Wednesday was anything but ruff at West Hollywood Park as the Los Angeles Dodgers continued with their thanking the community through an event for not only fans, but their dogs as well.
Events during the 2020 Dodgers Love L.A. Community Tour have consisted of celebrating and helping members throughout the Southern California area, such as Metro workers and homeless children. The focus on Wednesday afternoon shifted to the pups.
Joc Pederson and Matt Beaty were on hand to take photos with fans and their dogs, who received Dodger dog t-shirts and caps. “I’m a big dog lover so when I heard about this event last year, Joc did it last year, I wanted to join in this time,” Beaty told DodgerBlue.com.
“Like I said, I’m a dog lover so any time I get to be around them and meet Dodger fans it’s pretty cool.”
The event, which was supported by Bank of America volunteers, also served as a donation drive. The Dodgers encouraged fans to bring canned dog food and dry cat food to be donated to PAWS/LA, an agency that assists low-income seniors and people disabled with life-threatening illnesses care for their companion animals.
The team also made a $5,000 donation to the organization.
Pederson has participated in a number of Dodgers Love L.A. Community Tour events in the past and praised his organization for the great work they are doing. “This is just the least of what the Dodgers are doing in the community this week,” he said.
“It’s a first-class organization that’s always looking to help out and make the community a better place. I had a great time here and I’m excited to participate in some of the other stuff coming up this week.”
Beaty and his wife Jessica brought their dog to the event, as did Pederson and his wife Kelsey. As someone who spends a lot of time with his dog, Pederson was excited to interact with fans in a different manner.
“The dog breed kind of explains a bit more about the person and stuff so you just see people in a different way,” Pederson explained. “It’s not at the field asking for autographs or something, it’s a different level so I definitely enjoy it.”
SportsNet LA reporter Alanna Rizzo was also eager to be involved with the event. The founder of Guidry’s Guardian Foundation, which is committed to financially supporting individuals and organizations who support fostering and adopting over buying from breeders and pet stores, spoke to the Dodgers sharing a similar goal of helping out dogs in need.
“Any time the Dodgers and dogs are in the same sentence, I’m happy,” she said. “So it’s two of my passions and two of my worlds colliding but in a good way. The Dodgers have been so great with their community tour year in and year out, and when they started this, I was like ‘I’m in.’
“It’s great, as always, to partner with Bank of America to do this but to see the players who are both obviously dog lovers in Joc and Matt interacting with other people’s dogs is cool. And to have more awareness raised of dogs that need homes and rescuing and fostering and adopting and again, if we could do these types of events all the time and get the word out with people obviously that fans want to see, it’s a win-win.”
The Dodgers Love L.A. Community tour continues throughout the next few days with other events such as a pep rally at a local high school, lunch at the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Department and the fifth annual Justin Turner Foundation Golf Classic, among others.
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