Saturday, May 9th, 2015 would have been Tony Gwynn’s 55th birthday. The pain of his passing is still heavy on a lot of our hearts, but I found myself thinking about Mr. Padre and instead of getting misty-eyed I actually started to smile.
My favorite Tony Gwynn memory came on September 14th, 1998 and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was working in Palm Springs in my first job as a news producer. The Padres were hunting the National League pennant and the Cubs were coming to Qualcomm Stadium with slugging Sammy Sosa. My girlfriend at the time was from San Diego and a big Padres fan so we decided to take off from work and see a ball game.
It was a perfect night for baseball. Like, even more perfect than normal. The game was fantastic. Sosa struck out four times. Greg Vaughn and Ken Caminiti both went deep. Trevor Hoffman got the save, the first time I’d ever heard Hells Bells in person.
But in my eyes, Tony stole the show.
With the game tied at two in the 7th inning Gwynn ripped a double to score Chris Gomez. It was his only hit of the night but as a left-handed hitting kid growing up loving baseball seeing Gwynn and that swing in person was always a treat. I remember the anticipation in the crowd for each at-bat, how it was just different, more personal.
I remember feeling privileged to have seen one of the greatest hitters of all time deliver for his adopted home town again. I also remember looking at my girlfriend and thinking, “This girl is really cool, she likes baseball.”
17 years later a few things have changed. I still call Tony Gwynn one of the greatest hitters of all time … but now I call that girl my wife (and thanks Tony for helping plant that seed in my head).
So, what’s your favorite Tony Gwynn memory?
