Tomorrow?s inductees have just one request when it comes to their Hall of Fame plaques ? get the hair right.
“I?d like someone to give me some hair,” Cal Ripken Jr. said, drawing laughs from a news conference at the Cooperstown Central School. “The passion, the joy, the love, the smile on your face when you?re on the baseball field ? that?s how I want people to remember me.”
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Tony Gwynn, meanwhile, wanted his image to reveal a more modern version, not the one with the big hair from his early seasons in San Diego.
“However it looks, come Sunday morning, it’s going to be awesome,” Gwynn said.
Both players spent their entire careers in one city, so there is no concern about what hats they would be wearing on their respective plaques. The plaques will be revealed at Sunday?s induction ceremony. They will be installed in the Hall of Fame?s plaque gallery shortly after the induction ceremony.
GWYNN ON THE LINKS: Tony Gwynn made his debut on Leatherstocking Golf Course for the Hall of Famers? tournament Friday and Saturday. After a rough start, things got better for the former Padres? right fielder.
“It hit my ball on [Cal?s] fairway on No. 1,” said Gwynn, who?s group started out at two over par. “We finished two-under. We had the time of our lives.”
It may not have been the greatest round of Gwynn?s life, but he accomplished about everything he wanted to on the course that runs alongside Lake Otsego.
“I?m a baseball player, not a golfer,” Gwynn said with a laugh. “I came here saying I?m going to dig up some fairways, hopefully. I hit some in the trees, some in the water, but all in all, I had a blast.”
Ripken played with his brother Bill and his son, Ryan. Gwynn played with his brothers, and was expecting his son, Tony Jr. ? a Milwaukee Brewers outfielder ? to arrive Saturday night.
CAL ON ERNIE TYLER: Ripken was shocked to learn that Orioles umpire attendant Ernie Tyler would be ending his streak of 3,769 consecutive home games to attend the Hall of Fame inductions.
“I assumed he wasn?t coming,” Ripken said. “The Tyler family is a great family entrenched in Oriole history like no other family. There?s a little bit of sadness that comes over me that he?s choosing to come.”
Tyler, 83, was planning to miss the Orioles? Saturday and Sunday games against the Yankees, taking a limo from the Baltimore area with his son, Phil.
“I?d love to sit down and have a conversation with him,” Ripken said. “I?m very honored.”
THE OFFICIAL NUMBERS: A Hall of Fame official said Saturday crowds are expected between 60,000 and 70,000 fans, which would break the mark of 50,000 set in 1999 ? when George Brett, Nolan Ryan and Ryne Sandberg were among the inductees.
Among the 61 living Hall of Famers ? not counting this year?s inductees ? 53 will be in attendance for Sunday?s induction. Of that group are nine former Orioles: Luis Aparicio, Reggie Jackson, George Kell, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer, Robin Roberts, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson and Earl Weaver.
