Gwynn enjoys Hall of Fame orientation with eye on induction

By Bill Center - UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 15, 2007

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Tony Gwynn peered into Lou Gehrig's locker, then looked at an adjoining display featuring Carl Hubbell.

“These guys will never die,” said the former Padres great.

TIM ROSKE / Associated Press Tony Gwynn shares a story about a conversation he had with Ted Williams while touring the Hall of Fame.
“The greatest thing about it is, when you're here, you are going to be remembered forever. This is an amazing game. And it has an amazing history ... that lives here.”

“Here” is the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. And on July 29, Gwynn will be formally inducted into one of the most select clubs in American sports.

Yesterday, Gwynn, accompanied by wife Alicia and daughter Anisha, toured the Hall of Fame as part of his pre-induction orientation.

And he soaked in the experience.

At least three times during Gwynn's three-hour-plus tour, Hall of Fame vice president and museum curator Ted Spencer reminded Gwynn that the party must move along to keep up with a busy schedule.


TIM ROSKE / Associated Press Said Gwynn: "When you get here and see Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame, it takes on a whole different meaning. ... I'm in awe and even more honored." “I'm being a tourist,” said Gwynn, who was taking pictures like any other fan visiting baseball's nirvana.

“When I got the call on Jan. 9, I was emotional that day,” said Gwynn, remembering the call to inform him he had been voted into the Hall of Fame with the seventh-best percentage ever. “But when you get here and see Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame, it takes on a whole different meaning.

“Today was a fun day to come, take it all in and see how great it is. I'm in awe and even more honored. The history of the game has a timeline, and I'm a part of it. That makes you weak in the knees.”

Gwynn paused longest at the museum display of the Negro Leagues and the integration of baseball. He read aloud part of the tribute to Jackie Robinson and studied a program from the National Colored All-Star Baseball Classic played in 1948.

“There are kids on my San Diego State team who would never have thought there was a National Colored All-Star baseball game,” Gwynn said as he snapped a picture.

“I know because my dad loved the game and taught us history. This is more than baseball, it's America.”

Gwynn also spent extra time at displays featuring Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and the Padres.


Advertisement As he looked into the Padres display, he noticed the cleats Trevor Hoffman wore the day he became the all-time saves leader. “Look at that,” Gwynn said. “Trevor had the names of his sons (Brody, Quinn and Wyatt) put on the tongue of those shoes. How great is that. I wish I had thought of that.”

Just inside the entrance to the Hall of Fame are the pre-induction displays for Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. Included are the bat and jersey Gwynn wore in 1994 when hitting .394, the last Padres white home jersey he wore in 2001, a cap worn during the 1998 World Series, cleats worn in 1997 when he won his eighth batting title and the batting helmet he wore when he got his 3,000th hit on Aug. 6, 1999.

The Hall of Fame had asked in advance for any artifact Gwynn wished to share from the game in which he got his 3,000th hit. Gwynn donated the bat, the shoes, the batting helmet and the uniform pants he wore that night in Montreal.

“Usually, when we receive mementoes of that importance there's security involved,” said Jeff Idelson, the vice president of communications and education for the Hall of Fame. “Tony just handed me a grocery store bag from Vons with everything rolled up inside.”

Yesterday, Idelson returned the bag to Gwynn with souvenirs of his eternal home – the Hall of Fame.

Gwynn's second trip to Cooperstown – he first visited in 1997 when the Padres played in the Hall of Fame game – ended with a preview of the 12-minute documentary film that will be shown during the formal induction.

Included in the film were a number of his peers extolling Gwynn's hitting ability. As the film came to an end, Tony was laughing and saying, “Just say it, I know you guys want to say it ... he was a Judy. They all really want to say he was a Judy.”

As in a Punch-and-Judy hitter, which doesn't bother Gwynn.

“I take a lot of pride in what I did,” he said. “I know my place. I'm not going to say I was better than other guys. But there is a place in this game for guys like me.

“You shouldn't be scared of who you are. I loved my style of play. And there's a place here for me – the power hitter, the complete guy and the Judy.”

As he finished his tour of the Hall of Fame, Gwynn paused in front of the plaques of the original five inductees in 1936 – Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson.

“How were they not unanimous, I don't understand that,” said Gwynn, who then noticed some of the plaques featured profiles of the inductee while others were straight-ahead views.

“Who decides what pose is used?” asked Gwynn, who was told the details of his plaque are a well-guarded secret until the July 29 unveiling.

“I hope mine is a front view. I don't like the side view.”

Neither did pitchers