We’re back at Dodger Stadium and pretty tired after a long day of trekking from spot to spot around the city. We got to see a ton of Dodger fans at the Long Beach Aquarium, so thanks to all of you who came out to support the team. From what I hear, there were people lining up early this morning and the event was awesome.

We also got to stop at Nomar’s old high school and he was pretty floored at the reception he got there. Stops at an elementary school and MLB’s Urban Youth Academy were also very cool and I think all the players – past and present – who made it out today really seemed to genuinely enjoy being out in the community.

I’ll try to post more about this tomorrow, but it’s about time to call it a night. Be sure to check out the front of the site, which should have a story from Ken Gurnick (who was on the caravan with us both days) and a photo album of great shots from Jon SooHoo.

We leave for Vero Beach one week from tomorrow. Hard to believe.

He might not be Willie Mays, but we signed Joe Mays to a minor league contract with an invite to big league camp. As a former 17-game winner in the big leagues, he could be an interesting arm in the mix this spring.

As for the caravan, Day 1 was a tremendous success by all accounts. We’re hoping to see you all out there tomorrow!

We’ve got a great group of guys heading into the community today – Grady Little, Randy Wolf, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Luis Gonzalez, Steve Garvey, Willie Davis and "Sweet" Lou Johnson.

There are a couple of stops open to the public, including Pasadena City College at noon and Speedzone in the City of Industry at 5 p.m. There will be a limited amount of autographs available at those stops, so get there early if you want to try and meet one of the players.

For those who can’t make it to the caravan, Grady Little will be doing a live chat today at 2 p.m. PT. And for those who miss that, check out his interview this morning with Roggin and Simers Squared on KLAC 570. Money and Petros Papadakis from KLAC will be broadcasting live from tomorrow’s event at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

Also, for those who missed DodgerTalk on Sunday night, you can listen here and continue to listen each Sunday night at 8 p.m. on KFWB 980.

We hope to see you at one of the caravan stops today or tomorrow.

Just a quick update before the weekend. Earlier today, we sold the contract of Oscar Robles to the Mexico City Reds and we signed outfielder Larry Bigbie to a minor league contract with an invite to big league Spring Training.

At the end of the day, this is probably a good thing Oscar, as his opportunities here would probably be limited with Ramon Martinez, Wilson Valdez, Chin-lung Hu and others competing for a spot on the big league club.

I hope everyone enjoys the Superbowl and then turns on KFWB for the first DodgerTalk of the year.

First off, thank you all for your comments about the Rewards Program. We’re obviously working hard to make sure that our fans are happy and we’ll do our best to please everyone. This isn’t always possible, but we’ll certainly die trying.

In regards to Spring Training broadcasts, we have yet to announce a full radio schedule for the games, but rest assured the plan is to have a similar schedule as last year. KFWB will broadcast most of the weekend games live, as well as a few other notable games. Every other game should be available on dodgers.com or mlb.com, usually with the Dodger broadcasters and occasionally with the visiting team’s broadcast. If you are looking for information on which radio affiliates will carry the broadcast, you’ll have to touch base with your local affiliate, as they’re all different. But, everytime we have our broadcasters do the games, which is the majority of the time, that feed is available to the affiliates. Whether or not they choose to use it is up to them.

Sticking with the radio topic, don’t forget that DodgerTalk starts this Sunday night on KFWB 980 with Bob Harvey following the Superbowl. Nomar Garciaparra will be the guest and it will air every Sunday at 8 p.m. until the season starts.

And, in case you missed it, Frank McCourt chatted this morning with Roggin and Simers Squared on KLAC 570. Take a listen if you missed it, as he covers a number of interesting topics that I think fans will find important.

And finally, to answer the question, yes, there will be beer sold in the All-You-Can-Eat right field pavilion, but I don’t think it will make the place any less family friendly. As many of you are aware, there is alcohol sold at most sporting events throughout Southern California and they are able to maintain the family atmosphere. It is our plan and goal that the same holds true here at Dodger Stadium. And as in years past, the left field pavilion will remain alcohol free for those who prefer that option.

First off, I want to thank you all for your patience as we’ve sorted through the issues revolving the fan rewards program. We know that a lot of you have had questions and you should all be receiving an email that is specific to your point total, but in short, we’ve worked really hard to make sure that you’ll be getting a package that will have a higher value than what you woud have received if you had redeemed all your points. In short, here’s the deal:

For anyone who was a member of the program, you will all be receiving Gameday Audio free for the 2007 regular season.

You’ll also all be receiving a voucher for four tickets, the level of which will depend on how many points you had accrued. Obviously the more points you had, the better seats you’ll get.

All of you will get access to a special pre-onsale event for 2007 tickets (excluding Opening Day). Information on how to access this will be sent to you via email in late February.

Again, please know that we’re just as disappointed as all of you are that Sports Loyalty Systems, Inc. discontinued the program, as we know how much many of you utilized it. For those of you who had kids enrolled, one option that you might want to consider is the Blue Crew Fan Club.

And for the fan who asked when individual tickets go on sale, the answer is Saturday, March 3. The ticket vouchers that you’ll receive from being a member of the Fan Rewards Program will be mailed out next week so that you’ll have them in time to use on this date.

Thanks again for your support.

For those of you who were around in 1959 when the Dodgers won their first championship in Los Angeles, you’ll probably remember Art Fowler, who passed away yesterday. He was also a Major League pitching coach for 14 years and the Dodger organization would like to offer our condolences to his entire family and those who knew him.

We’re in the office over the weekend, so it feels like July…except for the rain outside.

If you didn’t see the comments section of the last post, be sure to check out the description of the Select-A-Seat event we had at the stadium today, where apparently fans were having quite an enjoyable time. We had tons of front office employees helping out, but that’s actually not the reason I’m here today.

From 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. today, we had a breakfast and a lunch event with our Dodger affiliate radio stations from around the country. While the majority of these people come from around California (Palm Springs, Bakersfield, etc.), we’ve also got some from out of state and even the U.S. Virgin Islands. These stations broadcast Dodger games to fans that can’t get KFWB, so once a year they come in for an update on the upcoming season. Frank and Jamie McCourt both spoke to the group, as did Jaime Jarrin, Charley Steiner and several others.

Tonight, we’re heading to the Golden Mike Awards, where Vin Scully is going to be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Radio Television News Association. And tomorrow, I’m going to be at the bone marrow drive at St. John Bosco High School in support of Nomar and Mia’s new foundation.

But, while these things are all indications that the season is about to start, there’s an even bigger one that all of you will enjoy. DodgerTalk is set to begin again, as the first one will air on KFWB 980 immediately following the Superbowl on Feb. 4. They will then air every Sunday at 8 p.m. throughout Spring Training, so be sure to tune in and get the latest news and information about the team.

As some of you guys have probably read, Nomar and Mia are holding a private soccer clinic at his old high school, St. John Bosco, this weekend to announce the launch of their new foundation, 9 to 5. While this is not a Dodger event, we’re obviously very supportive of the two of them and their efforts to benefit Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, where we also have a very strong relationship.

At Sunday’s event, there’s a recruitment drive for bone marrow donors so if you are free and able to come help save someone’s life, we’ll hopefully see you down there.

Also, I mentioned last week that one of our trainers, Stan Johnston, got the chance to address many of our troops on the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan before they headed off to the Middle East. Stan was blown away by the experience and shared a few photos with me, so I wanted to post one just so you can get an idea of what he was doing. The pictures obviously don’t really do this justice, but we thought you might enjoy. With all the debate in the country these days about the right strategy in Iraq, there seems to be no debate whatsoever that as long as our troops are abroad, we all must support their efforts and this was one small way that Stan was able to do that.

I know there are still questions about the rewards club and while I don’t have any answers yet, I promise you that as soon as it’s resolved, you’ll be getting information both here and directly to you via email. Thank you for your patience.

And finally, I know that one of you wanted to know how I got started at the Dodgers and while I won’t bore you with all the details, I can tell you that I began as an intern in the Advertising and Special Events Department in 1995 and slowly have worked my way up, just like any other industry. As you can imagine, it’s a very tough business to crack into from the outside because there are so many people who have dedicated years of time and energy at the lower levels of the field. But I can also say that the best thing to do is regularly check the Dodger job board on the website for openings with our team and others.

As some of you have probably read in the papers the last couple days, we have signed Rudy Seanez to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League camp. Also today, we signed third baseman Fernando Tatis to a similar contract and you’ll get to watch both guys during Spring Training.

Many of you remember Rudy Seanez from his days with the Dodgers when he was a hard-throwing young reliever. He still throws pretty hard and could be a nice addition if he’s healthy and still effective.

If any of you don’t remember Fernando Tatis, you will remember him this way – he’s the guy that hit two grand slams off Chan Ho Park in the same inning. I vividly remember that day, actually, because I was still working in the marketing department here. Most of the time, I’d be in the offices during the games but on this particular night, I had to meet a client who was at the game on the Loge Level behind home plate. I didn’t want to interrupt the crowd during the inning, so I just took an open seat a few rows behind him and waited for three quick outs. Two grand slams later, I had witnessed history from some amazing seats. Do any of you guys remember this game or did you attend it, by any chance?

And to answer the question about the cost of these non-roster spots, it really depends on the caliber of the player. They’ll all have split contracts where they get a certain salary if they make the big league club and a much lower one if they don’t. In relative terms, it doesn’t cost much to invite them to camp. Plus, almost every year it seems that one of these "longshots" makes it on the big league club, if not more. Among the NRIs last year were Joe Beimel, Chad Billingsley, Matt Kemp, Ramon Martinez, Takashi Saito, Aaron Sele and Eric Stults. Others in the past have included Jose Lima, Kelly Wunsch and Scott Erickson, among others.

I can’t imagine there are a ton more that you’ll be hearing about, but usually a good group of 15 or so gives you a chance to see what some veterans still have left or how some prospects fare against big leaguers.