Two women who work the front desk at the Arcadia Fitness Sports Club, Adriana “Ady” Jimenez and Laureen Heltsley, got a real treat earlier this week.
A member of the club (formerly known as Arcadia All-Pro) invited them to one of the two Dodger-Angel games at Dodger Stadium. It wasn’t just they got to go to a game; it was what they got to experience.
The member who prefers to remain anonymous teamed up with another member, longtime Dodger batting pitcher Pete Bonfils, to show them a night they won’t soon forget.
The two women, plus former Arcadia resident Fred Trout (no relation to the Angels’ Mike Trout), arrived at Dodger Stadium about two hours before game time in order to see their friend Pete pitch batting practice.
What they didn’t know was they had on-field pregame passes.
The group was escorted past a line of people and walked right onto the field as the teams were preparing for that night’s game. They had to remain in a restricted area but still were able to get photos with Fernando Valenzuela, Ron Cey and of course Pete Bonfils.
Pete also got them baseballs to have autographed.
Then it was off to the press box upstairs. There they got to meet legendary broadcaster Vin Scully and also get his autograph. Ady and Laureen each were carrying the free Magic Johnson T-shirts they were given when they entered the stadium.
Laureen asked Vin to sign hers. “I want to give it to my mother,” she said.
Scully was touched and went to much effort to make the signature as neat as he could.
“It’s not too often I get asked to sign a shirt,” Scully said. “It’s not that easy.”
He held it up to show Laureen. “I hope that is okay,” he said. “At least you can tell you mother it is authentic.”
Before leaving the press box, the women got to meet a number of other celebrities, including broadcaster Rick Monday and Hall of Fame Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrin.
This was a particular thrill for Ady, who speaks Spanish fluently and is a big fan of Jarrin. There is another connection with Jarrin. His brother-in-law, Bob Ingles, is also a member of Arcadia Fitness.
Bonfils was at the gym the following night when someone told him, “I hear you did a really nice thing for Ady and Laureen.”
Said Bonfils: “I just feel blessed that I’m in a position to do something like that for two nice people who otherwise might not get to experience such things.”