For the eighth consecutive year the Dodgers hosted their annual Blogger’s Night at Dodger Stadium – this one a bit different from those in the past, as it was split between two nights – Monday, June 8 and Wednesday, June 10.

The annual event, which began in 2008, is the brainchild of former Dodgers Vice President of Communications Josh Rawitch and current and longtime Dodgers P.R. guru Steve Brener. This year’s edition featured Q and A sessions with Dodgers Vice President of Ticket Sales David Siegel, Senior Vice President of Planning and Development Janet Marie Smith and Dodger Stadium Executive Chef Jason Tingley.

After brief introductions by Brener, Siegel showed off several of the upcoming summer promotional giveaway items with the group of (about) 30 bloggers, including a first look at what will undoubtedly be two of the most popular bobbleheads in recent history – Dodgers superstar outfielder Yasiel Puig in a diving catch pose and recently traded but beloved former Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe in his historic 2013 NL Division Series home run pose – the one that he hit after two failed bunt attempts that sent the Dodgers into the League Championship Series.

The Yasiel Puig and Juan Uribe bobbleheads will undoubtedly be among the most popular promotional giveaways this summer. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

“Dodger Stadium is an iconic venue in Los Angeles,” Siegel said. “During the summer we’re the only game in town outside of the Hollywood Bowl. We’ve got such an amazing promotional lineup. Literally, of our 81 games we’ve got something going on for 60 of those 81 games.”

But it’s not just the giveaway items on the schedule that makes Dodger Stadium the place to be during the summer. Siegel pointed out the many other activities and special events on tap this season.

“Every Friday night we do Friday Night Fireworks where thousands of people get to go on the field and actually watch fireworks under the stars from the field at Dodger Stadium,” said Siegel. “Every Sunday day game we’ve got Kids Run the Bases after the game where kids can actually run the bases at Dodger Stadium, such a cool and unique experience, again, to help establish that connection with our fans.

“And before the game every Sunday Viva Los Dodgers is a carnival-like atmosphere in our parking lot,” Siegel added. “We have live music acts and a lot of times current and former players will sign autographs and take photos out there. So a lot of the added value stuff just going toward why coming to a Dodger game is such a great value, especially for families and really anyone.”

Dodgers Vice President of Ticket Sales David Siegel.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Janet Marie Smith, who was brought on-board by Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten during the 2012-2013 off-season, is the person responsible for planning out the $160 million in renovations at the 53-year-old historical ballpark. She pointed out that the very first thing that the new Dodgers ownership wanted to do was to update Dodger Stadium and make it more user-friendly for fans.

“One of the things that we did in 2012 that is most important for the psyche of the place came from our chairman Mark Walter who said ‘We can’t have people standing in line for the bathroom, we cannot have dirty restrooms, we can’t have concourses where you’re not sure what line you’re in,’ and that’s a hard order when you look at the way Dodger Stadium was carved into the hillside,” Smith said. “But one of the things that we did was take all 36 restrooms in the building that had not been touched since they opened in 1962, stay for perhaps widening the stalls to make room for wheelchairs, and we redid and expanded those.

“The criteria that we used was to double the number of fixtures that were required in the men’s restrooms and to do 50 percent more than were required for women,” Smith continued. “We added family restrooms on every level, there’s a unisex toilet that’s there with some of the fan assistance adjacent to that whether a father has a young girl or whatever the issue is – you just need more room, more time – there’s a place to go.”

It is impossible to argue that one of the smartest moves that Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten made was to bring in Janet Marie Smith as Senior Vice President of Planning and Development
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

One of the more noticeable changes at baseball’s third-oldest ballpark is the widening of the concourses on every level to allow easier access throughout the stadium.

“In order to address the tight concourse question, on every level we took the last few rows of seats out and put in ADA-accessible seating, drink rails and just generally gave us more space as well as a greater view of the game if you’re walking along the concourse,” Smith said.

As you might expect, the highlight of the evening was when Executive Chef Jason Tingley and his staff arrived with a wide variety of the many new food items being offered at Dodger Stadium. If you’ve never had the opportunity (and pleasure) to meet Chef Tingley, the first thing that you will notice about him is that he is extremely passionate about his work. He is also constantly experimenting and introducing new food items available throughout Dodger Stadium, including specialty items themed after each visiting team that comes to Dodger Stadium – and then some.

“We do specials all the time, one of them is our wings. We smoke them for four hours with hickory and toss in some honey barbecue sauce and a ton of bourbon in it and you just kind of go to town,” Tingly said. “There is a firefighter event tonight so we had like a really hot [XXTRA Flaming Hot] Cheetos on top of a hot dog and a whole bunch of great stuff – the chili, the cheese and a couple of different type of pepper cheeses as well.”

There is zero doubt that Dodgers Executive Chef Jason Tingley loves his job and takes it very seriously. He also has a lot of fun with it.
(Photo courtesy of thefoodstalker.com)

One of the more popular food items among the gathered bloggers was the corn nachos, which were to die for.

“We have really cool corn nachos,” said Tingley. “The corn is something really important to us. It’s local corn from the Coachella Valley, I think it’s called desert mist or something like that. What’s great about this corn is it’s the first corn in the country that’s ready to be picked so we’re kind of lucky out here in California. Most people think it’s the Midwest but it’s not.”

The corn nachos were the unanimous favorite among the Dodger bloggers.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With the influx of Cuban players joining the team, does Tingley have any plans to add a Cuban sandwich or other Cuban fare to the regular Dodger Stadium menu?

“The Cuban Dog is our second best seller when it comes to a special so we might do that,” answered Tingley. “Our Extremely Loaded Dog is kind of where it comes from, so we do do it. I don’t know, maybe next year we might have it on a permanent basis [if] we want to change the menu. It’s one of those things that takes a lot of space and a lot of room to do it and some of the stands are kind of difficult to do it in and we might actually have to relocate to other areas. It’s just like a Cuban sandwich with a hot dog – you have the pulled pork, the mustard, the pickles as well as the ham and Swiss cheese we use.”

Tingley, who seems to be in perpetual motion, even had some breaking news for the gathered bloggers.

“I have a special coming up that no one really knows about yet. I’ve actually had one of the Dodgers’ V.P.s taste it,” Tingley said. “I have fun in the Stadium Club at the Pizza Station and it kind of gives me a lot of inspiration, so you’ll be the first to know that I’m probably going to be rolling out at the Lasorda [Trattoria] stand a Dodger Dog-in-the-crust pepperoni pizza. You guys are the first to know.

“Here’s my suggestion – and I’ll have to write up notes on it, like cards I’m going to give with it – I want you to eat the pizza first and then after you eat the pizza you go to the concession condiment rack and you go ahead and start throwing the condiments on it so it’s like a double-whammy,” Tingley added. “You actually get a whole Dodger Dog – if we cut the pizza correctly – inside that crust because our pizza, as you can kind of see, they’re actually 16-inch pizzas so you get a huge pizza slice.”

Needless to say, the Dodgers organization has really stepped up to the plate (pun intended) when it comes to providing the best possible fan experience for their guests. As such, it should come as no surprise that the Dodgers have already passed the coveted three-million mark in ticket sales. But what’s even more remarkable is that they did so a week before Opening Day, so they are clearly doing something right.

For a complete list of all of the 2015 promotional giveaway dates and other special events, check out the Dodgers promotional schedule.

For ticket information call 866-DODGERS or to purchase tickets online, click here.