I Met Tony Gwynn, Kinda

The ranks of the heroic men lining the Baseball Hall of Fame grew by two yesterday. Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken have both earned the honor--and rightly so.

I am a fan of baseball. As a kid, living in a small town in a state that didn't have a baseball team, I sometimes watched Cubs and Braves games on the WGN and TBS--but I always watched when they played the Padres.

I've only attended a single MLB game my entire life. I was a young boy on a family trip that included a trip to Disneyland, but I was more excited about seeing the Mets take on the Padres in Jack Murphy Stadium. They lost, 2 - 1, but it was still a great time for me. Aftre the game, we gathered above where all the players parked to see the hometeam a little more upclose. There was a long, steep slope of concrete angling down to where all the Padres parked. When Tony Gwynn came out, with barely a thought, I lept over the cement and slid all the way to the bottom without tripping or dropping the pen and baseball I had in my hands.

I was within five feet of him, and he just stared at me until security was there to send me back up the wall. The gathered fans boo'ed Tony while I escorted back to my family. I heard a few muttered comments about not giving that kid an autograph.

I've since lost my affinity for the Pads (go Dbacks!), but I've never been one to ignore the facts, and the facts are the man was one of the most consistant hitters the game has ever seen. He could pull the ball wherever, a testament of his lifetime .338 batting average. He was a hall of fame calibor player. And, as an adult, I really don't hold any grudges about that day. There were probably policies in place that asked the players not to sign autographs in situations like the one I created as an excited youth. Otherwise, there's be kids sliding down that cement after every game--and I had pretty good balance. It'd be quite a tumble if you didn't.

A heartfelt congradulations to both Tonly Gwynn and Cal Ripken!