Growing up in an American League city on the East Coast, the National League, at times, seemed like a foreign country. Oh sure, you?d see a NL team in the World Series, and the league?s best players at the All-StarGame, but you likely never made it to a NL game in person until you got a driver?s license, and even then, it wasn?t a high priority. You were an AL fan, and that was that.
The geography of baseball, prior to ESPN and other new technologies, meant the NL stars on West Coast teams ? Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego ? were basically just names in a box score or faces on a baseball card. Even after the proliferation of cable, the Pacific Time Zone meant start times of 10 p.m. or later, and a relatively insignificant East Coast audience.
This explains why most of us missed the best of Tony Gwynn.
Gwynn will join Cal Ripken Jr. in Cooperstown, N.Y., this July when both men are inducted into the Hall of Fame. With eight NL batting titles, 3,000 hits and 15 All-Star appearances, Gwynn was as deserving of a unanimous selection as anyone, but, alas, didn?t get it. It hardly matters to Tony.
“I didn?t really care what percentage of the vote I got,” he said last weekend.
In town for an appearance at the “Baseball?s Best” autograph show at the Baltimore Convention Center, Gwynn appeared with Ripken at a press conference on Friday.
“The whole thing has been a real life-changing experience,” Gwynn said.
For many fans, their lasting image of Gwynn is beside Ted Williams at the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park. That?s just fine with Tony.
“I remember that moment as if it was yesterday,” he said. “I was on the mound with Ted, who was in a wheelchair, and he was throwing out the first pitch to Carlton Fisk at home plate. He said he couldn?t see exactly where Fisk was and I told him, ?Ted, just throw it up there, Carlton will find it.? He did and it was one of those magic moments I?ll never forget, especially since it was my last All-Star game.”
Gwynn added that, ironically, he didn?t play in the game due to injury, but keeps pictures of the ceremony with Williams on the wall of his office at San Diego State, where he?s the baseball coach.
The juxtaposition with Williams is particularly apt. Though born in Los Angeles, Gwynn?s baseball career from college forward was spent entirely in San Diego, Ted?s hometown. Both men spent their entire big league careers with a single team, and both men hit under .300 just once. It?s safe to say that Gwynn was the greatest pure hitter we saw in the game since Williams? retirement in 1960.
The aforementioned geography of baseball pretty much guarantees that Oriole fans will overwhelmingly outnumber Padre fans at the induction ceremonies this summer. Here?s hoping that Gwynn?s reception is no less warm or boisterous than Ripken?s. Both men?s status as genuine icons of the game is beyond any debate.
Phil Wood has covered baseball in the Washington/Baltimore market for more than 30 years. You can reach him at [email protected].
