 3 years in a row!



Normally the characters change in a conference room on the Club Level, but for whatever reason, this year they had us stationed down in the old visitors clubhouse, so we made our way down the elevator to the dugout level.





At first R2 was assigned to be behind the left field pavilion, but at the last minute, they changed his assignment to be on the field! Yea! Once the characters were ready to go, we made our way toward the field.



Our path had been reconfigured from previous years, and the ramp R2 used to take was gone. So R2 had to take a chair lift! That was a first.



Once we got to the bottom, I arrived at the usual elevator that brings us up to the field level. We have to go down to go up! R2 and I were joined by our Dodgers host, Xavier.



And, we're back!



This year, only Vader, two stormtroopers and R2 were on the field, as the other characters were stationed around other parts of the stadium



Dodgers pitching legend Orel Hershiser, photobombing.



They had us briefly take over the Dodgers pregame broadcast on Sportsnet LA.



The characters visited fans in the stands for a little bit.




The characters were also on the sports report for KABC news. Reporter Curt Sandoval and I chatted for a while.



Vader Force-choked on-field reporter Dave Styles.



Later, Dave had the characters on the big screen as fans participated in a Star Wars trivia contest.



Shortly thereafter, we wrapped up on the field, but not before my friend Ralph got a selfie with Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson. R2 wanted a pic as well.




As we made our way back past the trophies, I made sure to find my favorite player Davey Lopes' Gold Glove award.



After stationing R2 back in the clubhouse, we were given free tickets and meal vouchers, and enjoyed a 6-5 come-from-behind win in the bottom of the 9th! R2's record is now 5-2.



It was another great night, and I can't wait to do it again.

Many thanks to Ralph for taking so many of the pictures.

The full photoset is here.

1 comment:

Victor Franco said...

It used to be even more convenient before they removed the ramp he would glide down. :-)