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Speaker 1: That year also created one of Gwen's greatest baseball memories

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Speaker 1: at the All Star Game, an all century team celebration

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Speaker 1: at Fenway Park with an old friend. Now for the

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Speaker 1: first pitch, Ted Williams is di o arts, his eyesight

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Speaker 1: wild as he invents he's asking Gwen to help him

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Speaker 1: out that requirement. He got it up there. That's my

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Speaker 1: favorite moment in this game, to be the last guy

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Speaker 1: standing out there with Ted Williams as he threw out

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Speaker 1: the first pitch. Was was the best, It was the best.

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Speaker 1: He was so heavy, said, did you see they wanted

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Speaker 1: me to do it? Did you see that? How cool

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Speaker 1: is that? Lege? How cool is that? Two years later,

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Speaker 1: a forty one year old Gwen, battling injuries, announced his retirement.

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Speaker 1: His final game would be a salute from the San

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Speaker 1: Diego Faith. I remember how tough it was for him

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Speaker 1: to say goodbye. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Even

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Speaker 1: after the game was finished, all the people were like

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Speaker 1: staying there because they wanted to get another glimpse of

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Speaker 1: my dad. And it was just surreal, like all these

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Speaker 1: people that just loved my fathers just speaks to who

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Speaker 1: he is. Got another log on the fire and what

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Speaker 1: he hears give the time. Welcome to the fire Pit

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Speaker 1: with Matt Chanella. Here we go episode three of this

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Speaker 1: tribute series on the life and legacy of Tony Gwinn,

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Speaker 1: my sports hero. Thanks to Tony gwen Junior and my

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Speaker 1: panel of Hall of famers for sharing their anecdotes, reflections

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Speaker 1: and respect for mister Padre. Thanks to you obviously for listening,

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Speaker 1: and a quick thanks to link Soul for their sponsorship

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Speaker 1: of this podcast. The lifestyle brand is all I wear

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Speaker 1: on and off the course. Go to link soul dot

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Speaker 1: com and use promo code fire Pit twenty five for

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Speaker 1: twenty five percent off your next purchase if you haven't

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Speaker 1: had the chance to listen already. In episode one, we

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Speaker 1: got into some of Tony Gwynn's staggering stats. Here's Greg Maddox,

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Speaker 1: the four times cy Young Award winner and Hall of Famer.

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Speaker 1: He faced you more than any That's amazing, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I know you've you've heard it a million times probably,

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Speaker 1: but he faced you more than any other picture and

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Speaker 1: hit four fifteen against you. That just yeah, outlandish, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's it was up to four eighty five. So I

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Speaker 1: actually don't feel too bad about the four or fifteen

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Speaker 1: to be honest with you, you know, because I know

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Speaker 1: at one hunt, I think that's when I started to

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Speaker 1: throwing him change ups a lot harder. He was up.

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Speaker 1: I saw where he was. I don't know, it's fourteen

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Speaker 1: for twenty seven or something like that. It was ridiculous,

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Speaker 1: and you know, the game plan was to just hey,

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Speaker 1: if he wants to hit a two hawk or two

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Speaker 1: the left fielder, go ahead. In episode two, it was

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Speaker 1: all about the man and the dad through the eyes

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Speaker 1: of his son, and one specific moment of Tony gwyn

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Speaker 1: Junior's career, a timely triple off of Trevor Hoffman, who's

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Speaker 1: like an uncle to him. It gets to that one

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Speaker 1: to count and he's thrown a lot of changeups in

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Speaker 1: a row, and I could just hear my dad's voice

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Speaker 1: in the back of my head saying, Hey, make sure

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Speaker 1: you're ready for the fastball. Just down to everything else.

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Speaker 1: Even though I knew in my herder hearts the fourth

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Speaker 1: pitch that he was gonna throw it was gonna be

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Speaker 1: another change up. I did not want to I didn't

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Speaker 1: the thing. I did not want to have it, and

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Speaker 1: that one it would blow a fastball by me. So

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Speaker 1: I was ready for the fast fall. But when it

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Speaker 1: came out of his hand, I just remember thinking to

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Speaker 1: me myself, that ball is a little bit more elevated.

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Speaker 1: If I can just stay here and hold my ground

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Speaker 1: long enough, I can, I can put a good swing

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Speaker 1: on it. And sure enough, I leak a little bit

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Speaker 1: forward with my body, but my hand stayed back and

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Speaker 1: I just kind of flipped it down the line in

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Speaker 1: right field, and I knew once it got over Adrian's

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Speaker 1: head there wasn't there. I was gonna have three, and

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Speaker 1: we were gonna be a tide game, and it was

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Speaker 1: gonna go into it was gonna go into extra innings.

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Speaker 1: Before we get into more reflections on Tony Gwinn's iconic

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Speaker 1: career and lasting legacy, Junior's favorite stats as they relate

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Speaker 1: to his dad, Senior's three thousand hit, the Hall of

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Speaker 1: Fame call, and more. Let's pick it back up with

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Speaker 1: Tony Gwinn Jr. And get a little more on that

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Speaker 1: timely triple in Milwaukee. You know, Trevor that you're forty

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Speaker 1: two or forty seven. Converted on forty two or forty seven,

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Speaker 1: say that year you got that hit, like you know,

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Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame closing. You know this is no joke.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't an easy pitch. No, it was down. I

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Speaker 1: mean it was it was up enough for me to

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Speaker 1: get the barrel there. But I feel like because I've

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Speaker 1: known him, I knew what I was looking for and

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Speaker 1: allowed me to put a better swing on that than

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Speaker 1: I think most guys would have. More from Trevor Hoffman,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's super easy to kind of armchair quarterback yourself.

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Speaker 1: The next day and twenty plus years later, I threw

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Speaker 1: some good pitches. I threw some good changeups, and maybe

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Speaker 1: the only thing that kind of bit me in the

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Speaker 1: butt was maybe I wanted to change up one too

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Speaker 1: many times. And a good baseball player will make that

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Speaker 1: adjustment and know how to stay on that but be

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Speaker 1: protecting against the heater, and to his credit, kept it fair.

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Speaker 1: And it was a good battle. It was one of

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Speaker 1: the better battles I've ever had. Remember, on the day

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Speaker 1: of that game in which Junior gets the hit September

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Speaker 1: twenty ninth, two thousand and seven, he had asked Padre's

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Speaker 1: owner John Moores for a ride back to San Diego

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Speaker 1: on his jet and the answer before the big hit

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Speaker 1: was yes, I heard that Jennifer Moore was Moors was

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Speaker 1: quoted as saying, tell Anthony, he's walking back to She

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Speaker 1: definitely said that she was joking, but she definitely said

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Speaker 1: that because you did fly home with the Moors. I did,

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Speaker 1: and it was the most awkward three and a half

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Speaker 1: hour flight ever. And maybe I made it awkward because

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Speaker 1: I felt like I did something wrong. But nobody really

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Speaker 1: spoke to me that whole flight. I really, I really

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Speaker 1: got the silent treatment most of that flight. What were

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Speaker 1: your conversation with like Trevor after that or did you

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Speaker 1: ever after the game? Did he give you shit or

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Speaker 1: you know he did? And I think we never really

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Speaker 1: actually talked about it for another three four years, Like

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Speaker 1: it just wasn't a subject that never came about. And honestly,

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Speaker 1: I don't think it came about too. He became a

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Speaker 1: and then that's probably the first time we had a

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Speaker 1: conversation about it again. And I made it a point

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Speaker 1: not to bring it up. It wasn't something. I mean, listen,

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Speaker 1: as great as it is to get a hit off

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Speaker 1: the Hall of Famer, he still has much more room

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Speaker 1: to have to talk than I do. I mean, that's

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Speaker 1: just one hit. This dude as you mentioned he ended

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Speaker 1: up racking well over. You know, he's a Hall of Famer.

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Speaker 1: I mean so at the end of the day, that

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Speaker 1: one little hit is just one little hit compared to

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Speaker 1: what he was able to do. So again, that's the

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Speaker 1: respect I gained at the age of nine when I

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Speaker 1: was popping off the locker room. But it's like, all right, yes,

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Speaker 1: you got to hit, but that's that's all that that was.

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Speaker 1: Let's not get too it's not to get too big

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Speaker 1: about it. So I think we didn't have the conversation

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Speaker 1: to get until Milwaukee, but Trevor would later have a

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Speaker 1: big impact because I was kind of down on the

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Speaker 1: dumps in Milwaukee because I wasn't really getting an opportunity

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Speaker 1: to play. And when he came over was my last

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Speaker 1: year I got I got designated, taken off the roster,

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Speaker 1: sent down a triple A. I was dealing with some

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Speaker 1: shoulder issues and I remember he came down. I'll never forget.

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Speaker 1: We were in Memphis and he came down for some

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Speaker 1: rehab work and I was out there early getting some working.

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Speaker 1: I just stayed out on the field just to kind

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Speaker 1: of I would do that from time to time, just

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Speaker 1: absorb it a little bit, and he happened to walk

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Speaker 1: out and he sat down with me, and I just

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Speaker 1: remember him telling me, Man's, I'm so proud of you.

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Speaker 1: Keep going. Man, I know you're discouraged right now, but

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Speaker 1: keep going the way you're working. It's gonna change. And

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Speaker 1: it wasn't. Maybe a month later, I got hot, I

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Speaker 1: got traded to the sent to San Diego, and it

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Speaker 1: really would kind of reignite it my career again. Back

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Speaker 1: to Trevor Hoffman. I didn't like being in my spot,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sure it wasn't comfortable for anybody at that

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Speaker 1: point in time, but you know what, you go out

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Speaker 1: and that's I think the beautiful thing is that it

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Speaker 1: didn't define any more than what it was like. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I would have loved to have one running the postseason

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Speaker 1: and gone to Philadelphia as opposed to Colorado and then

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Speaker 1: not doing well there. But you know, it's it hasn't

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Speaker 1: taken any luster away from you know, any opportunities I

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Speaker 1: had in the postseason, or any years of grinding it

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Speaker 1: out and trying to be successful with the teams I

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Speaker 1: had in San Diego. It's it's just part of the narrative.

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Speaker 1: And I think if other people out there can kind

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Speaker 1: of learn from that stuff happens. You have to honor

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Speaker 1: the fact that I felt prepared enough and worked hard

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Speaker 1: on my craft and let the chips fall where they may.

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Speaker 1: Somebody's gonna win, somebody's gonna lose. It's just part of

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Speaker 1: the athletics. What was the aftermath between you and Tony Senior.

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Speaker 1: You know, we didn't talk too much about it, and

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Speaker 1: there was no gloating. I mean, he understood the magnitude

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Speaker 1: at the moment. He was chairing for his boy like

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Speaker 1: he's mister Pottery, and so he's probably announcing and I

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Speaker 1: think he was there announcing the game, and I mean

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Speaker 1: it's between a rock and a hard place. I feel

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Speaker 1: a little bit of that as we sit today. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if the timing matters, but you know, we

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Speaker 1: just got I've been finishing up a series against the

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Speaker 1: Dodgers and the NLBS, and I'm really good friends with

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Speaker 1: Dave Roberts. And while I'm rooting for my organization to

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Speaker 1: do well, I know I have a friend that's hurting

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Speaker 1: right now, and so as part of the game. It's

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Speaker 1: part of what we deal with when it's such a

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Speaker 1: tight knit fraternity and there's just a way you respect

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Speaker 1: the success and the failures that people have to go

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Speaker 1: through in different times in their careers. Before we get

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Speaker 1: back to celebrating the life and legacy of Tony Gwin Senior,

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Speaker 1: here's John Small two in episode one, told us about

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Speaker 1: how Senior broke up one of his bids for a

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Speaker 1: no hitter. My connection with Tony Gwin Junior happened to

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Speaker 1: be when my last year for the Cardinals, I got

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Speaker 1: released by the by the Boston Red Sox and I

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Speaker 1: got picked up by the Cardinals for the playoff push

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Speaker 1: that year. It ended up being the year I retired,

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Speaker 1: and I asked the Cardinals if they wanted me to

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Speaker 1: pitch in the Bullpennessee, could you just give me a

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Speaker 1: start or two so I can get reacclimated. You know,

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Speaker 1: I hadn't pitched in seventeen days. So they said, no problem.

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Speaker 1: So I'm facing the podres of all teams and with

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Speaker 1: a Cardinal you know, uniform, and I end up setting

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Speaker 1: a franchise record my very first start for the Cardinals,

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Speaker 1: I struck out seven podres in a row, and Tony

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Speaker 1: Gwynn Junior came up as the eighth batter and all

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Speaker 1: I had to do was see Gwynn on his back

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Speaker 1: of his jersey and guests who broke it up. Tony

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Speaker 1: Gwynn Junior broke up the seven strikeouts in a row.

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Speaker 1: So the name lives forever for me, and I just

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Speaker 1: had to kind of smile when I was thinking about

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Speaker 1: it going. It just that that was perfect. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's the way it was supposed to go. So for

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Speaker 1: a lot of people who you know, are baseball savants,

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Speaker 1: they would never know that I struck out that I

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Speaker 1: hold the franchise record my very first start for the

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Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals, but that Tony Quinn Junior broke it up.

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Speaker 1: So the last thing I'll do then is just get

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Speaker 1: you get your reaction to this, then how about this?

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Speaker 1: There it is that's the famous Every time we came

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Speaker 1: to San Diego, which is one of my favorite places

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Speaker 1: to play baseball, you just can't help but think about

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Speaker 1: Tony Gwyn's importance to that franchise. At the end of

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Speaker 1: that exchange, I had turned my computer to show Smoltz

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Speaker 1: the framed Gwynn jersey that's hanging on the wall in

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Speaker 1: my office. Now here's Ryan Sandberg, who came up with

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Speaker 1: the Phillies, but played the last fifteen of his sixteen

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Speaker 1: seasons in the big leagues as a cub. Probably like me,

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Speaker 1: he never gave up on the team that he was

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Speaker 1: on to actually win a championship. I went to every

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Speaker 1: spring thinking that we're that was our goal. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: we're gonna go to the playoffs every year, and we

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Speaker 1: want to win a World Series. There wasn't all the

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Speaker 1: predictions and that they have going into the spring trainings

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Speaker 1: this year, but some of those years we were probably

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Speaker 1: destined for third place, fourth or last place. But still

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Speaker 1: in my heart, I thought we were going to go

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Speaker 1: to the playoffs. I think Tony had a lot of that,

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Speaker 1: and he was you know, he was mister Padre, no

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Speaker 1: doubt about it. I saw that that fit him well.

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Speaker 1: If he was taking a day off, I'll just say this,

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Speaker 1: And if he was taking a day off and you

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Speaker 1: look at that Padre lineup and he wasn't in there,

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Speaker 1: it'd be like, wait, wait, what's wrong here? I mean,

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Speaker 1: we got to cancel the game, you know. And a

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Speaker 1: lot of us were like that, playing every single day.

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Speaker 1: But he was one of those figures when he's and

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Speaker 1: he was never out of the lineup, so it was

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Speaker 1: a big deal, but I just didn't look right if

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Speaker 1: he wasn't in there. Bat and third, Tom Verducci. First

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Speaker 1: of all, I loved spending time with Tony Gwinn because

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Speaker 1: even though I could never understand hitting the way he did,

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Speaker 1: I just every time I talked to Tony, and he

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Speaker 1: was such a pleasant guy that you wanted to be

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Speaker 1: in his company anyway, But every time I talked to him,

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Speaker 1: I learned something I'm telling you that doesn't happen in

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Speaker 1: this business. Every time I walked away saying that was

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Speaker 1: so cool. I never knew that. One of the things

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Speaker 1: that still sticks to me with it to this day

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Speaker 1: is Tony Gwin saying the most important thing about hitting

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Speaker 1: is to know yourself, know your swing. He said, a

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Speaker 1: lot of guys trying to copy other swings. You borrow

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Speaker 1: bits and pieces, and maybe the bodies just don't work

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Speaker 1: the same way. But he said, knowing your swing and

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Speaker 1: how it works is really the foundation of good hitting,

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Speaker 1: and he was terrific in that regard. I mean, you

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Speaker 1: can see video of Tony taking a swing as a

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Speaker 1: rookie in his last year, and it's pretty much the

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Speaker 1: same The principles are pretty much the same. So that

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Speaker 1: consistency and knowing your own swing pretty cool. Here's Berducci

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Speaker 1: again on what was often referred to as the Tony

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Speaker 1: Gwinn discount. Essentially a guy who never chased money or

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Speaker 1: maximized his contract while he hunted hits. He prioritized a

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Speaker 1: quality of life when you look at his career. Superstar player,

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Speaker 1: there's no question about it, first ballot Hall of Famer.

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Speaker 1: But if you're talking about maximizing value monetarily, he didn't

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Speaker 1: really did that. I mean, he never really played the market,

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Speaker 1: on the free agent market to try to get the

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Speaker 1: last dollar even if he was going to stay in

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Speaker 1: San Diego. Loyalty, I mean that work gets thrown around,

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Speaker 1: probably too much. It doesn't really apply to a lot

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Speaker 1: of situations, but it certainly does to Tony Gwinn. So

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Speaker 1: one of my favorite quotes from Tony's he talked about

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Speaker 1: the responsibility when you have the profile of being a

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Speaker 1: really good player. He said that's it's not enough just

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Speaker 1: to be a really good player. You have a responsibility

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Speaker 1: to show people that you do things the right way.

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Speaker 1: And he meant that on the field shore, but he

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Speaker 1: also meant that off the field as well. So I

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Speaker 1: think he took that kind of responsibility of being this

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Speaker 1: iconic baseball figure, a role model, if you will. He

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Speaker 1: took it to be more than just, you know, represent

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Speaker 1: the game well, represent yourself will And I mean that's

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Speaker 1: why when you think about it, all these Hall of

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Speaker 1: Fame induction ceremonies, when did they have the all time

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Speaker 1: biggest crowd at Cooperstown? I mean people packed to the

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Speaker 1: hill upstate New York for Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripkin,

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Speaker 1: two guys very similar in terms of how they played

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Speaker 1: the game, represented their really hometowns in Baltimore and in

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Speaker 1: San Diego, and just served the fans so well, I'm

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Speaker 1: not just the game. Back to Greg Maddox, you had

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Speaker 1: a run of cy Young Awards, and Tony Gwynn had

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Speaker 1: a run. You had four Cy Young Awards, and Tony

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Speaker 1: Gwynn had five years straight of hitting three fifty or better,

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Speaker 1: which has never been just after World War Two, and

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Speaker 1: you went from ninety two to ninety five and he

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Speaker 1: went ninety three to ninety seven, So you're kind of

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Speaker 1: essentially peaking at the same time. And then you had

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Speaker 1: these long careers of ridiculous consistency and accuracy, And I

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Speaker 1: just wondered, is in a way as he almost like,

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Speaker 1: are you the Tony Gwynn of pitching or vice versa.

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Speaker 1: I mean, with just the the amount of years that

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Speaker 1: you could put together, the kind of numbers you did well.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I wouldn't compare myself to Tony. I don't

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Speaker 1: think that's fair to him and his family. But at

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Speaker 1: the same time, you know, I took a lot of

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Speaker 1: pride in being consistent. I heard Tony talk about being

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Speaker 1: consistent very rarely. Did he change his swing very rarely?

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Speaker 1: Did I ever try to change my delivery? You know,

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Speaker 1: I think we understood what God us there and what

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Speaker 1: we were having success with mechanically, and we didn't have

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Speaker 1: to tinker too much with our mechanics to either hit

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Speaker 1: the ball or throw the ball. And I think that

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Speaker 1: was a huge advantage. Did you and Smolty and Glavin

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Speaker 1: ever try to compare notes and say, Jesus, this guy

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Speaker 1: you hit three ninety four against you guys combined in

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Speaker 1: regular season. Did you guys ever sit down and go,

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Speaker 1: let's try to figure this guy out. Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think we all had our own styles, So you know,

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Speaker 1: we talked about hitters, we talked about positioning, game situations

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Speaker 1: and stuff like that. But Smolty was going to get

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Speaker 1: you out with a slider, you know, Glad was going

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Speaker 1: to get you out with a changeup, and I was

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Speaker 1: gonna get you out with either a cutter or a changeup. So,

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Speaker 1: you know, we all kind of had our own ways

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Speaker 1: to go about it. You know, Tony was you know,

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Speaker 1: that's where the VP basketball comes into play. Fall behind

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Speaker 1: and throw him off speed, you know, real just vague stuff.

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Speaker 1: You know. It was like, hey, if you throw it away,

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Speaker 1: you're going to keep him in the park. You know,

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Speaker 1: we would say that, you know, if if you make

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Speaker 1: a mistake on the inner half, he can get you.

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Speaker 1: You know, that's when he turns into a power hitter.

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Speaker 1: But if you kept the ball away. It seemed like

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Speaker 1: he was happy to slap with the left and we

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Speaker 1: were happy to only give up a single. So I

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Speaker 1: guess book both sides were happy when he would, you know,

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Speaker 1: boys hit the ball to left field. Smoltz, like Gwyn,

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Speaker 1: played twenty years for the same team, and although Smoltz

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Speaker 1: split one more season between two teams, the Red Sox

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Speaker 1: and the Cardinals, there were also some similarities and that

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Speaker 1: they both did with their team needed them to do

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Speaker 1: to try and win. Gwinn could have hit for more

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Speaker 1: power if and when needed. Smoltz was a starter, became

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Speaker 1: a closer, and then went back to being a starter.

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Speaker 1: I know, watching his career and the evolution of him,

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Speaker 1: like if you had to drop him into today's baseball,

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Speaker 1: right he would have adapted. If they asked him to

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Speaker 1: hit thirty home runs, he'd hit thirty and hit two

359
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Speaker 1: eighty or two ninety, maybe sacrifice some average. He had

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Speaker 1: the capability of doing whatever the club asked him to do.

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Speaker 1: I kind of felt that way when I wanted to

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Speaker 1: win championships and being able to adjust and move to

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Speaker 1: a different role, it was a drastic change. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it would be like the version of asking Tony going

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Speaker 1: to hit right handed when he never hit right handed.

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Speaker 1: He probably could have done it, but it would have

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Speaker 1: taken a whole mental adjustment. And I know pitching is

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Speaker 1: just pitching, but going into a different role as a closer,

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Speaker 1: it's totally different. And I had to learn on the

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Speaker 1: job really fast. I didn't do it well in the beginning,

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Speaker 1: but I made it adjustments along the way. And that

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Speaker 1: first year of closing, I gave up a lot of

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Speaker 1: runs early. I wasn't ready out of spring training, had

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Speaker 1: a thumb injury. I had three I had four surgeries

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Speaker 1: on my thumb, and I couldn't tell anybody I wasn't ready,

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Speaker 1: but I went out there and tried to fake it

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Speaker 1: the best I could. The first month didn't go well.

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Speaker 1: I ended up with fifty five saves. But to your point,

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Speaker 1: it's like, you find a way to use your athleticism

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Speaker 1: to figure out how to adapt. And that's what Tony

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Speaker 1: was so good at. And could he teach his style

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Speaker 1: to a lot of people. I don't know, because I

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Speaker 1: think that's where the gift part comes in. I think

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Speaker 1: engulf some people are born to be putters short games,

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Speaker 1: like they have a natural ability. I think certain attributes

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Speaker 1: for certain athletes come naturally. The art of studying and

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Speaker 1: discipline and work. That's something you can separate and isolate

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Speaker 1: from athlete to athlete. Not everybody has that dedication or discipline,

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Speaker 1: and Tony Gwinn had it all because he did it

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Speaker 1: for a long long time. And I got to tell

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Speaker 1: this one story when it was early in my career.

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Speaker 1: Gerald Perry had like a fifty or sixty point lead

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Speaker 1: on him in a batting title, and Gerald Perry we

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Speaker 1: were on a team that wasn't very good, you know,

395
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Speaker 1: the a lot of races, was losing one hundred games,

396
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Speaker 1: and he'd get on the bus and he was panicking

397
00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:14,080
Speaker 1: the second half. He was losing the grip on his

398
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Speaker 1: batting title and he kept ragging us pictures, can somebody

399
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:23,240
Speaker 1: please get Tony went out and somebody finally had enough

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Speaker 1: guts to say, could you please get a hit? Because

401
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Speaker 1: he went the wrong way and Tony Gwinn chased him

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Speaker 1: down the year. He started, I think in the the first

403
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Speaker 1: half and he's hit like two forty eight, two fifty.

404
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,119
Speaker 1: He was having a struggle and then went on this

405
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Speaker 1: tear in the second half and one another batting time.

406
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Speaker 1: It looks like that would have been nineteen eighty eight

407
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Speaker 1: Smoltz's first year in the majors. Gerald Perry hit three

408
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 1: thirty seven in the first half of the year, while

409
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:53,200
Speaker 1: Gwynn hit two seventy seven. In the second half, Perry

410
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:58,280
Speaker 1: hit two sixty five, gwyn hit three forty seven. Perry

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00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,679
Speaker 1: ended the year with the batting average three hundred. Gwinn

412
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Speaker 1: finished at three thirteen, good enough for his third batting title.

413
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Speaker 1: How'd he do it? There was a ten game hitting

414
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Speaker 1: streak in September in which Gwyn had seven two hit

415
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Speaker 1: games and had a batting average of three ninety. In

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Speaker 1: that same stretch September ninth through the twenty second, Perry

417
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Speaker 1: hit one seventy six. Back to Tony Gwinn Jr. Eight

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Speaker 1: batting titles, five gold gloves, probably, I mean, the gold

419
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:33,919
Speaker 1: gloves probably almost meant more to He probably had to

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Speaker 1: work harder at the gold gloves than he did at

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Speaker 1: the batting titles. Would you agree with that? Thousand? He

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Speaker 1: said that out of his own mouth, that those were

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Speaker 1: the things that he was most proud of because when

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Speaker 1: he came, when he got drafted by the podcast, he

425
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Speaker 1: couldn't throw the ball from right filled the second base.

426
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Speaker 1: That's the shortest throw you make as an outfielder. He

427
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Speaker 1: could not do it consistently, and he had to work.

428
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Speaker 1: So you put up five gold gloves in them. At

429
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Speaker 1: the major league level in right field at that time,

430
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:06,920
Speaker 1: where there's all kinds of just unbelievable altfield, Andre Dawson,

431
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,520
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just a boatload of guys that he

432
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 1: was competing with and you know he and athleticism. He

433
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 1: was a point guard, so the moving part was easy

434
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,000
Speaker 1: for him. It was the throwing part that he really

435
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,240
Speaker 1: had to work on his accuracy and he never had

436
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,880
Speaker 1: a cannon, but he was one of the most accurate

437
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: throwers I think they ever do it. When we first

438
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,040
Speaker 1: drafted Tony Gwynn, he could hardly throw the ball from

439
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,399
Speaker 1: his right field position to second base. I talked to

440
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:35,680
Speaker 1: him one day and I said, what would you like

441
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,080
Speaker 1: to beat, Tony? I want to be a gold glove outfeeler.

442
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:40,960
Speaker 1: I want to be recognized as a good base stealer.

443
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 1: And he said, I know, I'm a good hitter. Whenever

444
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,160
Speaker 1: you hear Tony Gwenn, the first thing you hear is hitting, hitting, hitting,

445
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:50,880
Speaker 1: And I just want to be remembered as a complete

446
00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,120
Speaker 1: ball player. And there's a little thing fly ball shadow

447
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,159
Speaker 1: right Tony Gwynn is there, Rennick is gonna try it.

448
00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,439
Speaker 1: Here's the throw He's gonna be out. It was just

449
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 1: amazing to see him turn into this force. Defensively play

450
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 1: by gwen Man. He got hinder start. He became that

451
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:13,679
Speaker 1: total complete superstar once he understood the defense and for

452
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,439
Speaker 1: the remainder of the nineteen eighties, no one was a

453
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,920
Speaker 1: more successful individual performer than Tony Gwen. He won three

454
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 1: straight batting titles from nineteen eighty seven to eighty nine,

455
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 1: three more Silver Slugger Awards, and three Gold Gloves as well.

456
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 1: We end this series with some more time with Tony

457
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 1: Gwen Jr. Getting his thoughts on some of his father's

458
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:42,440
Speaker 1: insane stats, specifically flirting with four hundred, his dad's extraordinary eyesight,

459
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:46,879
Speaker 1: and the Hall of Fame call he had three hundred

460
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 1: and twenty three at bats against Greg Maddox, Pedro Martinez,

461
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 1: Tom Glavin and John Smolts and he only struck out

462
00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 1: three times. Yeah, it was Those are the type of

463
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 1: things that let you know that some of what he

464
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: had was I mean, all of what he had was

465
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,639
Speaker 1: God given, but some of it was extremely on a

466
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 1: different level. Like his eyesight was for a long time,

467
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:18,920
Speaker 1: I mean even past two years of him playing was extraordinary.

468
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,879
Speaker 1: He would doctors would tell him that all the time.

469
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,159
Speaker 1: Oh really, yes, doctors would actually tell him you have

470
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 1: something uncanny, you you have you have unbelievable eyesight. And

471
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,399
Speaker 1: I'll tell the story too. When I first got to

472
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,359
Speaker 1: Bouloy my dad was there maybe a week later to

473
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 1: come see me and don Money. Our manager asked him

474
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,639
Speaker 1: to come speak to the team, and so there's a

475
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:44,640
Speaker 1: couple of us they ended up making. There was three

476
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,280
Speaker 1: of us they ended up making the big leagues in

477
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 1: that locker room. But we're all on a ball at

478
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 1: the time. So he's talking to us about hitting and

479
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,160
Speaker 1: he's he gets to the part where he's talking about

480
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,000
Speaker 1: seeing the ball in the pitcher's hand, and he's like,

481
00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 1: you know when you when a when a pitcher gets

482
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 1: here and you see you don't see a lot of ball,

483
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,119
Speaker 1: that probably means it's it's a change up he's on.

484
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,919
Speaker 1: If you see a knuckle up on the on the scene,

485
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,240
Speaker 1: you probably know he's throwing a curveball. And you know,

486
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:12,920
Speaker 1: having been around in my whole life, I put my

487
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,680
Speaker 1: hand up. I was like, Dad, I don't think anybody

488
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,359
Speaker 1: in here sees that. And he goes really, and Prince

489
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,400
Speaker 1: Prince Fielder was one of my best buddies. He goes, yeah,

490
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:27,320
Speaker 1: I damn sure it don't see that. So he was like, well,

491
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:29,400
Speaker 1: he had to shift. He had to dumb it down

492
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 1: a little bit for us eight ballers at that point.

493
00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:34,639
Speaker 1: But it was still a good conversation, but it just

494
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,199
Speaker 1: he saw things that a lot of us just didn't see.

495
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:45,280
Speaker 1: Nine five hit games, forty five four hit games. That's

496
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:51,119
Speaker 1: fifty four game, fifty four games of four or five hits.

497
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,240
Speaker 1: I don't even think I have one of those in

498
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 1: any any level, any level. I mean, my dad was.

499
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: I mean he was a perfectionist to some extent, Like

500
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 1: he would come home and be yelling out the window

501
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: that he sucked after a two hit night. You know,

502
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: So those nights where he had the fours or the five, generally,

503
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 1: those are nights he was already swinging a bat pretty good.

504
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 1: On the subject of swinging the bat pretty good. After

505
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,920
Speaker 1: four batting titles and five All Star appearances in the eighties,

506
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 1: Tony Gwen continued to shine at the plate in the nineties,

507
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 1: and of all his great seasons, none was better than

508
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:38,240
Speaker 1: Gwen's bid for history in nineteen ninety four. There's a

509
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 1: happened to Tony gwenhead right there round bad days, hid

510
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:45,720
Speaker 1: I can flat out of him. Really amazing to watch

511
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 1: him night year at ninety four. I mean, he really

512
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,960
Speaker 1: did have a chance hit four hundred. We all felt it.

513
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,200
Speaker 1: Three ninety four nineteen ninety four, he had three ninety

514
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 1: four obviously one hundred and ten games straight shortened season.

515
00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: He was hitting four twenty three in the second half

516
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: of the season. Yeah, he was, he was. He was

517
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 1: pretty confident he would have got it. And it's because

518
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: of that he he wasn't. These weren't. This wasn't a

519
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,840
Speaker 1: hot streak. Like from June on. He was unbelievable. I

520
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:16,880
Speaker 1: think he had something like three or four three hit

521
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 1: games in that in that that span, and he was

522
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: locked in. Like I have saw a lot of my

523
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 1: dad's at bats. I saw him to get hot many

524
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,879
Speaker 1: of times, but nothing ever remotely close to this. He

525
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 1: got deprived of four hundred basically, he did. He did,

526
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: he got deprived of it. I think most people who

527
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 1: saw him play that year felt like it was going

528
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 1: to happen because he was doing He was doing this,

529
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:44,760
Speaker 1: and you know how heart it is to move your

530
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 1: average that much when you already have four hundred four

531
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,000
Speaker 1: and fifty plus at bats. That's why guys don't make

532
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,320
Speaker 1: big moves in the second half, because the bats start

533
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 1: to add up and you got to have a lot

534
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,280
Speaker 1: of hits in order to move it. And so the

535
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,200
Speaker 1: fact that he went. I think he went from like

536
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 1: the three seventies to that three ninety four spot in

537
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 1: a small time frame. Just shows you how hot he

538
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 1: was at the time. Again, let's go back to the

539
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:19,800
Speaker 1: game logs. From June first, nineteen ninety four, until when

540
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:23,680
Speaker 1: the season was called, which was August eleventh, Tony Gwynn

541
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: played in sixty three games and had two hundred and

542
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: forty six at bats. He only went hitless in that

543
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 1: stretch nine times, and never more than one game in

544
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:38,360
Speaker 1: a row. In twenty three of those sixty three games

545
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: he had two hits. In nine more games he had

546
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 1: three or four hits. So just a recap, In thirty

547
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: two of sixty three games, Gwynn had two, three or

548
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 1: four hits. He only struck out in that stretch of

549
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,920
Speaker 1: two hundred and forty six at bats eleven times. So yeah,

550
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 1: safe to say he was en route to a very

551
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 1: special category of baseball history. For Tony gwen to have

552
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: a career batting average below three hundred, this is my favorite.

553
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:14,160
Speaker 1: He could go one thousand, one hundred and eighty three

554
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 1: hit lists at bats, essentially go two full seasons of

555
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 1: over and that's what it would have taken for him

556
00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: to have a career batting average under three hundred. Yeah,

557
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 1: and that's that's that is my favorite stat right there,

558
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:32,959
Speaker 1: because it just shows you not only how consistent he was,

559
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:37,960
Speaker 1: but how far above the norm he was. Like he

560
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,400
Speaker 1: could have two full seasons of every day at bats,

561
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 1: he plays a four hundred and sixty two games, he

562
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 1: gave logs five hundred pleasant bats. He's still if he

563
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 1: got two hits in each of those two seasons, he'd

564
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 1: be over three hundred. Still, even at four for whatever,

565
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 1: he's still be it. I think that to me, that

566
00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 1: symbolizes his greatness more than any of those that I

567
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,719
Speaker 1: think you can pull out. Eight time batting champion. I

568
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 1: know he finished second once, he finished third once and

569
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,280
Speaker 1: only missed it by you know, two percentage points. I

570
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: mean that, you know, because as a kid, I would

571
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 1: always follow like because as a Potter fan, we didn't

572
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 1: get a chance to talk about wins, right all right.

573
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,240
Speaker 1: It wasn't about the season. The season was Tony Gwynn

574
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,400
Speaker 1: winning the batting championship like that all that's all that

575
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,600
Speaker 1: mattered to me because we were out of the we

576
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: were out of it in June, right out of win

577
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,160
Speaker 1: in June. So what else did I have to do?

578
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,480
Speaker 1: Only root for Tony Gwyn to win a batting time.

579
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 1: So I followed it very closely, and I would see

580
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: like guys like Mike Piazza sit to try to like

581
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,920
Speaker 1: and your dad would go out and keep hitting. You know,

582
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,000
Speaker 1: he keep hitting. He wouldn't sit. That didn't he got

583
00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,280
Speaker 1: it the right way, you know what I mean? That

584
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 1: was in an error where guys would if then if

585
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:54,920
Speaker 1: there was somebody like Randy Johnson on the mout he

586
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 1: fumped something. Guy comes up pretty tight that day in

587
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 1: the back snap film that was during that air were

588
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:03,160
Speaker 1: you know, they stuck the young guy in there to

589
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:07,840
Speaker 1: go face of Maddox or or Glavin or Johnson, whoever

590
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 1: it may be. That just wasn't my dad. He wanted

591
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 1: those challenges. And uh, the batting towels. You know it's

592
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,400
Speaker 1: interesting about the batting towels is it wasn't something they

593
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,320
Speaker 1: were up in the house all the time, so it

594
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 1: like it just wasn't a big deal. We always assumed

595
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 1: he was gonna be in, you know, the running for it,

596
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,880
Speaker 1: but when he came home one of them, it really

597
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,360
Speaker 1: wasn't something that he was like enamored with he was.

598
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 1: He talked much more about those gold gloves, and he

599
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 1: ever did about the batting titles. The following season, all

600
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 1: eyes again fixed on Gwen as he approached one of

601
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 1: the game's most story milestones. Pitch a ride right Tennefield,

602
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 1: You canna hid a star that baby A start for

603
00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 1: the acis for Toning three thou that's it's necessary thousand,

604
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 1: you know, And then this rush of guys coming over

605
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 1: to congratulate you. Somebody said, look who's behind you? And

606
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 1: I turn around and as my mom to me, this

607
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 1: is the way I was supposed to be done. Tony

608
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 1: Gwynn got hit number two thousand on August sixth, nineteen

609
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:23,840
Speaker 1: ninety three, and hit number three thousand on August sixth,

610
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine. Tony Gwynn's mom's birthday, August sixth, Happy

611
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 1: birthday Mom. Among the thirty eight pictures he faced fifty

612
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 1: plus time, So you know, those are the kind of

613
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,760
Speaker 1: pictures that obviously had great careers. They were great at

614
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:45,560
Speaker 1: what they did. You know, he amongst like forty four

615
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: of them, I'm sorry, thirty four of them, he had

616
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 1: like a three fifty bout whatever. It's ridiculous. But Dwight

617
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 1: Gooden had hit. Dwight Gooden was the one he only

618
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,600
Speaker 1: hit two forty three against. That was that was the

619
00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 1: guy who was the best against the Why Dwight Nolan

620
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 1: Because they both had an explosive fastball and a really

621
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:11,360
Speaker 1: good curveball, both of them, and they could run it

622
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:15,480
Speaker 1: up there, they could command both. And those are those

623
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,200
Speaker 1: two guys they gave. They gave my dad to be

624
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,719
Speaker 1: he would mention those two guys by name two when

625
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,239
Speaker 1: you asked him about in terms of guys that he

626
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,759
Speaker 1: thought were tough to face. Now there were guys that

627
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 1: he didn't have a lot of success up off of,

628
00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 1: but were in his mind tough to face. Those two

629
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,440
Speaker 1: came out of his mouth all the time, Dwight good

630
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:39,240
Speaker 1: and Nolan Ryan. Only five of the fifty twenty years

631
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:41,960
Speaker 1: that he played did he have more than thirty strikeouts

632
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,719
Speaker 1: in a season. Only five of the twenty did he

633
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 1: have more than thirty strikeouts in a season. That is crazy.

634
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,719
Speaker 1: You got half of the league punching out over one hundred, now,

635
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:57,359
Speaker 1: you know, and it's it's it's a sign of how

636
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,239
Speaker 1: the game has has changed a little bit, right that

637
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:05,279
Speaker 1: you know, guys who are making contact aren't for a

638
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,239
Speaker 1: little bit at least, it seems like it's starting to

639
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,239
Speaker 1: kind of change again where strikeouts are starting to be

640
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:13,320
Speaker 1: a problem again. There was there was a nice period

641
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 1: of time where nobody cared like you could strike out

642
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,359
Speaker 1: two hundred times. We just as long as you're hitting

643
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,879
Speaker 1: the ball at the ballpark, everybody was happy. But as

644
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:25,440
Speaker 1: the game is starting to make another change, that's starting

645
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,600
Speaker 1: to come back up. And what teams starting to realize

646
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:33,320
Speaker 1: is you're you have no there's zero value to a strikeout,

647
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,239
Speaker 1: like nothing happens at least if you put the ball

648
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 1: and play, there's a chance somebody makes an air, there's

649
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,080
Speaker 1: a chance it finds a hole. You just give yourself

650
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 1: a better chance. And that's the error in which my

651
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:49,960
Speaker 1: dad came up in where striking out was unacceptable, like

652
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,520
Speaker 1: for the organizations, And that was one thing that he

653
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:56,640
Speaker 1: took a lot of pride and he did not want

654
00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:59,279
Speaker 1: to go back to the dugout without putting the ball

655
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:01,799
Speaker 1: in play. That was his worst nightmare. That was his

656
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:05,640
Speaker 1: worst nightmare. He hated striking out, hated it. The other

657
00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 1: stat to me that's the most amazing is twenty years

658
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:12,960
Speaker 1: in San Diego, Tony Gwynn. I've no other teams were interested.

659
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 1: I know there were other opportunities. I know even you

660
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:18,640
Speaker 1: know there's a well documented story about a better you know,

661
00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:21,320
Speaker 1: essentially a better offer. But he said no, I'm staying

662
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:25,080
Speaker 1: in San Diego twenty all twenty years in San Diego.

663
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,600
Speaker 1: That to me is one of the coolest aspects of

664
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,080
Speaker 1: your dad's career. To me, yeah, I don't. I told

665
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,400
Speaker 1: the story. I've told him that. I've spoken about this

666
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:40,400
Speaker 1: a couple of different times, but I didn't understand the

667
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,320
Speaker 1: logic behind that at the time. I think his last

668
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 1: time that he came up as a free agent significant

669
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,839
Speaker 1: time was ninety eight or not after the ninety eight

670
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:55,160
Speaker 1: season or after ninety nine season. And I'm begging him,

671
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 1: I mean literally begging to leave, Like I'm telling him,

672
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 1: I'm I'm one year, I'm a senior in high school.

673
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be off in college. A Nisia is not

674
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,440
Speaker 1: too far behind. You need to win a championship and

675
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,160
Speaker 1: it ain't gonna happen here. You need to go. And

676
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:15,200
Speaker 1: Cleveland was the team that was pursuing him, and I

677
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:17,880
Speaker 1: was begging him go, and I actually thought I had

678
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:20,480
Speaker 1: him I moved him a little bit, actually thought, Okay,

679
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 1: he's actually thinking about this. Uh So I get home

680
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 1: from school and here the news that he resigned. I was.

681
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:31,319
Speaker 1: I was so upset, Like what sense does that make?

682
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,319
Speaker 1: And because at this point I recognize he recognized your

683
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,839
Speaker 1: your your body is, your knees are not gonna hold up.

684
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:39,960
Speaker 1: This is this gives you an opportunity to go be

685
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:42,920
Speaker 1: a dh you don't have to play the field. That

686
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:45,760
Speaker 1: at least gives you a little more time to play,

687
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:49,239
Speaker 1: you know. But I look back on it now and

688
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:53,000
Speaker 1: I recognized that wasn't something he was concerned with. He

689
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: wasn't concerned with like chase title chasing. At that point,

690
00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:00,239
Speaker 1: he he the thing that he was focused on was

691
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 1: being in one place the entire time. And as you know,

692
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:05,359
Speaker 1: it's still in donald me until we got to Hall

693
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,120
Speaker 1: of Fame and he had his speech, and that was

694
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:10,400
Speaker 1: one of the things he talked about it. I mean,

695
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:15,000
Speaker 1: him and cow both went in as lone team guys,

696
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 1: and there's a big significance to it. I didn't understand

697
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 1: it at the age of seventeen, but when we got

698
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:23,800
Speaker 1: sat when I'm sitting out in a hundred degree weather

699
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,560
Speaker 1: as he's given that speech in Cooperstown. I understood it

700
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:30,640
Speaker 1: at that moment, and it was like, Okay, that's if

701
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:32,520
Speaker 1: he goes to Cleveland, even if it's just for the

702
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 1: one year, he no longer has that title. He no

703
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,880
Speaker 1: longer gets to say I was with one team for

704
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 1: my entire career and it meant so much to him.

705
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:45,479
Speaker 1: I don't think I understood at the time how much

706
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:49,319
Speaker 1: that meant to him, as as a player and as

707
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 1: a person, because he loved this, He loved the city.

708
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,799
Speaker 1: He just he loved it here. He never thought that

709
00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:57,759
Speaker 1: it was a luck for him to get into the

710
00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:00,800
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. They called me future of favor, certain

711
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 1: hall of favor, you know, first time. I don't. I'd

712
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:05,879
Speaker 1: never take it for grant, you know. I mean, I'm

713
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,960
Speaker 1: flattered people mentioned money who I was a complimentary player.

714
00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:15,359
Speaker 1: I wasn't a game changer. It makes it makes me laugh.

715
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,920
Speaker 1: He geared himself up for great disappointment, and so on.

716
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:23,160
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame Election Day two thousand and seven. Despite

717
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:26,480
Speaker 1: those three thousand, one hundred and forty one hits, fifteen

718
00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 1: All Star appearances, and eight batting titles, Tony Gwen wasn't

719
00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 1: convinced he'd get the call from Cooperstown. They said the

720
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:37,360
Speaker 1: call is gonna come like at ten thirty or something,

721
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:40,799
Speaker 1: and Tony's sitting in a corner saying, they're not gonna call.

722
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:44,840
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be today. My agent is talking in

723
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:47,319
Speaker 1: the background. I can hear him. Oh, it's gonna rain.

724
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:49,719
Speaker 1: Don't you worry about it? Well, ten thirty one there

725
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:52,879
Speaker 1: had been no call yet, and Tony's see I told

726
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:56,840
Speaker 1: and then the phone rings and his first thing is,

727
00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:05,960
Speaker 1: we don't pick it up, like that's the call. Hello, Hello, Tony,

728
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,520
Speaker 1: this is Jack O'Connell with the Baseball Writers Association from

729
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:11,640
Speaker 1: New York City. How are you today? I'm good, don

730
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 1: call can tell you that the Baseball Writers and elected

731
00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:22,359
Speaker 1: use of the Hall of Fame. Congratulations. When they made

732
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:25,800
Speaker 1: the phone call, you could just see like the weight

733
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:29,880
Speaker 1: being lifted office. He exhaled and was like, wow, like

734
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 1: I've made it. He said, I never thought this would happen.

735
00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:36,200
Speaker 1: Can you believe this? Leash hard to believe, isn't it?

736
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:43,440
Speaker 1: And I said no, you were just that good. The

737
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,080
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame call, Yeah, tell me about that. Tell

738
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,440
Speaker 1: me about that day. You know what's funny about the

739
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 1: Hall of fame calls my dad for years, his last

740
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:55,560
Speaker 1: couple of years, we'd go to a city and the

741
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:58,360
Speaker 1: beat reporters would come in and they knew he was

742
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,160
Speaker 1: a guy they could get a good sound bite out

743
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,040
Speaker 1: of him. They did get a good story because he

744
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,920
Speaker 1: was a talker. So they come in and they start

745
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:10,279
Speaker 1: having conversation, and inevitably the Hall of Fame would come up,

746
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:13,360
Speaker 1: especially in his last year, and it's like the question

747
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,520
Speaker 1: would be something along the lines of Tony, you're a

748
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:19,120
Speaker 1: short thing hall of Famer, and then he would immediately

749
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:20,919
Speaker 1: stop the question and be like, you don't know that.

750
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,600
Speaker 1: And for a long time. As you know, my dad

751
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,480
Speaker 1: retired in two thousand and one, so I was nineteen,

752
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:31,799
Speaker 1: so when I before that point, this would be coming

753
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:33,880
Speaker 1: up to three years before he retired. So when I

754
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,319
Speaker 1: was in there as an eighteen year old, sixteen year old,

755
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:38,840
Speaker 1: seventeen year old, in my mind, I'd be thinking to

756
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,359
Speaker 1: myself as he would respond that way, like come on, man,

757
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:44,160
Speaker 1: like you really don't believe you're going to be a

758
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:45,839
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer when it's all said now, I mean,

759
00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 1: even me at sixteen seventeen recognizes these numbers are indisputable,

760
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,600
Speaker 1: Like what do you mean you're not going to be

761
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:55,560
Speaker 1: In my mind, I never said it to him bothally,

762
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:59,120
Speaker 1: But it wasn't until that call that I realized how

763
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:01,759
Speaker 1: serious he was that there was a chance he might

764
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:04,160
Speaker 1: not get into the fame. Because when you saw the

765
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:08,480
Speaker 1: emotion pour out and him like immediately start crying, that

766
00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,200
Speaker 1: immediately let me know that he was He was dead

767
00:42:11,239 --> 00:42:13,520
Speaker 1: serious when he was telling reporters, you don't know that,

768
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:15,440
Speaker 1: you don't know I'm gonna be a Hall of Famer,

769
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:18,399
Speaker 1: almost as if they're jinxing it, like, don't don't bring

770
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:21,440
Speaker 1: that up until I get the call. I'm not a

771
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:24,040
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer, so we can't go down that road.

772
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:28,160
Speaker 1: But when you saw that emotion, you realize, Wow, he

773
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:31,319
Speaker 1: really believed he might not get in like that was

774
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:33,960
Speaker 1: that was real to him, And you know, I think

775
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:36,000
Speaker 1: that made it all the more special for him because

776
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:38,560
Speaker 1: in his mind, as good as he was to all

777
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:41,440
Speaker 1: of us, there was some doubt in his mind that

778
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,439
Speaker 1: he was as good as we thought he was, which

779
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,840
Speaker 1: is crazy to me, but that's that's who my dad was.

780
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 1: In two thousand and seven, his first eligible year for

781
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,719
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, Tony Gwynn received five hundred and

782
00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:57,800
Speaker 1: thirty two votes, which was ninety seven point six percent

783
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:01,040
Speaker 1: of the people who voted. They player to receive more

784
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 1: votes cal Ripken, who got five hundred and thirty seven votes,

785
00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:07,719
Speaker 1: five more than Gwynn, and they went into the Hall

786
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:11,480
Speaker 1: of Fame together. Before we wrap this up here he

787
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:17,400
Speaker 1: is Tony Gwynn saying goodbye to San Diego and professional baseball. Now.

788
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:19,560
Speaker 1: I just want all you fans out there to know

789
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:24,359
Speaker 1: coming for me, no script, no nothing, This is from

790
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,919
Speaker 1: the heart. It has been absolutely wonderful playing Major League

791
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,960
Speaker 1: Baseball for the last twenty years, having the opportunity to

792
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:34,279
Speaker 1: mingle and talk to you fans. I know I've enjoyed it.

793
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,360
Speaker 1: I hope you have too, and so with that I

794
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:46,319
Speaker 1: say goodbye and thank you. I was always curious what's

795
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,000
Speaker 1: his relationship like with the game of golf. He loved it.

796
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 1: I think it was a love hate because when his

797
00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:56,839
Speaker 1: golf swing was good, his baseball swing was horrible. When

798
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,800
Speaker 1: his when his baseball swing was good, his golf swing

799
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 1: was horrible. So uh he was he had some superstitions

800
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:08,000
Speaker 1: when it came to his his swing. So golf, he

801
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:11,920
Speaker 1: didn't do a lot of it during the season He

802
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:14,799
Speaker 1: did most of it during the off season, where you

803
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,360
Speaker 1: know he could afford to have a good golf swing.

804
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:20,920
Speaker 1: But he loved he loved the game of golf. He

805
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,799
Speaker 1: really did. He played, he played. Did you guys play

806
00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:26,400
Speaker 1: together a lot or we didn't? I wasn't. I didn't

807
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:29,160
Speaker 1: start getting into golf until about two or three years ago,

808
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:32,400
Speaker 1: you know, And they say it took that long, that

809
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:34,439
Speaker 1: two or three years Beard, I'm talking about it took

810
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:36,200
Speaker 1: that long for me to hit one of those shots

811
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,520
Speaker 1: where you're like, oh, there, it is right there, you

812
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:41,960
Speaker 1: want to go back. I didn't have that feeling for

813
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:44,360
Speaker 1: the first two three years I played, And so it'd

814
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:46,680
Speaker 1: be like one time a year I'd go out, I'd suck,

815
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:49,360
Speaker 1: and I ever wouldn't want to go back. And then finally,

816
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:53,200
Speaker 1: about two years ago, I finally I hit a couple

817
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:55,080
Speaker 1: of balls. Dad. I was playing with Mark Sweeney. We

818
00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 1: were in I want to say, we were in Pittsburgh,

819
00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 1: we were in Cleveland, and I hit a good shot

820
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:04,600
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, that's what that feels like. Okay,

821
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:06,799
Speaker 1: this is I want to do that more often. So

822
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:09,440
Speaker 1: since then I play a little more frequently. Are you

823
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:13,000
Speaker 1: lefty golfer? I am. This is the fire Pit Podcast,

824
00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:15,440
Speaker 1: So we ask everybody who appears on a day, you know,

825
00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:18,160
Speaker 1: what's your favorite fire pit? And why do you have

826
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 1: a place that you sit around a fire pit or

827
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 1: do you have a place that you know sort of

828
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:26,600
Speaker 1: represents a fire pit where you tell good stories? Here

829
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:29,880
Speaker 1: good stories? We have one. We have one. We have

830
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:32,920
Speaker 1: one here at the house. Uh. It's it's kind of

831
00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:38,080
Speaker 1: too long couches surrounding a kind of a fire pit,

832
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,759
Speaker 1: and uh, we just sit out there and have a

833
00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:43,560
Speaker 1: good time as a family. And that's what it makes

834
00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:46,000
Speaker 1: me think of his family time. You know, it's going

835
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:49,240
Speaker 1: to hang out at four kids, three girls, a boy,

836
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:52,440
Speaker 1: and uh, we get to we get to hang around

837
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:56,680
Speaker 1: that and laugh and do family things. And that's one

838
00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:59,440
Speaker 1: of my spots that I enjoy the most. Did your

839
00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:02,600
Speaker 1: dad have a fire pit? He did? It was it

840
00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:05,279
Speaker 1: was basically his own fire pit because he had his

841
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 1: lazy boys set up with the fire pit off to

842
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,799
Speaker 1: the right side. So I mean, you could sit next

843
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:13,319
Speaker 1: to fire, but you'd be pretty pitched between him and

844
00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:17,400
Speaker 1: his and his lazy boy. But it was it was

845
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 1: that part always reminded me of Christmas because that was

846
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 1: the only time it really came on was during the wintertime.

847
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 1: He'd sit by there, he'd had his legs up watching

848
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:29,239
Speaker 1: Sports Center and fireplace going uh and a lot of

849
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:34,240
Speaker 1: times that's where most of the family talks are. Banter

850
00:46:34,600 --> 00:47:00,520
Speaker 1: took place another log on the fire. Nobody hears get Time.