The Day I Met Tony Gwynn
Since Tony was voted into the Hall of Fame yesterday, it seems like a nice time to recount the day I met Tony Gwynn. He has always been one of my favorite players, and I count meeting him as one of the good days of my life.
It was October 2002, and the Giants were in the playoffs. Gwynn was at the Niketown at Union Square in downtown San Francisco. The line to meet him was out the door. We got in line and started to wait. At one point they told everyone after a certain point in the line to go home, they wouldn't be able to see him. I was after that point, but I stayed in the line anyway. My move paid off, I made it through the roped off areas and finally got up to the counter where he was signing whatever people had.
I had brought 3 items with me, 2 Gwynn books on hitting, and a small photo album of pictures of me hitting in my men's senior baseball league games. I knew Tony loves to talk hitting, so when I got up to the counter the dialog went like this:
me: "How's it going?"
Tony: "I'm hangin' in there" and after he signed the 2 books I had brought:
me: "Do you want to see pictures of me hitting and critique my swing?"
Tony: "Yeah, let me see those pictures."
Then we proceeded to look at my swing and he was telling me about my elbow and how I needed to get my whole right arm straight out by the time of impact (I am a lefty). He and I talked about going the other way, and how to get at the high pitch and the inside pitch, my weak spots. I would say we talked for 5 minutes or so, while the few people left to meet him waited. My wife who was watching said, "You made his day, I could see him gesturing and showing you how to swing." Well, I don't know if I made his day or not, but he certainly made my day. I think that is the crucial thing to do when you are talking to anyone, try to find something they like to talk about. I had already seen and heard Tony Gwynn talk about hitting on TV, but in person he was just as engaging and excited about it, even with a nobody like me. It was the greatest.
posted by Mike at
12:12 PM
3 Comments:
the fact that i COULD have gone to see gwynn get his 3000th hit in montreal and didn't is one of the stupidest decisions of my life. there are few hitters i enjoyed watching as much as gwynn. 1992 was when we learned that even wade boggs was human, but i'm still not sure about the planet gwynn comes from. i found it amazing that anyone could argue against his place in the HOF. as if gwynn's hitting alone wasn't good enough to get him in, you can't forget his five gold gloves, stellar postseason performances, and nearly 1400 runs scored. he was one of the best table-setters in the last half century of the game.
(PS. hey kevin, what happened to the archives?)
6:43 PM
That is an awesome story. Hey Kevin, it's Adam Gimbel thinking of ONE more thing I could look up before I go to bed and saw you have a blog. Uh oh, another time killer. My dad took me to the Town & Country Hotel in SD hotel circle when the Phillies were in town because he heard all the players go to the coffeeshop before the game. So, I went there with my book of Schmidt cards (hero) and there was ONE player eating there. Number 20. He was very nice. Wished me luck at my game (I always stalk in full dress) and there's a color saturated picture to prove it somewhere. Lucky me. Someday I'll transcribe the other half of that Jack McDowell interview. xo
Adam myspace.com/gimbel
1:26 AM
That's rad. Michael Jack Schmidt, along with Luzinski, Cash, and THEE Willie Montañez was one of my fave players back in the day.
But ohhh...the T&C Hotel...scary. That place was outdated (think the '70s scenes in "Casino") probably when it was built. I remember that coffee shop well. My dad took me there to avoid Christmas shopping while my mom was at Fascist Valley.
9:15 AM
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