Speaker 1: And I'm gonna predict right this show, well, how many
Speaker 1: homers you hit last year? Hit twelve, which is a
Speaker 1: lot for me. All right, I'm gonna predict you're gonna
Speaker 1: start hitting more home round Thank you very much. I
Speaker 1: certainly don't change what you're doing. I'm not take more
Speaker 1: more advantage of the count, exact, more advantage of the
Speaker 1: type picture you're hitting against. Crowd the plate once in
Speaker 1: a while, because you know, you can pull the ball
Speaker 1: better and you can hit the ball hard when it's
Speaker 1: over the plate through the middle. But if if to
Speaker 1: ninth thinning, two men out, and you're up there and
Speaker 1: you got the count two and nothing, you know, say, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take pickings on this pitch because I could
Speaker 1: get a double or even a home round. Right to
Speaker 1: that situation. Now you were head two and oh the count,
Speaker 1: you got a good pitch to hit, you found it off.
Speaker 1: Would you get into yourself you had into your I
Speaker 1: mean you didn't give the outward appearance that you were
Speaker 1: upset that you missed. How would you be thinking on that.
Speaker 1: I'm just if I found it back, I know I
Speaker 1: missed it, but I'm not gonna give the picture. But
Speaker 1: that right, But you didn't say how you missed it?
Speaker 1: How did I miss it? Well, you're right on if
Speaker 1: you were underneath were you're earlier? Late? Okay, I guess.
Speaker 1: I mean if you're underneath the pitch, what are you
Speaker 1: generally earlier lately? If you're underneath the pitch, we'll see
Speaker 1: that's different with me. I say late. I say late too.
Speaker 1: I get the ball the other way. Now, you hit
Speaker 1: three ninety four last year, your lifetime batting averages three
Speaker 1: thirty three. You've won five batting titles. And when Ted
Speaker 1: Williams said, now do you swing all the way through
Speaker 1: in this situation or do you push it the ball,
Speaker 1: you had the look of a schoolboy hoping he would
Speaker 1: have the right answer or the teacher would slap his
Speaker 1: hand with a ruler. No questions, no question about it,
Speaker 1: you know. And it's funny because you know, lots of
Speaker 1: people look towards Ed Williams as their teacher, whether even
Speaker 1: if they were fortunate enough to work under him, or
Speaker 1: do like I did, reading books and stuff. And I'm
Speaker 1: anybody else asked me that question, there's no doubt I'd say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll try to stay behind the ball and block the
Speaker 1: ball off, but with Ted sitting there, I had to
Speaker 1: think about her. I was a bit nervous, But you know,
Speaker 1: I only wish that other hitters had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: sit down and talk to them about their own personal situations, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can learn so much just from talking to people.
Speaker 1: Another log on the fire nobody hears given time. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the fire Pit with Matt Chanella. In episode one
Speaker 1: of this fire Pit podcast series on Tony Gwynn, my
Speaker 1: childhood idol and sports hero, I had helped from Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball's Tribute to Mister Padre, and I interviewed a
Speaker 1: panel of Hall of famers who were kind enough to
Speaker 1: share their reflections on how and why gwyn was so
Speaker 1: great thanks to Greg Maddox, John Smoltz, Trevor Hoffman, Ryan Sandberg,
Speaker 1: and Ken Griffy Jr. Here's Smoltz from episode one. I
Speaker 1: say Tony gwen and you say, greatest hitter I've ever
Speaker 1: been around, Probably the greatest hitter in my lifetime from
Speaker 1: the fast standpoint of I mean, there was a gift,
Speaker 1: but he perfected it. And you know, we'll ever see
Speaker 1: another hitter like that till baseball changes philosophically in that
Speaker 1: first episode. I also explained that after I moved my
Speaker 1: family to San Diego in the fall of twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: my wife and I were out to dinner with some friends,
Speaker 1: the Spooners, which is when Tim Spooner told me he
Speaker 1: played little League with Tony Gwyn Jr. I had no idea.
Speaker 1: Tim asked, wait, you haven't heard my Tony Gwin story.
Speaker 1: I had not. Here's Tim Spooner's Tony Gwinn story, as
Speaker 1: told by Tim while he's watching his son played little league.
Speaker 1: So I moved to Powway in nineteen ninety two June
Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety two, So I just missed the Little
Speaker 1: League season for that year, right, So I start a
Speaker 1: new school, start sixth grade in ninety two, and then
Speaker 1: the following spring is the little league season. And I'm
Speaker 1: a twelve year old. I don't really know anybody. I
Speaker 1: just know the kids that I know at school, and
Speaker 1: you know, we can show up to first practice and
Speaker 1: Tony Gwyn juniors on my team and never I knew
Speaker 1: they lived in Poway at the time. As you know,
Speaker 1: he's this is so Tony's this is in ninety three.
Speaker 1: So spring ninety three, Tony's probably the early thirties. He's
Speaker 1: been in the big leagues for you know, nine ten years.
Speaker 1: He's a superstar. He's a legit superstar. And Tony juniors
Speaker 1: on my little league team. He was a he was
Speaker 1: a ten year old. He was a young ten year
Speaker 1: old and I was twelve, and so I got the
Speaker 1: whole spring with him and we play and Tony's super quiet.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's young, he's tiny. Tony will tell you
Speaker 1: this day. I mean until his junior in high school,
Speaker 1: Tony he bunted like every other at bat. That's like
Speaker 1: that's what he did, right, And little league was the
Speaker 1: same way, Like he was just a little slap hitter,
Speaker 1: would bunt super super fast and as you would. I mean,
Speaker 1: Tony's in the middle of his major league season, right,
Speaker 1: so he's not really at any games. He's not really
Speaker 1: at any practice. His Tony's mom doesn't pick up, does
Speaker 1: the drop pop everything. The only time you would see
Speaker 1: Tony is if we had like a Saturday morning game
Speaker 1: for Little league and the Padre's word town, so you'd
Speaker 1: see him, I think maybe three or four times that year,
Speaker 1: and in typical Tony fashion, he'd show up, never would
Speaker 1: sit by the dugout. Never would be in the stands.
Speaker 1: He'd like go out in the outfield. I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1: It's like a little four foot high fence around the outfield, right,
Speaker 1: and Tony's out there in his blue jeans and the
Speaker 1: tucked in T shirt. You know, he's just got his
Speaker 1: got his arms up on the fence, just watching the game, right,
Speaker 1: and we all know, you know, a couple innings then
Speaker 1: you see him out there, but it's not you know,
Speaker 1: you're twelve, like it's Tony Gwen. You kind of take
Speaker 1: for granted. You don't realize it's a legit superstar watching
Speaker 1: the game. Right. So I end up hitting the home
Speaker 1: run in that game to left center where he's kind
Speaker 1: of standing, and I don't think any of it. It's
Speaker 1: a little league home run. It is what it is, right,
Speaker 1: And after the game, Tony Gwen Senior comes up to
Speaker 1: me and he goes, hey, nice hit kid, and hands
Speaker 1: me the ball that he had got that I had
Speaker 1: hit over the fence and had signed it. And that
Speaker 1: was like then it like hit. So then like super
Speaker 1: fandom hits in for me. Right. So now I'm, you know,
Speaker 1: twelve years old, I'm playing with junior in Little League
Speaker 1: and seniors at a game that I hit a home
Speaker 1: run at. It's like looking back at it now, like
Speaker 1: I wish I could have, you know, the frame of
Speaker 1: mind that I'm in now that I did when I
Speaker 1: was twelve, just to truly appreciate that, because it was
Speaker 1: just it's mind boggling. I think about, do you still
Speaker 1: have the ball? By the way, I don't have the ball.
Speaker 1: I don't know where it's at. I'd say probably in
Speaker 1: my parents' garage somewhere would be my guests SignAll I
Speaker 1: have Little League I have I have. I have a
Speaker 1: Tony gwyn signed ball, a couple of them, but it's
Speaker 1: not the lit league ball. It's like on Major league balls.
Speaker 1: I wish it's somewhere. It's some little it's probably you know,
Speaker 1: got scrapes on it and mud and dirt and everything
Speaker 1: like that, but it's somewhere. I'll find it eventually, I
Speaker 1: know I will. I hope this story and Tim Spooner's
Speaker 1: connection to Tony gwyn Junr. Is what inspired me to
Speaker 1: try and put together this tribute series on Tony Gwynn Senior.
Speaker 1: But in my mind it all depended on Tim Spooner
Speaker 1: connecting me with Tony Gwyn Junior. Spooney came through. How
Speaker 1: are you buddy? Wow? But so Matt Janella here, Nice
Speaker 1: to meet you man. Nice to meet you as well. Man.
Speaker 1: What a pleasure, what an honor? I mean, regardless of
Speaker 1: what Tim Spooner says about you, I uh, obviously he
Speaker 1: followed a little bit of you know, I followed your career,
Speaker 1: certainly followed your father's. He's my number one. Guy's my
Speaker 1: number one, you know, I'm he was. I grew up
Speaker 1: northern California and Joe Montana was really cool. But Tony
Speaker 1: Gwyn for he was my guy. That was appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Thank you. What was it like growing up Tony Gwen Junior?
Speaker 1: Try to try to tell me as a kid what
Speaker 1: that felt like. Well, for me personally in the Gwen household,
Speaker 1: it was no different than you growing up in your household,
Speaker 1: or anybody else for that matter, who had a two
Speaker 1: parent family. I mean, my mom and dad were always
Speaker 1: around for me. It was normal. When my dad returned
Speaker 1: from the stadium, you know, after his that night of work,
Speaker 1: if you didn't see him watching video in terms of
Speaker 1: you know, looking at his at bats from that night,
Speaker 1: he really wouldn't know the difference, Like he was just
Speaker 1: dad from the time he got home and to the
Speaker 1: time he left again to go to the stadium, and
Speaker 1: earlier on. When I was younger, it just was the
Speaker 1: norm for me. It wasn't anything different Now as I
Speaker 1: got older and I got more in the middle school
Speaker 1: and you know, your friends are telling you about what
Speaker 1: your dad did the night before, it starts to dine
Speaker 1: on you that maybe everybody's dad doesn't play on TV
Speaker 1: and is playing baseball, and and then you know, you
Speaker 1: start to kind of piece things together. But it wasn't
Speaker 1: something that you know, we talked about much at the house.
Speaker 1: When did you get the sense like he's not just
Speaker 1: he's something special. Yeah, I think it was about fifth grade.
Speaker 1: I was going to a private school, Francis Parker, and
Speaker 1: I remember my dad had he had a really good
Speaker 1: weekend where I mean he maybe had eight hits in
Speaker 1: a series or something ridiculous that you know, he was
Speaker 1: you know, known to do from time to time and
Speaker 1: come in and everybody is just going after it, and
Speaker 1: you know what. To be honest, it probably was nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six because that was the first time they got
Speaker 1: back to the playoffs since eighty four, and so you know,
Speaker 1: when they were there at eighty four, I was two
Speaker 1: years old. I couldn't absorb that at that point. But
Speaker 1: in ninety six when they go at this point, I'm fourteen,
Speaker 1: and people are just really excited, you know. And at
Speaker 1: that point, I think my dad is starting to He's
Speaker 1: a household name in San Diego, but he's starting to
Speaker 1: become a national kind of name. At that point. I
Speaker 1: think at that point you start to understand, Okay, this
Speaker 1: isn't normal, This isn't what my dad's doing is not
Speaker 1: something that happens often to people. What kind of father
Speaker 1: was he as a young athlete and trying to shepherd
Speaker 1: you into you know, being great yourself, you know as
Speaker 1: interest as a good question, man. I think for my dad,
Speaker 1: I think he recognized early before I was able to
Speaker 1: start even really playing boards that because we shared the
Speaker 1: same name, especially when it came to the game of baseball,
Speaker 1: that there was already gonna be unrealistic expectations for me.
Speaker 1: A because my dad was a big leaguer. Now, as
Speaker 1: his career went on and he got he started to
Speaker 1: ascend more and more. I'm sure that weighed heavily on him,
Speaker 1: because when it came to the game of baseball, my
Speaker 1: dad was completely hands off. I mean, he encouraged me,
Speaker 1: asked me if he wanted we're going to go play catch,
Speaker 1: but he really didn't give much instruction. I mean, he
Speaker 1: probably gave way more instruction on how to throw a
Speaker 1: baseball correctly than he ever did about hitting or anything
Speaker 1: like that. And for the most part, when it came
Speaker 1: to me playing baseball, he was completely hands off it.
Speaker 1: He was a stickler for when I was working on
Speaker 1: the game of baseball that I was actually putting forth
Speaker 1: the right effort and I was doing the right things.
Speaker 1: But in terms of after the game wanting to tell
Speaker 1: me what I did wrong, he stayed completely away from
Speaker 1: that until after my junior year of high school, in
Speaker 1: which I had to approach him and ask him the questions.
Speaker 1: And after he knew I was serious about it and
Speaker 1: wanted to play, he was like an open book. Anthony
Speaker 1: Keith Gwinn Junior was born in nineteen eighty two, the
Speaker 1: same year his father was called up to the big leagues.
Speaker 1: Junior attended Poway High School, and at the age of eighteen,
Speaker 1: he was drafted by the Braves in the thirty third round.
Speaker 1: He passed ongoing pro so young and instead attended San
Speaker 1: Diego State, his father's alma mater. As for his on
Speaker 1: field education, you could say he already had earned his
Speaker 1: master's degree. After years of shadowing his dad, hanging out
Speaker 1: at the ballpark, working as a bad boy, watching, listening,
Speaker 1: and learning, he was wise beyond his baseball years. I
Speaker 1: had to learn some tough lessons in that time frame,
Speaker 1: Like when you start going into a major league locker room,
Speaker 1: it's a different environment. You're for a nine year old, Um,
Speaker 1: I mean you're in the locker room with men, and
Speaker 1: this is a job for them. This isn't a game.
Speaker 1: So I had to learn some lessons about popping off
Speaker 1: and saying things to other tea other of his teammates
Speaker 1: that maybe I shouldn't be saying. But again it was
Speaker 1: a learning experience from me, because again at the house,
Speaker 1: all I saw was my dad. He'd go out, he
Speaker 1: hit three hundred every year. I thought that that was
Speaker 1: the norm, like everybody hit three hundred, Like if you know,
Speaker 1: like if you didn't hit three hundred, you were a
Speaker 1: terrible baseball player. That was my idea first, because that's
Speaker 1: That was the example I had at home, but going
Speaker 1: to the stadium opened me up to the fact that
Speaker 1: that's not how major League baseball works. If you're hitting
Speaker 1: at three hundred, you're you're an elite hitter. And I'll
Speaker 1: tell the quick story. I remember giving Brad Osmin's it's
Speaker 1: like first or second year in a Padre uniform. I'm
Speaker 1: giving him a hard time. I'm giving Scott Livingston, who
Speaker 1: was one of the players on the roster at the time,
Speaker 1: about their averages, and I'm not thinking anything of it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, this is the old hat. Everybody knows.
Speaker 1: You're not hitting three hundred, you're not any good. And
Speaker 1: they basically tied me up in an athletic tape. This
Speaker 1: is a before a seven o'clock game, so everybody starts
Speaker 1: to filter out of the locker room at about six
Speaker 1: thirty start getting ready for the game. They throw me
Speaker 1: in his dirty clothes ben tied up. I'm about nine
Speaker 1: years old. They throw me in this ben and nobody's
Speaker 1: in there to take me out. So I'm just in
Speaker 1: there crying for at least a thirty five minutes until
Speaker 1: Tony Patrica, one of the clubhouse guys comes in and
Speaker 1: gets me out rap. So my dad finds out about it,
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, damn, I'm never gonna be allowed. He's
Speaker 1: never gonna let me come back. And the only thing
Speaker 1: he said to me on the way home was you
Speaker 1: learn your lesson. And I just remember knowing exactly what
Speaker 1: he was talking about, and I was like, yeah, He's like,
Speaker 1: this is this is a job for for guys, and
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's livelihood, and people take it seriously.
Speaker 1: So when you're in there talk popping off, guys are
Speaker 1: gonna feel away. So you just you gotta understand that
Speaker 1: this is real for them. And at that point I
Speaker 1: had a different respect for those guys who walk into
Speaker 1: that clubhouse every day. Junior's ongoing baseball education eventually went
Speaker 1: beyond just the home games when my dad was comfortable
Speaker 1: enough with me in terms of he didn't have to
Speaker 1: watch over me all the time, like he knew I
Speaker 1: could go on the outfield and protect myself and I
Speaker 1: get hit by a baseball or things like that. We
Speaker 1: would go on road trips, but just me and him,
Speaker 1: So if they had a three city road trip, it
Speaker 1: would just be me and him and That's where I
Speaker 1: really started to um, really love the game of baseball,
Speaker 1: like being around it every day, watching Trevor do his
Speaker 1: work before games, watching my dad do his thing, watching
Speaker 1: how guys really grab tat it towards my dad when
Speaker 1: it came to the batting cage and hit it like
Speaker 1: they guys wanted to hear what he had to say.
Speaker 1: And that's when I started the light kind of went
Speaker 1: on for me. I didn't know if I necessarily wanted
Speaker 1: to do it for a living at that point, but
Speaker 1: I was like, this is pretty cool. Like I get
Speaker 1: to be around some pretty cool characters. Ricky Henderson, I
Speaker 1: mean some of the like all time greats. I got
Speaker 1: the chance to be around and pick their brain. I
Speaker 1: asked Tony how he dealt with the assumed pressures of
Speaker 1: being the son of a legend. If I'm being honest, man,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I ever felt it. I think
Speaker 1: it's all in how you look at it. I also
Speaker 1: was aware that, you know, I wasn't the only son
Speaker 1: of a ball player, and I watched guys who were
Speaker 1: older than me, who were sons of ball players really
Speaker 1: go the route that you're talking where they're trying to
Speaker 1: step out of the shadow and find and for me,
Speaker 1: I recognized early that, wow, my dad's pretty good. Like
Speaker 1: surpassing him is going to be a feat, right. I know,
Speaker 1: if I just shoot for that, if I come up short,
Speaker 1: I'll still I still be able to feel pretty good
Speaker 1: about what I did. And I understood that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that I wasn't shooting for that or wasn't trying to
Speaker 1: do that, because I was, but I understood that he
Speaker 1: had set a bar high enough to where if that
Speaker 1: was my aiming point and I came up short, I
Speaker 1: would be okay. So I kind of embraced it. I did.
Speaker 1: I embraced the fact that my dad was Tony Gwen
Speaker 1: and that he was, however many time All Star at
Speaker 1: the time, and all I knew is that I wanted
Speaker 1: to do something that something around what he did, whether
Speaker 1: it was basketball, whether it was baseball. I love doing it.
Speaker 1: I got a lot of joy doing it, and that
Speaker 1: was going to drive me further. It wasn't because baseball,
Speaker 1: especially as a sport where you fail so much, if
Speaker 1: you don't have an appreciation and a love for it yourself,
Speaker 1: your parents love for it, isn't gonna get you very far.
Speaker 1: You get about to the high school level, and if
Speaker 1: you don't have a love for the game of your own,
Speaker 1: you're gonna burn out. There's just there's too much failure
Speaker 1: in it for you not to approach it that way.
Speaker 1: How critical was your mom to all of that and
Speaker 1: then keeping you know, keeping you and raising a family
Speaker 1: with your father on the road and all that. I
Speaker 1: think I think most wives that have a significant other
Speaker 1: that play a sport like baseball recognize that they're the
Speaker 1: ones that are really making the most sacrifices, right because
Speaker 1: especially if you have a family, um, six months really
Speaker 1: seven months eight months out of the year you're gone.
Speaker 1: You know, you're in spring training from February to the
Speaker 1: to April, you're in season from April to October if
Speaker 1: you're lucky, and ultimately, if you don't have a partner
Speaker 1: that is willing to shoulder a lot of the load
Speaker 1: in order for you to focus on being the best
Speaker 1: you can be at the sports you're playing. In this
Speaker 1: case baseball, Um, it's gonna be tough, especially with the family.
Speaker 1: And my mom really was that person. She was she
Speaker 1: she was mom and dad when the season was in.
Speaker 1: She was also the video guy, video girl I should say, uh.
Speaker 1: And at that time, you know, we envisioned now when
Speaker 1: you hear a video room, like you know, library of videos,
Speaker 1: four or five screens. I mean this is in the eighties.
Speaker 1: So you get like a Beta max tape and at
Speaker 1: an actual record button on the on the bed, on
Speaker 1: the VHR, VHS or whatever it is you're using, and
Speaker 1: my dad come home and you get the fast forward
Speaker 1: through it. Now, as time went on, more technology came out,
Speaker 1: you get the video eight tapes were a little smaller,
Speaker 1: and my dad's taking now game tapes, changing him to
Speaker 1: at bat tapes. He's taken at bat tapes, breaking it
Speaker 1: down to just hit tape. So he was doing all
Speaker 1: of that by him himself. Like his library was basically
Speaker 1: his bedroom shelf, and you know, he had a boatload
Speaker 1: of tapes and it was something that immediately he had
Speaker 1: success with, like he realized, wow, I can see what
Speaker 1: I'm doing, and this is gonna give me a better understanding.
Speaker 1: And from there he became like the mad Scientists when
Speaker 1: it came to the film room. I mean, his fingerprints
Speaker 1: is all over major League Baseball now because after he
Speaker 1: started it, now every team is would think that without
Speaker 1: a video room there there behind the eight ball. I'd
Speaker 1: say the first ten years it was about him. He
Speaker 1: was looking at himself, trying to figure out what he
Speaker 1: was doing wrong. I say the last ten years, we're
Speaker 1: probably more about what the picture we're trying to do them.
Speaker 1: Occasionally he'd be in a rut and he need to
Speaker 1: look at some things on himself, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: I think he started looking at what pictures were trying
Speaker 1: to do them. Tony gwyn Senior married his childhood friend
Speaker 1: and eventually his high school sweetheart, Alicia rightfully, so she
Speaker 1: gets a lot of the credit for her husband's Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame career. Here's Tom Verducci again, who his covered
Speaker 1: baseball as a writer and broadcaster for over forty years.
Speaker 1: It was not easy. I mean you really have to
Speaker 1: think back how hard it was back then. Because his
Speaker 1: wife was kind of his IT department, and they had
Speaker 1: the whole Betamax system. That thing was as big as
Speaker 1: a suitcase. Okay, this wasn't convenient. They traveled around with
Speaker 1: this thing, so extra check baggage when it came to
Speaker 1: Tony Gwinn's video department. And that was his wife, and yes,
Speaker 1: she would videotape all of his at bats, and he
Speaker 1: would look at him after the game that used him
Speaker 1: on the road, and that's why they traveled around with it.
Speaker 1: I know sometimes he would put like a grease marker,
Speaker 1: a grease pen on the television to make sure his
Speaker 1: head stayed in the same spot when he took his
Speaker 1: swing looking at the videotape. So he was someone who
Speaker 1: was ahead of his time. I mean, there's guys today
Speaker 1: they can't take a batting practice session without looking that video.
Speaker 1: Tony kind of was the first this generation of visual learners.
Speaker 1: Here's Ryan Sandberg, the Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame second
Speaker 1: baseman who played on nine All Star teams with Tony Gwynn.
Speaker 1: Tony Gwynn was one of the first guys, if not
Speaker 1: the first, that had video tape of his at bats.
Speaker 1: He had a computer. He started using some video and
Speaker 1: the word would get around, wait, what's he doing. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but he's on the flight, he's looking at the picture
Speaker 1: and seeing what they've got and looking at his last
Speaker 1: at bats and things like that, and he was you know,
Speaker 1: everybody does it today, no doubt about it. But he
Speaker 1: was the first that I had heard that was doing that.
Speaker 1: Here's another clip from Major League Baseball's Tribute to Tony Gwynn.
Speaker 1: It starts with Jack McKeon, the general manager of the
Speaker 1: Padres when they drafted Tony Gwenn in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 1: You hear Tony Gwynn breaking down his swing. Alicia Gwynn
Speaker 1: on how and why the Dynamic duo started utilizing video.
Speaker 1: Tim Flannery, a teammate of Tony's for eight seasons, is
Speaker 1: also in the clip. So it was Bruce Bocci who
Speaker 1: overlapped with Gwynn for five seasons but in that time
Speaker 1: lost a member of their card game. You know, when
Speaker 1: you could talk about the video today. I consider him
Speaker 1: the father of the video clubhouse. And see the first
Speaker 1: thing I do when I'm hitting is I check my
Speaker 1: front foot. When Tony had his first hitting slump, and
Speaker 1: I remember we had Mota Beata machine for a little
Speaker 1: Tony because we wanted to tape him out in the backyard.
Speaker 1: We hooked it up and been hooked up through the TV,
Speaker 1: and you really hadn't even used it in this One day,
Speaker 1: y'all was struggling and I asked my wife to take
Speaker 1: my bats while we're on the road trip. That's a
Speaker 1: good swing right there, front foot is locked in. He
Speaker 1: would say, leash, can you go look at at bat
Speaker 1: number two and tell me what I'm doing wrong. And
Speaker 1: his wife was probably the best hitting instructor of anybody
Speaker 1: because she knew exactly what he did to success, and
Speaker 1: she could look at the video and they would discuss it.
Speaker 1: And when he goes to shortstop in order to hit
Speaker 1: the inside pitcher, really up to hit my hands through
Speaker 1: it a hurry. We became a team. You know, I
Speaker 1: wasn't out there hitting, but we became a team. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of like what I do best right there,
Speaker 1: just to take the inside fastball and fight it off
Speaker 1: and hit it the other way. He was relentless with
Speaker 1: the studying of it. In fact, we lost him as
Speaker 1: a poker player because of the video. So we used
Speaker 1: to kid about that. You know, this video is killing
Speaker 1: our poker game. Solid front leg down on the ball. Perfect.
Speaker 1: Back to Tony Gwynn Junior on who his favorite player
Speaker 1: was growing up, There are a lot of my dad's
Speaker 1: teammates that I just loved. I mean, because again, my
Speaker 1: dad was really just dad to me. Until I got older.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I don't know if I really appreciated
Speaker 1: how how good he was until I was, like, you know,
Speaker 1: in high school when I really started to understand, like, man,
Speaker 1: this is the guy is epic right here. I mean
Speaker 1: he's going to Yankee Stadium, He's going deep. I mean,
Speaker 1: my dad is really really good at what he does.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until that point that I started to really
Speaker 1: understand it. But prior to that, you know, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: infatuated with the dudes I see on TV all the time.
Speaker 1: You know, when Gary Sheffield became a podre, when Fred
Speaker 1: McGriff became a padre, Roberto Alamar, like these dudes that
Speaker 1: when you when you're eight nine years of age, do
Speaker 1: you think these guys are like really your best friend?
Speaker 1: So you're like, I want to see Trevor, I want
Speaker 1: to see I want to see Roberto, you know, and
Speaker 1: you know I want to see Tempy, like all these
Speaker 1: guys that my dad played with, Uh, we're superheroes to
Speaker 1: be basically, you know, I remember my dad used to
Speaker 1: tell you used to give me a hard time because
Speaker 1: for a long time, I used to love Will Clark,
Speaker 1: used to love everything his whole stance, all of that,
Speaker 1: and ironically I started liking him because he was the
Speaker 1: one that was going up against my dad for batting
Speaker 1: titles for like a couple of years. And I remember
Speaker 1: one time we came out of the tunnel with walcome,
Speaker 1: you're getting ready to head home after game, and Will
Speaker 1: Clark just happened to be standing there, and my dad,
Speaker 1: like trying to embarrass me, goes, hey, Will, can you
Speaker 1: believe you're my son's favorite hitter? Like it not even me,
Speaker 1: not even know it's his own dad, it's you, And
Speaker 1: Will had a click. He got a click kick out
Speaker 1: of that, right because obviously my dad beat him out,
Speaker 1: yet his son likes him better than his own father.
Speaker 1: So I just think that just came with me. You know.
Speaker 1: One they were different. They were they weren't my dad,
Speaker 1: you know. Trevor and I became super tight as I
Speaker 1: got older, but he also used to when I when
Speaker 1: I do strange teenage stuff or things I probably shouldn't be.
Speaker 1: I remember one time I walked in with an la
Speaker 1: hat on and it was it was a black and
Speaker 1: gray lad so it was really more like a raider thing.
Speaker 1: But I wore it in the clubhouse and he almost
Speaker 1: bit my head off for it. And another lesson learning.
Speaker 1: It's like, all right, they take this whole rivalry thing
Speaker 1: pretty seriously. Let me not do that again. You know.
Speaker 1: Here's Trevor Hoffman the Padres Hall of Fame closer on
Speaker 1: his observations of how Senior was raising Junior. That was
Speaker 1: another thing. Getting a chance to watch the way him
Speaker 1: and Tony Gwyn Junior Anthony growing up in the clubhouse,
Speaker 1: how that relationship shaped the way I thought about how
Speaker 1: I would handle my family in the clubhouse as a dad.
Speaker 1: I got a chance to be in the clubhouse as
Speaker 1: a brother, having my older brother play, but dating a
Speaker 1: chance to the first hand the interaction that they would
Speaker 1: have at two o'clock in the afternoon or weekends and
Speaker 1: summer summertime, and then when school would start, having to
Speaker 1: kind of get home to go to bed, and that
Speaker 1: was pretty awesome. And see him and Alicia throughout the
Speaker 1: years just just was a great example of how he
Speaker 1: was a dad and a husband and it was pretty great.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the relationship that he had to San Diego,
Speaker 1: you know, it was well documented as well. You know,
Speaker 1: our favorite son playing at Samuel State as a basketball
Speaker 1: baseball player, playing for a coach legendary coach and coach
Speaker 1: deats Um and then twenty year career and then going
Speaker 1: back to his alma Monter to kind of finish it off.
Speaker 1: So he's definitely mister San Diego, mister Padre and uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's probably something that's never gonna never be gonna
Speaker 1: be replicated. When you hear that name, Tony Gwynn Junior,
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts? I smile. I just said, I
Speaker 1: can't be more more proud of the man that he
Speaker 1: is and the father that he is. And really he's
Speaker 1: making his own niche in San Diego. Like he was
Speaker 1: a little green when he got into the you know,
Speaker 1: obviously a great baseball career himself and so but he's
Speaker 1: but he's he's nurtured and he's created this niche and
Speaker 1: and following and space in the media and the and
Speaker 1: radio and does a great job at TV. You know,
Speaker 1: selfishly he had the Hall pass right sounds just like
Speaker 1: his dad knows the game. But he's Tony Gwynn Junior. Now,
Speaker 1: Like it was hard transition for me to say anything
Speaker 1: but Anthony and then it was Tony gwen Jr. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm not kind of sold on that, but now Tony
Speaker 1: Gwen Junior is such a prominent voice in San Diego
Speaker 1: doing padre games and breaking down the materials so well
Speaker 1: and painting a picture is on the radio pregame with
Speaker 1: Chris Ello in the afternoon's talk radio and giving his
Speaker 1: insight and really having the opportunity to do it. I'm
Speaker 1: just so I'm just so proud of. I'm proud of,
Speaker 1: you know, how he's been able to become a professional
Speaker 1: in a different area after a professional baseball player, and
Speaker 1: loving to hear his voice and loving to hear his takes.
Speaker 1: And that's not an easy thing to do when your
Speaker 1: dad shadow loomed so large. His name was the same.
Speaker 1: He went to his dad's alma mater. But in two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, after a season at San Diego State
Speaker 1: in which he hit three fifty nine, Tony Gwen Junior
Speaker 1: was ready to go pro. I was at that point.
Speaker 1: I was so motivated, you know, from the high school
Speaker 1: draft half you know, three years prior, where you know,
Speaker 1: I was a pretty good high school player and I
Speaker 1: felt like I should have gone higher than I did.
Speaker 1: Ended up being the thousandth pick or something like that,
Speaker 1: And it wasn't about the money. Even my parents were
Speaker 1: well off. It was about the respect. And so by
Speaker 1: the time I got drafted, I go from you know,
Speaker 1: the thousand pick because I think it's like the thirty
Speaker 1: sixth overall, I'm feeling pretty good, like I want to
Speaker 1: go out. I'm ready to go out and kind of
Speaker 1: blaze my own trail. Now, I would have been happy
Speaker 1: to be in the Padres organization because ultimately, the way
Speaker 1: I was looking at it was I want to go
Speaker 1: to an organization that doesn't have much where if I
Speaker 1: played well, I got a chance to come through the organization.
Speaker 1: And that's no disrespect to any of the guys that
Speaker 1: were there, but that's what my mindset was like. So
Speaker 1: the Padres the Brewers both were a okay in my book.
Speaker 1: I remember my uncle Chris, who was a scout at
Speaker 1: the time, calling me. He's like, hey, if you're there,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take you in a second round. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm pumped up, like cool, let's this is this is
Speaker 1: really happening. I'm gonna be a padreight here and two
Speaker 1: picks before the Brewers called me, and I knew they
Speaker 1: were pretty pretty hot on my trail because I had
Speaker 1: seen their scout often. We talked a lot, so I
Speaker 1: wasn't a surprise. And so the Brewers take me two
Speaker 1: picks before take some time to sign a deal. I
Speaker 1: get out. And one thing my dad always used to
Speaker 1: preach to me, especially as I started getting closer and
Speaker 1: closer to professional ball. He's like, he should say, you
Speaker 1: can't make any money hagging around with he's signing bonuses.
Speaker 1: The real money's in the big leagues. In order for
Speaker 1: you to get there, you got to actually be on
Speaker 1: the field at the minor league level and play. So
Speaker 1: don't don't haggle around trying to get a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of money. Your journey starts once you start playing professionally,
Speaker 1: and that's how you get to the big league. So
Speaker 1: that's what the mindset was. It's like, it's not spend
Speaker 1: much time on some of the semantics with this signing bonus.
Speaker 1: I want to start playing as soon as possible and
Speaker 1: start my trip there, and um, it's it's it's the
Speaker 1: interesting thing about it is, I know we just lost
Speaker 1: Hank Aaron yesterday and the the the biggest thing was
Speaker 1: I flew out. They used to fly the draft picks
Speaker 1: out to Milwaukee and I got to go out watching
Speaker 1: right and as bright as the day I'm leaving to
Speaker 1: KD de Belloyd for my first professional team, a low
Speaker 1: A ball and Beloyd, Wisconsin. And the last person I
Speaker 1: spoke to before I hopped on that van to go
Speaker 1: out there, it was Hank Aaron. He gave me. He
Speaker 1: got to talk to him for like thirty and fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes when we were watching the game. Gave me some
Speaker 1: advice about just going out there and keeping my head
Speaker 1: down and doing all the right things, playing hard, getting better.
Speaker 1: And I remember saying, if you take care of business,
Speaker 1: you have a chance to get up here in no time.
Speaker 1: And h I always it was simple. It was simple advice,
Speaker 1: but it was it was everything. Well, it was Hank.
Speaker 1: Karen was exactly exactly. I asked Junior, who Senior looked
Speaker 1: up to. My dad was a student even before he
Speaker 1: was a student, like he enjoyed so many different guys,
Speaker 1: um that I've heard him mentioned. Of course, you mentioned,
Speaker 1: He mentions Hank, He mentioned Ted, He mentioned Steve Garvey.
Speaker 1: That was a guy I think who took him under
Speaker 1: his wing when he was a rookie here in San Diego,
Speaker 1: taught him how to be a professional as he used
Speaker 1: to say, um and you know it really Roberto Clementa,
Speaker 1: he mentions a lot obviously, growing up a Dodger fan
Speaker 1: living in LA A lot of those Dodger guys he
Speaker 1: was was huge fans of, So my dad didn't didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mention one guy. But I mean, I know Steve
Speaker 1: Garvey comes in mind because he was actually here in
Speaker 1: San Diego when he came up. But as a kid,
Speaker 1: I mean, there are a bunch of guys that my
Speaker 1: dad really really loved watching play. What life lessons and
Speaker 1: hitting lessons or baseball lessons were you taking with you
Speaker 1: wherever you went? You know it's interesting is because most
Speaker 1: of my life took place in San Diego. I had
Speaker 1: a responsibility at a at a much earlier age than
Speaker 1: before I got to a professional ball in terms of
Speaker 1: what my last name meant, what my dad's reputation was,
Speaker 1: and my responsibility and upholding that. And I remember, I
Speaker 1: remember in high school asked where I'm like, well, I
Speaker 1: haven't got a chance to even live my life yet.
Speaker 1: Why do I have to have this burden of being
Speaker 1: what everybody else considers perfect or close to it? I
Speaker 1: don't want that yet. But She made me understand that
Speaker 1: that's that's kind of part of being in a family, right.
Speaker 1: You gotta your dad says the example, your mom and
Speaker 1: dad said the example, you follow it and you try
Speaker 1: to honor their names. And that was something that was
Speaker 1: always by the time I was in professional ball, that
Speaker 1: was already mented in my mind. That was something that
Speaker 1: was I was going to play the game the right way. Uh.
Speaker 1: I was. I was going to be coachable, And you know,
Speaker 1: I look back on it, and I was probably too
Speaker 1: coachable at times. You know, there there there is an
Speaker 1: element to a lot of the players that get to
Speaker 1: the elite level is that they are They're coachable, but
Speaker 1: to some extent they know what they need to do.
Speaker 1: And I look back and if there's one thing I
Speaker 1: could change, I might tweak that a little bit, because
Speaker 1: you could take on too much information in the game
Speaker 1: of baseball. And I think I was sometimes that guy.
Speaker 1: But that was the thing that once I got to
Speaker 1: to Beloyd, that was I was going to represent my
Speaker 1: name and the way that I saw my dad represent it.
Speaker 1: That didn't necessarily I mean, I was going to hit
Speaker 1: three hundred every time, but I certainly was going to
Speaker 1: have a reputation around the game as doing somebody who
Speaker 1: played the game in the right way. Tony Gwyn Junior
Speaker 1: played for four major league teams. He finished with a
Speaker 1: career batting average of two thirty eight. In two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine with the Padres, he hit two seventy He
Speaker 1: had one hundred and six hits, eleven doubles, six triples,
Speaker 1: two home runs, twenty one RBIs, and stole eleven bases.
Speaker 1: Here's more from Tom Verducci Tony Gwyn Junior and your
Speaker 1: thoughts on him and his career. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: here's a guy who had eight years in the big
Speaker 1: being Tony Gwen Junior, which is in his own right
Speaker 1: pretty impressive, but you know, living into the shadow of
Speaker 1: one of the greatest pure hitters of all time, you know,
Speaker 1: but seems to have a great head on his shoulders
Speaker 1: and a great sense of understanding that his role, more
Speaker 1: than anything is to continue his father's legacy. Is that
Speaker 1: your sense as well? Yeah? I do, because when you
Speaker 1: mentioned Tony Gwyn Junior, I think not that he wasn't
Speaker 1: a really good player, as you mentioned, for a lot
Speaker 1: longer than people thought, but I think about him being
Speaker 1: his father's son I mean someone that you just want
Speaker 1: to be around, smile on the face, looking on the
Speaker 1: bright side of things. So to me, that's the legacy
Speaker 1: between father and son. No one was going to live
Speaker 1: up to the legacy as a hitter of Tony gwyn
Speaker 1: We might never see a hitter like Tony Gwynn again,
Speaker 1: and that's not an exaggeration because of how the game
Speaker 1: has changed. So asking the son to have a kind
Speaker 1: of career that his father had, that's just it's not fair.
Speaker 1: But certainly to live up to the Gwynn family name.
Speaker 1: Junior has done that really well. By the way, he's
Speaker 1: a really good broadcaster too. We've come to the part
Speaker 1: of Tony gwyn Junior's career where things get a little complicated.
Speaker 1: On September twenty ninth, two thousand and seven, with two
Speaker 1: games left in the season, on a Saturday in Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: Junior's worlds collide. Worth noting before we get back to Junior,
Speaker 1: John Moores was the owner of the Padres at that
Speaker 1: time and September twenty eight, I'm told you asked the
Speaker 1: owner of the Padres for a flight home. Hey can
Speaker 1: I get a flight? Tell me? Let's before we get
Speaker 1: to September twenty Let's go to September twenty eighth. So
Speaker 1: Padres are they should have already clinched if if I'm
Speaker 1: being honesty, they didn't play in the series before. I
Speaker 1: think it was against the Rockies. Well, and then they
Speaker 1: came to us. Now, this is the first season that
Speaker 1: we've been even at five hundred and I think since
Speaker 1: eighty two for Milwaukee, and so it was a big
Speaker 1: deal for it. Actually we're still in playoff contention and
Speaker 1: we get a sweep of the Padres. We got a
Speaker 1: chance to at the Wild Car. They basically eliminate us
Speaker 1: that first night on the twenty eighth, I believe, And
Speaker 1: so at that point my mom was like, well, you
Speaker 1: could ask the more it feel if you could ride
Speaker 1: back with him as opposed because I was. I was sweating,
Speaker 1: like I didn't really want to fly home. I hated
Speaker 1: to flight from Milwaukee to San Diego for whatever reason.
Speaker 1: And my mom was like, you can ask them. The
Speaker 1: worst they can say is no. So after we got eliminated,
Speaker 1: I walked over to mister Moore's and its like, is
Speaker 1: there a chance I could fly back with you guys tomorrow?
Speaker 1: He was like, yeah, sure, Uh and so you know
Speaker 1: that was that I was. That was that was already
Speaker 1: set in motion before the next day. So I'm expecting
Speaker 1: my bags are packed. I'm expecting to uh fly home
Speaker 1: that following day with them after the game. So that's
Speaker 1: how that's how that whole thing started. So back to
Speaker 1: that Saturday, the Padres season still matters. The Brewers have
Speaker 1: been eliminated. You didn't start the game. There was a
Speaker 1: chance you'd be pinch hitter. Uh, Padres are up three two,
Speaker 1: I believe. Ninth inning, Trevor strikes out Prince Fielder. Uh
Speaker 1: that's Nicks gets he nicks it gets out. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: strikes out, following it back and then I'm up. So
Speaker 1: go back mentioned that I didn't start to I was
Speaker 1: pissed that I did to start. In my mind, I'm like,
Speaker 1: we're eliminated from the season. Let's get some of these
Speaker 1: Let's get some let some of the young guys play.
Speaker 1: But in ned Jose's defense, we hadn't finished that five hundred.
Speaker 1: He was dead set on trying to get us to
Speaker 1: finish above five hundred, and so I was upset. Like
Speaker 1: the entire game basically, as I'm watching and you can
Speaker 1: kind of see what was I can kind of see
Speaker 1: what's unfolding in front of me. This is even before
Speaker 1: you know they tell me I'm pitch hitting. We get
Speaker 1: the I think we got the first two guys on.
Speaker 1: Trevor comes in and punches out. It might have been Prince,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but he definitely punched out lands Nicks
Speaker 1: before me. And by the time he punched out last Nikes,
Speaker 1: I'm in the on deck cercer and as I go
Speaker 1: out on the on deck circle, I'm thinking to myself, Man,
Speaker 1: it'd be pretty amazing if I if I come up
Speaker 1: with a hit here somehow we take the lead, or
Speaker 1: we tied off of Trevor. I know they're about they
Speaker 1: have a chance of clinch today, and so I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: this is this is the irony of this whole situation
Speaker 1: right now. It just seems crazy, and sure enough Lance
Speaker 1: punches out now again. The mere fact that I've been
Speaker 1: around Trevor at this point so long. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think he came over in ninety four, nine, five ninety
Speaker 1: five maybe, so I've known him from that point until
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, so I've known him about twelve years,
Speaker 1: and I've seen him pitch more than a lot in
Speaker 1: that time frame. Like I've seen how he's pitching at
Speaker 1: this point, Like I know what's I have a pretty
Speaker 1: good idea of what I'm gonna see. He had literally
Speaker 1: just thrown Lance knicks like four straight change ups in
Speaker 1: a row. So I come up to the plate and
Speaker 1: I mean he grew up in that locker room, and
Speaker 1: I've read a bunch of different articles essentially you know,
Speaker 1: he was enamored by you. I mean Tony Gwyn Junior. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had his dad and his dad as his dad,
Speaker 1: but he really looked you were really an uncle figure
Speaker 1: to Tony Gwyn Junior and probably still are. Well. I'm
Speaker 1: honored to hear that, no doubt, And it's it's I
Speaker 1: think that was the beauty of getting to grow up
Speaker 1: in a clubhouse. And from my standpoint, I was I
Speaker 1: couldn't wait and see the little kids run around, you know,
Speaker 1: like there was I was closer in age to him,
Speaker 1: and I probably wasn't his dad, and so that part
Speaker 1: of it being said, it's like I enjoyed the the
Speaker 1: youthfulness that he would bring and Brett would bring boats
Speaker 1: a kid, because I didn't know Greg too quickly at
Speaker 1: that time. But Brett would come down and those two
Speaker 1: were thick us thieves and they would run all over
Speaker 1: the qualcom and they'd be out banging practice and you shagging,
Speaker 1: and you know, they had just brought a lot of
Speaker 1: joy to the clubhouse. And it kept us, it kept
Speaker 1: us grounded to a degree. It's like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: a profession. There's time when you need to turn it on.
Speaker 1: But it was almost like being at home and you know,
Speaker 1: the little guys are running around and you have fun
Speaker 1: with him, and then he goes off and does the
Speaker 1: amazing things that Paley is a high school basketball player
Speaker 1: and baseball player and the standout at Sanio State does
Speaker 1: his things in professional baseball. And then blow and behold,
Speaker 1: I'm towards the end of my career and trying to
Speaker 1: save a postseason game, and gets who I'm facing. I'm
Speaker 1: facing the little kid in the locker room that's now
Speaker 1: a man. And hold on one second, hold on, let's stop,
Speaker 1: will hold as you before you get up to the plate.
Speaker 1: So just even, just even like what did you get?
Speaker 1: You know? The Nedjo says, hey, he say, t you're
Speaker 1: gonna hit if we get to your spot. Said all right,
Speaker 1: So I got my helmet on, and as I'm walking
Speaker 1: up the steps, I'm like, ohoo, like I can you
Speaker 1: know you start you start getting those I always had
Speaker 1: nerves regardless how long I played, but it was like
Speaker 1: they were a little anxious this time because I know
Speaker 1: what's going on. Dres are out in front of me,
Speaker 1: and I always wanted to play well against him anyway.
Speaker 1: It was just like one of those things, the hometown team.
Speaker 1: You want to play well against them as much as possible.
Speaker 1: So um, I remember coming up after that Lance strikes out,
Speaker 1: I kind of take a deep breath. Do you ever
Speaker 1: make eyes? Do you ever make eyes with Trevor while
Speaker 1: you're on the on deck circle? Does he ever look
Speaker 1: over to see if you've got it? Like? Do you
Speaker 1: ever even? Nah? Because I knew I wasn't gonna I
Speaker 1: knew he wasn't gonna be looking, and once once I
Speaker 1: got into the box, I knew he was gonna be
Speaker 1: all business. So I didn't even look to try to
Speaker 1: make contact with him. And so uh, and you you
Speaker 1: had faced him before, you I know you you know
Speaker 1: you had gotten to hit off them before, like you
Speaker 1: obviously you know there was one. I was one for
Speaker 1: two of them. I think going into that at back
Speaker 1: and so, um, how you get to the plate? I
Speaker 1: get to the plate and first pitch change up, I take, uh,
Speaker 1: second pitch change up, I foul off off all I
Speaker 1: might have took to get a third pitch, I fouled
Speaker 1: it off. And so it's one and two right now.
Speaker 1: He at this point, I think he's thrown something like
Speaker 1: between nine and twelve straight changeups, like he hasn't thrown
Speaker 1: anything else. But in the back, is there any like storry?
Speaker 1: But we're like, as you get up to the plate
Speaker 1: and you're looking at business like uncle Trevor kind of
Speaker 1: a thing, right Like I mean, do you guys have
Speaker 1: a smirk or a smile or a you know, like no, No,
Speaker 1: this is his all business. It's his business. It's all business.
Speaker 1: It's all business. Possible also because I'm trying to finish
Speaker 1: the season a good note, Like I love Trevor and
Speaker 1: all that, but I got a job to try to keep.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to finish at two sixty, you know, for
Speaker 1: the season. I believe it was I'm a little bit
Speaker 1: below that. At this point. It was minimum it bat
Speaker 1: so it was all business. Once I got in there,
Speaker 1: I knew in order to even have a chance, I
Speaker 1: had to I had to be My concentration level had
Speaker 1: to be perfect. And so it gets to that one
Speaker 1: to count, and he's thrown a lot of change hips
Speaker 1: in a row, and I could just hear my dad's
Speaker 1: voice in the back of my head saying, hey, make
Speaker 1: sure you're ready for the fastball. Just down to everything else.
Speaker 1: Even though I knew in my heart or hearts, the
Speaker 1: fourth pitch that he was gonna throw it was gonna
Speaker 1: be another change up. I did not want it. I
Speaker 1: didn't the thing. I did not want to have it,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to blow a fastball body. So I
Speaker 1: was ready for the fastball. But when it came out
Speaker 1: of his hand, I just remember thinking to me myself,
Speaker 1: that ball is a little bit more elevated. If I
Speaker 1: can just stay here and hold my ground long enough,
Speaker 1: I can, I can put a good swing on it.
Speaker 1: And sure enough, I leak a little bit forward with
Speaker 1: my body, but my hand stayed back and I just
Speaker 1: kind of flipped it down the line U in right field,
Speaker 1: and I knew once it got over Adrian's head, uh,
Speaker 1: there wasn't there. I was gonna have three, and we
Speaker 1: were gonna be a tide game, and it was gonna
Speaker 1: go into it was gonna go into extra innings. That
Speaker 1: was Tony Green Junior's one twenty third at bat in
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, his last of the year. It
Speaker 1: was his thirty second hit, his second triple of the season,
Speaker 1: and with that hit he recorded two of his ten RBIs.
Speaker 1: That timely triple did, in fact, lift Tony Gwen Junior's
Speaker 1: batting average to two sixty. I'm running around and I
Speaker 1: remember I did. It was such an unnecessary head first slide,
Speaker 1: but I'm in the moment. I slide in the third
Speaker 1: give a fist pump, and the first eyes I lock
Speaker 1: onto are the more sitting behind the dugout at third base,
Speaker 1: and the despair in all of their faces was just like,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I can't believe this has happened, you know.
Speaker 1: So I immediately kind of shipped back to the game
Speaker 1: because I don't want them to make eye contact with
Speaker 1: me at that point. And we ended up winning that game,
Speaker 1: and therefore the Padres had to go to that one
Speaker 1: game playoff. And by the way, I was the biggest
Speaker 1: Padre fan for that one game playoff because I knew
Speaker 1: I had to live in San Diego. I was living
Speaker 1: down at Mission Beach, where you got someone to die
Speaker 1: hards down down there, and I was just like, gosh,
Speaker 1: I don't want to have to have a whole offseason
Speaker 1: of everybody giving me a hard time because I knocked
Speaker 1: up Padres Out another Trevor Hoffman reflection. We have an
Speaker 1: eight pitch battle and it turns where it wasn't so
Speaker 1: great for me, And then I see him in the tunnel.
Speaker 1: I am doing nothing but to give him a hug
Speaker 1: and kind of cry. So you know, it's it's interesting
Speaker 1: how some moments stand out on their own, much like
Speaker 1: the moments I would see him sitting in his dad's
Speaker 1: locker waiting for him to come back from the cage,
Speaker 1: as I see him today at Petco Park coming down
Speaker 1: from the press box after doing his stuff. So it's
Speaker 1: it's an evolution of a friendship and a love for
Speaker 1: a young man, and I'm just proud to call him
Speaker 1: a friend. So where was Tony gwyn Senior at the
Speaker 1: time I was in the press box. He wasn't working
Speaker 1: that day, but he stayed for the game, and I
Speaker 1: think people expected him to have some type of disappointment,
Speaker 1: but he had the exact opposite because it was his
Speaker 1: son and he was in there. He was It was
Speaker 1: probably good he wasn't on TV because he was in
Speaker 1: there fist pumping and you know, happy as hek for
Speaker 1: me to get that hit. Here's Greg Maddox, the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame pitcher who played for the Padres in two
Speaker 1: thousand and seven. Did you ever have any interactions or
Speaker 1: stories about Tony gwyn Junior over the years, not Junior,
Speaker 1: not too many? I know he Uh, I didn't really
Speaker 1: Obviously I knew his father pretty well. But you know,
Speaker 1: the only interaction I think was, you know, he got
Speaker 1: that lucky hit down on the line in Milwaukee off
Speaker 1: Trevor that kind of knocked us out of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: or didn't let us clench the playoffs, and I think
Speaker 1: a day later we ended up losing one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty third game in Colorado. But you know, other than that,
Speaker 1: I didn't, I didn't never didn't really know him too well.
Speaker 1: I knew him a little bit as a hitter. He
Speaker 1: reminded me of his dad. Obviously, same swing, same swing
Speaker 1: path and all those types of things. But you know,
Speaker 1: you were able to get him to reach just a
Speaker 1: little bit easier than his dad. I didn't realize you
Speaker 1: were on the Podre teen two thousand and seven, so
Speaker 1: that would have been two thousand and seven, correct. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and Tony and Junior tells us that that's where the
Speaker 1: end this podcast will end, with the culmination of him
Speaker 1: talking about that story where he's essentially facing Trevor was
Speaker 1: like an uncle to him or a godfather, you know.
Speaker 1: And here he was pinch hit. He comes up, you know,
Speaker 1: knowing that the Podres are trying to make the postseason.
Speaker 1: He gets that hit, Trevor crying in the locker room afterwards,
Speaker 1: and and uh and Tony, mister Padre twenty years you know,
Speaker 1: was rooting for his son. Of course, son before before
Speaker 1: you know, family before baseball. And here's more from Ryan Sandberg. No,
Speaker 1: you can't say enough, but what a what a perfect
Speaker 1: scenario in Tony gwyn junior, nice ball player. I actually
Speaker 1: do remember the at bat you're talking about against Trevor
Speaker 1: Hoffman because I had I had had Junior, let's see,
Speaker 1: four or five six years before that at bat in
Speaker 1: Triple A, really got to Norman and watch him play,
Speaker 1: So I remember the moment as well. I was I
Speaker 1: was the other one up there going like that. I
Speaker 1: loved it as well. The scenario having Tony Gwynn Junior
Speaker 1: right there in San Diego and uh and broadcasting and
Speaker 1: talking about his his dad and what he meant to
Speaker 1: the Padres and the whole whole city of San Diego
Speaker 1: and the surrounding areas. I mean, you couldn't ask for
Speaker 1: a better situation to just relive Tony Gwynn and what
Speaker 1: he meant to the Padres and to have his son
Speaker 1: speak about him and be able to share stories. I
Speaker 1: think the fans are in for a treat and couldn't
Speaker 1: ask for a better scenario. And back to Tom Verducci
Speaker 1: on what he remembers about that specific moment in baseball history.
Speaker 1: I remember Trevor being out there, because Trevor is kind
Speaker 1: of like the next generation of mister Podre. I mean,
Speaker 1: Tony gwinn is mister Podre, but Trevor certainly associated with
Speaker 1: that city and that franchise the next most of anyone.
Speaker 1: And you know, obviously new Tony gwinns so well himself
Speaker 1: as well, So that had to hurt. It had to hurt.
Speaker 1: Late in the season. I think it might have been
Speaker 1: the final weekend of the season. But the father's pride
Speaker 1: is what stands out for me. You know, blood is
Speaker 1: thicker than you, than your loyalty to the organization that
Speaker 1: you played for. In that case, it's it's that loyalty
Speaker 1: runs deep. But yeah, it just what a storybook finished.
Speaker 1: I mean, not for Hoffman, but for the Gwinns there
Speaker 1: to enjoy a hit like that, you know, against anybody,
Speaker 1: but against the Padres, I wouldn't even say it's bitter sweet.
Speaker 1: I mean the father had to be super proud of
Speaker 1: his son coming through like that. Doesn't that say every
Speaker 1: everything that? Absolutely, mister Podre was was miss Potter, He's
Speaker 1: mister Potter. But when it came to his son, it
Speaker 1: was Sun first. It was some first. I under said.
Speaker 1: It was the same thing when I signed with the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: Like people are like asking him, are you upset about it?
Speaker 1: Are you? Absolutely not? My son has a job, he
Speaker 1: could take care of his family, Like why would I
Speaker 1: be upset about that? That? That to me is that's it.
Speaker 1: That's what it's all. That's what you know. Big Tea
Speaker 1: was proud of Little Tea exactly exactly how was he
Speaker 1: in terms of giving praise. He was awesome. I think
Speaker 1: one of the things I think that as much as
Speaker 1: we were around each other in my young childhood, I
Speaker 1: think really our relationship went to another level when I
Speaker 1: went to Senegal State, because it was really when he
Speaker 1: took over my sophomore year as the hitting coach. It
Speaker 1: was the first time that we were ever around each
Speaker 1: other year round for all of my life, In all
Speaker 1: of my teenage life, it was like six months out
Speaker 1: of the year I got to we got to see
Speaker 1: each other. But when he took over as the hitting coach,
Speaker 1: he was around and like you know, September or October
Speaker 1: or November, and then when the season came around in
Speaker 1: January and February, he was still around, So we got
Speaker 1: to spend a lot of time. And so I think
Speaker 1: he got a chance to see me work at my
Speaker 1: craft and be dedicated to him, and I dedicated to it,
Speaker 1: and I think I don't think he told me on
Speaker 1: many occasions how how proud he was of me and
Speaker 1: how hard I worked at the game, and more importantly,
Speaker 1: as I had a family. That's I think it was
Speaker 1: the same thing for him. After three seasons with the Brewers,
Speaker 1: Tony Gwyn Junior becomes a San Diego Padre. What was
Speaker 1: that like getting traded to San Diego? I mean, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know that anybody's ever had their dad break
Speaker 1: the news to them that they're traded. But that's how
Speaker 1: I found out was my dad called and we're in Portland,
Speaker 1: ironically getting ready to play the Padre's Triple A team
Speaker 1: at the time, and he calls me in the morning
Speaker 1: and was like, you're sitting down and I'm sitting there
Speaker 1: having breakfast with a teammate of mine. He goes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sitting down and I'm like, what's up. You didn't
Speaker 1: never call me this earlier, Like, so I'm kind of
Speaker 1: a little worried, like what are you about to tell me?
Speaker 1: He's like, well, you've been traded, and and he's like
Speaker 1: going crazy and crazy. I was like how do he first?
Speaker 1: I was like, how do you know this? And he said, yoga.
Speaker 1: Chris called me and he said that they made a
Speaker 1: trade for you. You're gonna be heading home San Diego,
Speaker 1: so go go upstairs packing stuff. I'm like, my manager
Speaker 1: is sitting right next to me. He hasn't told me.
Speaker 1: So he's like, all right, well, just hang tight. To him,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he's going to tell you soon. So we
Speaker 1: hang up the phone, and the first thing that crossed
Speaker 1: my mind was, you know, you read all of these
Speaker 1: you read all these different crazy things about trades getting canceled,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, man, I got an opportunity to go home.
Speaker 1: I do not want to blow this by knowing information
Speaker 1: too early. So I when Don Money, who was our
Speaker 1: manager at the time, and I said, when he tells me,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pretend like I know nothing because I don't
Speaker 1: want anything to be taken away or you know. And
Speaker 1: so about five minutes later, his phone rings and he
Speaker 1: calls me over and he's like, hey, man, you've been traded.
Speaker 1: I'm like, really, we're too, like, you know, just completely
Speaker 1: trying to play dumb San Diego, go pack your stuff.
Speaker 1: So I fly into San Diego and that day they
Speaker 1: had already started, like I got there in the bottom
Speaker 1: of the first by the time my flight landed. So
Speaker 1: it's one of the only times I've ever met my
Speaker 1: teammates while the game was going on. So they're trying
Speaker 1: to concentrate on a game. I'm trying to meet everybody,
Speaker 1: you know, but is managing the team he introduced himself,
Speaker 1: and so from that point on, it was just kind
Speaker 1: of like Latin. The next week was kind of a whirlwind.
Speaker 1: But then I settled in and it started to it
Speaker 1: started to go in the right direction for me. Tony
Speaker 1: gwyn Junior played two seasons for the pod Race, then
Speaker 1: two for the Dodgers, and finished his major league career
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen with the Phillies. Now you're here doing
Speaker 1: what you're doing and being who you're being, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, having such a presence in the community, and
Speaker 1: I would imagine that's all that's got to be so
Speaker 1: fitting and feel so good for you to have this
Speaker 1: opportunity to carry your father's torch and you know, keep
Speaker 1: going with his namesake and his impact on and that's
Speaker 1: that's that's everything. Like I I struggled when he first passed,
Speaker 1: a struggle with knowing what it was I was supposed
Speaker 1: to do to keep his legsy, what that looked like,
Speaker 1: you know, And uh, you know, over the last six
Speaker 1: six seven years since he's passed, it's kind of it's
Speaker 1: kind of come into focus a little a lot more
Speaker 1: and it has been enjoyed. It does feel good to
Speaker 1: to have an impact on people's life one way or another,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't necessarily have to be through baseball, you know.
Speaker 1: And I just think that's what my dad would be wanting,
Speaker 1: would want me to be doing right now. Isn't it
Speaker 1: cool that Tony Gwen Junior gets to do Tony Gwen
Speaker 1: Senior proud? You know? And that's that's that's ultimately, I
Speaker 1: think what all sons or daughters want to do is
Speaker 1: they want to make their parents proud. I know I
Speaker 1: get to hear it from my mom, but I feel
Speaker 1: pretty confident that my dad would feel the same way.
Speaker 1: Does she say your father would be proud of you?
Speaker 1: Or she does? She tells me that all the time,
Speaker 1: and you know that you I mean, it is it's
Speaker 1: it's it's truly, Um, one of those things were you know,
Speaker 1: you just you just you just absorb it because that's
Speaker 1: that's that's the feeling that you know. I know if
Speaker 1: my dad was around, and I would have did you
Speaker 1: get to tell him a lot how proud of you
Speaker 1: you were of him? Absolutely? I I tried to say
Speaker 1: those things often, um, And I thinks I've always been
Speaker 1: a you know, when his father passed away at an
Speaker 1: early age, as I got older. That was something that
Speaker 1: was always in the back of my mind. So I
Speaker 1: didn't want to ever like have any like regrets that
Speaker 1: I never told him those type of things. So I
Speaker 1: told him that all the time. So I'm sure they
Speaker 1: was siding where he was uncomfortable. I was telling him
Speaker 1: that often, but I did. I tried to at least.
Speaker 1: Tony gwyn Junior has four children, three daughters, Mikaela Jordan
Speaker 1: Leyton and one son, Anthony Keith Gwynn. The third what
Speaker 1: was he called Papa? Yeah, Papa is was what my youngest,
Speaker 1: my all my daughters and even my son who never
Speaker 1: had a chance to meet my my dad, he calls
Speaker 1: him Papa, And uh, what do you miss the most?
Speaker 1: I missed talking to him. I mean we had a
Speaker 1: type of relationship where Ice talked to him pretty much
Speaker 1: every day, like, and it didn't have to necessarily be
Speaker 1: about baseball. A lot of times it was about baseball.
Speaker 1: I'd be like, Dad, I can't hold my ground or
Speaker 1: my swing is so effed up. I can't I can't
Speaker 1: figure it out. But I just missed the normal conversations
Speaker 1: with him. I mean, at this point we'd probably be
Speaker 1: talking about Lakers we'd be talking about the padres. Obviously,
Speaker 1: now I missed those. I missed those conversations. That's it
Speaker 1: for episode two of this tribute series to Tony Gwynn,
Speaker 1: but there's more. In episode three, we find out if
Speaker 1: Tony gwyn Junior got that flight home with the Moors,
Speaker 1: and we get back to our panel of Hall of
Speaker 1: famers for more reflections on Tony Gwynn Senior his twenty
Speaker 1: years in One City. We highlight some more of his
Speaker 1: insane stats, most notably his flirt with four hundred. It's
Speaker 1: pretty confident he would have got it, and it's because
Speaker 1: of that he he wasn't. These weren't. This wasn't a
Speaker 1: hot streak, Like from June on. He was unbelievable. I
Speaker 1: think he had something like three or four three hit
Speaker 1: games in that in that that's that span, and he
Speaker 1: was locked in. Like I have saw a lot of
Speaker 1: my dad's at bats. I saw him to get hot
Speaker 1: many of times, but nothing ever remotely close to this.
Speaker 1: Put another log on the fire. Everybody heres get the
Speaker 1: time