Tony Gwynn, dead at 54

BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
I posted this in Sports, but to give it wider coverage for my fellow San Diegans, Mr. Padres Baseball, Tony Gwynn subcummed to cancer today. He was one of those rare individuals that actually spent his entire career with one major league team. RIP, Tony.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jun/16/padres-great-tony-gwynn-died/

Tony Gwynn has died at the age of 54. In the sense of both baseball and San Diego, though, his legacy is that of an immortal.

It’s a word that only the game of baseball assigns to its certifiable legends, the ex-players to whom the designation “Hall of Famer” is still an understatement.

Anthony Keith Gwynn, HOF ’07, beloved in San Diego and known from coast to coast as “Mr. Padre,” passed away Monday in a Poway hospital after years-long fight with cancer.
 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
Borrowing from the UT article again:
Because he stayed with the Padres for the entirety of his two decades as a major leaguer, Gwynn likely cost himself in terms of salary, national exposure and postseason experience, each of which surely would have been much greater if he’d tested the free-agent market and signed with the more successful, big-money clubs.

It was more contentious than that, particularly with the players' union (of course). Because he was willing to accept less to play for a team and a town that he loved, many in the business of baseball felt that he was driving down prices for other players. He told more than one person to mind their own business and stay out of his.

San Diegans loved him for it.

You can't buy that kind of loyalty, not just to a team, but to a city. Most of us felt the same way about Tony as he did about San Diego.
 
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