Tony Gwynn has long been one of my favorite players. By the time he came up to the big leagues in the early 80s I was a committed Dodgers fan, but I still loved to see him hit; just an amazing hitter, who on his better days seemed almost impossible to get out. And while his hitting rightly garners most of the attention, he was a fine all around ballplayer as well: good speed on the bases and solid defensively.
One of the most memorable games I’ve ever attended was a game between the Padres and the Dodgers in Dodger Stadium in which Tony figured prominently. I don’t remember the exact year, but Orel Hershiser was in his prime and pitched for the Dodgers that night. He was on his game and almost unhittable. In fact, he faced the minimum 27 batters that night. The only Padre to reach base was Tony Gwynn, who did it twice: once with a base hit and once with a walk. Tony was erased on a double play and caught stealing, and the Dodgers won on Hershiser’s great performance (I think the score was 2-0). A most memorable game, as I said, featuring terrific performances by two truly great players.
I got to see Tony play a number of other times, too, and always loved watching him hit. When I started collecting baseball cards with my then very young sons in the mid-90s, the player I chose to collect was Tony Gwynn. I have a pretty nice little collection of Tony Gwynn cards (about 300 or so) featuring a complete run of his Topps base cards and several autographs and game-used memorabilia cards.
I was delighted to see that mlb.com has produced a nice video tribute to Mr. Gwynn, Tony Gwynn: The Making of a Hall of Famer, and naturally I shelled out the $4 to download the video to watch on my computer. It is a good retrospective that covers his life and career; nicely done and it really shows the human side of a great player and very likable man. I’m really glad that he has taken his well-deserved place in the Hall of Fame, and glad that I had a chance to watch him play.
Thanks, Tony! You are one of the guys who make baseball the special game that it is.
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