Dodgers dream comes true: Desert woman throws out first pitch at Dodger Stadium
"Denise, the mound is yours."
When those words reverberated around a still-filling-up Dodger Stadium before Thursday night's game against the New York Mets, Palm Desert resident Denise Goolsby knew she was about to fulfill a lifelong dream.
The 61-year-old Goolsby, who works as the office of neighborhoods manager for the City of Palm Springs after a long career at The Desert Sun, strode to the pitcher's mound with her glove and a dark blue Clayton Kershaw jersey. She wiped her right hand in the dirt to get a better grip on the ball. She stepped up to the rubber, looked in to her catcher Marissa Rohan, a Dodgers ballgirl, and let it fly.
"It just felt good to get up there and I was ready, and I decided to not think too much about it and just throw it," said Goolsby. "If I would've stood up there longer and thought about it more, it wouldn't have been as good. Just rock and fire, right?"
Her pitch was on line but landed about three feet in front of home plate and bounced into the catcher's glove. A success in Goolsby's book.
"My main goal was just not to end up on the blooper reel on SportsCenter," Goolsby said with a laugh. "That was about as good as I could hope for. Sixty feet, six inches is a pretty long way to throw it for a 61-year-old. If I was 40, I think I would've slung it right in there. It was a little intimidating looking at the huge stadium from the mound, but it was exhilarating, a moment I will never forget."
The opportunity
Activist, tennis icon and Dodgers part-owner Billie Jean King was receiving an award at a reception thrown by the Love & Love Tennis Foundation during the BNP Paribas Open in March.
Part of the event, which Goolsby attended, was a silent auction, and one of the packages was made for a True Blue Dodgers superfan. The package included a chance to throw out the first pitch at a Dodgers game and be on the field to watch batting practice, two dugout level seats (which go for more than $1,000 each) and an autographed Chris Taylor jersey.
"It was funny, the other items in the auction would be like a hotel stay and it would say 'actual value $2,000' or whatever on them, but the Dodgers package said 'actual value ... priceless.' And you know what? It was as advertised. It was a priceless moment, I'm so glad I went for it," Goolsby said.
For the record, she disclosed that her winning bid was $6,500.
"That's a lot I know, but I definitely got my money's worth and also, of course, that money went to the Love & Love charity (a foundation started by Rosie Casals and Tory Fretz in 2015 which helps promote junior tennis in underprivileged communities with equipment and coaching). That was close to my heart, too."
So the next step was for Goolsby to choose which game she would attend. She was given the option of about 40 games and chose a game against the Mets because they looked like a strong challenger to her Dodgers, and she wanted to pick a competitive game.
With the date set, now it was time to prepare.
The preparation
To say Goolsby took her pitch seriously is an understatement.
A lifelong softball player, Goolsby went to work on throwing a baseball and throwing from a mound, two things that were foreign to her.
The first thing she did was buy six baseballs, and she didn't get the six cheapest baseballs she could find at Walmart. No way. She bought online six official Major League baseballs with the commissioner's name on them and everything.
"You've got to practice with what you're going to be throwing with," she said.
And when it came to practicing, she threw it around with her friend-turned-pitching coach Shari Woodbridge. But she got some expert help, too.
"One of the coaches of the Palm Springs Power let me throw from the mound for a little bit and he was coaching me, and my aunt's friend's son (Chris Possemato) is an actual pitching coach in Orange County, and I worked with him for about an hour in Carlsbad one day," she said.
OK, she was feeling pretty good about her pitching mechanics, and now the next big decision was what to wear.
The outfit
As most sports fans know, you accumulate a lot of your favorite team's T-shirts and jerseys and gear over the years. Goolsby is no exception, and she thought carefully about which direction to go.
She sifted through her collection and made some tough choices.
"I was going to wear Justin Turner because he went to Cal State Fullerton like I did, but then I thought my current favorite player is Will Smith, but it's hard to find his jersey," she said. "So I just thought I'm going to go with a classic, I'm going to go with the Future Hall of Famer."
She picked her dark Kershaw jersey, she wore white shorts because baseball players wear white pants and she had blue tennis shoes for good footing.
"When I was getting ready to go up there, I had this thought that maybe I shouldn't have done a pitcher like Kershaw because what if I do his name wrong with a horrible pitch," she laughed.
The night
The team had Goolsby arrive at Dodger Stadium at 4 p.m. for the 7:10 p.m. game.
The first pitch part of the baseball package was definitely the highlight, but for a true baseball fan like Goolsby, the opportunity to watch batting practice from the field around the batting cage was a huge thing, too. And she came prepared.
Remember those six official Major League baseballs she bought? She brought two of them with her to batting practice just in case she'd have a chance for some autographs. Smart move.
"On one ball I got autographs from Justin Turner, Trea Turner, Will Smith and Dave Roberts and on the other ball I got Pete Alonso, a really good player for the Mets," she said. "It was amazing to watch them take batting practice and to hear the conversations they were having and things like that."
After hobnobbing with the players and coaches and other bigwigs — she said she chatted with former USC quarterback Matt Leinart and ex-Dodgers great Nomar Garciaparra who were also there — it was Goolsby's turn to shine.
She stood in front of the camera and waved while they introduced her to the crowd, which included many of her friends and family. Her image was on the big screen for about 10-15 seconds.
"I was waving and then I didn't know what to do, so I just kind of popped the ball in my glove a couple times, I was just trying to kill the time, then the stage manager, and that's what they called him a stage manager, pointed to the mound and it was time," Goolsby said. "So I ran up there and they give you a ball that says 'ceremonial first pitch ball' on it, and I went up there and I just had to scrape the dirt with my hand and get my fingers a little bit of clay on them for a good grip and then I aimed and fired."
She said the rest was a blur. The team presented her a little case to put the ball in after she posed for a few photos on the field and then she went to her seats four rows behind home plate.
"I was in the Mary Hart section," Goolsby joked, referring to the seats visible on TV behind home plate. And then she watched the Dodgers win 2-0.
A perfect night for someone that bleeds Dodger Blue.
"It was epic. One of the most memorable moments of my life, growing up a Dodgers fan living that close to the stadium. I look at Dodger Stadium as hallowed ground. I walked out there, and it's just beautifully manicured, world class players have played on that field and here I am getting to step on the grass and across the line and on the mound where I've watched Don Sutton and Bill Singer and Clayton Kershaw pitch. I did soak all of that in. But when I stepped off the mound, it felt like I was floating like I was in a dream."
Priceless indeed.
Shad Powers is a sports columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Desert woman lives out dream of throwing first pitch at Dodger Stadium
