A Charmed Life

I really do live a charmed life. No it isn't perfect, and I certainly have those frustrating moments, but really when I take a step back and look at it, I really am so lucky. I have a loving and supportive family, great friends, and a cool job. Like I often say, it feels good to be Peter.

Well this week and especially the last few days have made that all the more apparent. I'll tell the story and you can check out the pictures.

On Tuesday my old intern Tom asked me if I was interested in going to see the San Diego Padres play the Nats on Friday. I told him that sounded like a good idea. As I was sitting on my desk I thought for a minute that maybe the San Diego team would be interested in some tours. So I found the phone number for the office in San Diego and called them up. I explained who I was and where I was calling from and got transferred to the community relations office. I left a voicemail and really wasn't sure if I would hear anything back. But sure enough, just a few minutes later I got a call back and found that there was quite a bit of interest. I told the woman I was working with what was available, and not surprisingly there was quite a bit of interest in a White House tour, and a little bit of interest in a Capitol Tour. I told them I think we can make it work, and recommended that she put a list together of the people who were interested. Ideally I would have done the tours on Friday but the team's off day was Thursday so I didn't have a lot of time to make it happen.

By Wednesday afternoon I was stressing out a lot. I had called my friend in the White House to see if she could get them in. Because the President of Ghana had been there, tours had been pushed back and she couldn't get them in. So I went to Plan B. I coordinated with a few other offices and was able to get the spots. I mentioned to Leah from the Padres (she does PR for the team and is super nice) that I was a huge Wally Joyner fan and that he had my personal invitation. Leah wondered what the easiest way to get to the White House was. She told me the team was staying at a hotel very close to my house so I suggested I just meet them there and take them on the metro. Once I had everything planned it was time to wait. I was so nervous. I wanted everything to go really smoothly.

Andrea was nice enough to drive me over to hotel, and after just a few minutes people began trickling down to the lobby. It was awesome to meet Mr. Bud Black. The manager of the Padres and the former pitching coach of the Angels. We waited and Wally was a no show. I told Leah that I was one sad Cougar. But not really, I was excited to take my charge of players, coaches, training staff and broadcasters on the Metro and to the White House. The only thing that I would have done differently was to have lowered the players expectations of the White House. The tour isn't great despite the fact that it is so sought after.

On the way to the White House I asked Mr. Black about his World Series rings. I asked him if he wears it very often and he told me of 5 or 6 times a year. BTW, Mr. Black is one of the coolest guys I have met. Just a really great guy.

We got to the White House and Congressman Wilson from South Carolina was nice enough to escort the team in. He was so gracious to do that.

Members of the Padres organization waiting outside the White House. They were pretty excited to go in, sorry the tour was a bit of a disappointment. I promised them I'd make up for it.

And I did. I took the team on a really great tour of the Capitol, answered all of their questions even gave them some restaurant options. That is a full service tour.
Leah, called and to thank me for the tours and invited me to the game. I told her that I had tickets but if there was a chance to meet Wally, that would be really great. She told me that she would see what she could do. She was able to get field passes for myself, Andrea, and Tom. We met at the stadium got our media passes and proceeded down to the field.

Here is a shot at field level at the Nats new stadium. A truly awesome experience for someone who loves baseball as much as I do. We watched the Nats take batting practice but in reality we were there to see the Padres.
The team came out and did there stretching exercises and warm up runs. Heath and Jody who I had taken on the tour came up to say and I was able to introduce them to Andrea and Tom. Heath Bell is a great relief pitcher who grew up in Southern California, and Jody Gerut (Happy B-day Jody) was having a fantastic season until he hurt his finger. We really appreciated them taking the time to come say hi.
Defintely without a doubt the cutest couple in the Stadium. We wore Padres blue but Angel red was still in our hearts. Andrea took lots of pictures for me and even brought her video camera to film all the happenings.
Leah came out of the dugout to say hi. I don't think I got a picture of her but I can't reiterate enough how nice she was. Much nicer than the guy from the Nats. I asked her if it would be a possibility to get a picture with Mr. Black. She said no problem and he came up and said hi Peter. I introduced Andrea and they talked about living in the Bay Area. Everyone kept asking, have you met Wally yet? I hadn't but I had definitely kept an eye on the dugout to see if he was there.
And finally Wally came out of the dugout and walked over. I only geeked out a little bit. OK it was actually quite a bit, In the course of our ten minute conversation, I mentioned that I had just bought his 1988 Starting Line Up action figure, that I thought he was great in both the Singles Ward and Little Big League, that I missed his last season as an Angel because I was on my mission. I'm not sure if Wally realized it but he was meeting his biggest fan. Wally was awesome he joked around with us and told me to raise my standards for my favorite player. We talked a bit about the BYU Cougars and I told him I would root for them on his behalf ( it worked because the Cougs won 44-0) and what it is like to be a celebrity in Springville Utah. I was nervous because I wondered if meeting my boyhood hero would be everything I thought it would. The answer was yes and so much more. Wally was so cool and easy going. He posed for pictures, personalized a baseball for me and even gave me his phone number. I can't imagine ever calling it but just having it, is huge.

This is the ball that will be prominently displayed on my desk for perpetuity. For a moment Wally World was in full effect in our nation's capital.A few half smokes (chili dogs), a game in which all the players I took on the Capitol tour played in and a meeting with the Bull Moose himself later we headed home. Padres won in extra innings.I was completely exhausted and utterly content. Scratch it off the life list. I have met my three sports heroes Wally, Steve, and Karl.