Thanks

I can't find the exact quote, but somewhere in this process, speckops wrote something like, "I'm worried that a lot of these items won't get bid on, so we'll have to pump up the things we know will be popular."

So ... wow.

The total earned for the Alex Lewis Scholarship fund: $6,887.

That's absolutely flabbergasting.

I'm not a religious man, but I know there's a way this amused Alex. He might have woke up from a dream three years ago, smile on his face, and for a brief second, he thought, "Weirdest dream, man. A bunch of people I'd never met were buying dolls for me ... buying dolls in honor of me? Dunno." Then it slipped his mind and he went about his day. Something like that.

First off, thanks to the donors. Natto, Giant_in_la_area, ZenPop, and Tortured came through with a great mix of personal items, and kdl gave up some signed balls that you know meant something to her. Goofus gave up expensive tickets in a great location, and he was happy to do it. Mrs. Owlcroft donated the bat, and I don't think she'll ever get over it. I picture her waving a hanky and chasing after the train as the bat departs. Oh, and my mom. Thanks to my mom. She's kind of the reason you're reading this in the first place.

Thanks to the Paragon and District SF for their generosity. You don't have to donate money directly to the scholarship to help -- if you're choosing where to eat before a game, let their contributions sway you in their favor.

Thanks to Chartball. If you've ever seen one of my YouTube videos, it's a Chartball poster in the background. I can't recommend them enough, so please visit their online store.

Thanks to Frank Robinson, inner-circle Hall of Famer and former Giants manager, for donating a signed ball.

Thanks to Bryan Srabian and the Giants for putting together a package on short notice. They have every right to think of us as the weird kids in the corner of the Internet, but they recognize the strong, Giants-loving community we have here, and how much it hurt to lose a member of that community.

CSN Bay Area contacted us to help out after the initial announcement, and they put together an amazing package over the weekend to beat the Sunday deadline. Think about how amazing that is. They didn't need to do anything even if we had approached them. Instead, they took it upon themselves to contribute, unprompted. Thanks to CSN Bay Area for their generosity.

And of course, thanks to the official hero of McCovey Chronicles, Dave Flemming. We asked him to sign a ball or a picture; he offered lunch. We listed the lunch as "Buy Dave Flemming Lunch"; he insisted that he would buy the lunch to help drive the price higher. He didn't know Alex, but he knew that Alex was a big part of a community of Giants fans. That was enough.

Thanks to all of you who shared this on Facebook, and thanks for all of the retweets. Thanks to Andrew Baggarly for the publicity, and thanks to Alex Pavlovic for blogging about it.

Thanks to mrs.owlcroft again for her help in putting this together. She did the cold-calling that I wouldn't have had the guts for, and she was passionate about this. And there isn't enough thanks left over for speckops, without whom this wouldn't have happened. When he offered to help, I don't think either of us realized how much work was involved. He shouldered most of it, and I'm amazed at his efforts.

And thanks to you goofy people for bidding so much. You're going to help send a kid to college to study creative writing, and he or she will always know that it happened because a creative writer named Alex Lewis touched the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people in his too-brief time. We miss you, Alex. All of us.

A list of the items and the final price:

Natto's avatar: $100
Clark, Williams, Bonds bat: $930
District SF certificate: $26, $25
Gaylord Perry ball/bobblehead combo: $177.50
Will Clark bobblehead: $94
Tim Lincecum bobblehead: $73
Crazy Crab: $76
Lucy van Pelt bobblehead: $102.50
Dave Flemming lunch: $860, $850, $750 (!)
Charlie Brown bobblehead: $365
Pablo Sandoval bobblehead: $61
Paragon Restaurant: $152.50
Brandon Crawford ball: $222.50
Frank Robinson ball: $235
Chartball Poster: $102.50
Giants game with Goofus/Grant: $365, $360
George Kontos ball: $72
Brandon Belt ball: $202.50
Pablo Sandoval gnome: $96
Giants knitted socks: $160.50
Giants/Mickey Mouse pin: $60
Signed Fillmore poster: $56
CSN Bay Area tour: $157.50

Wow. Thanks. Miss you, Alex. Stay strong, gallo.

And if you missed out on an item ... well, you can still donate!