The Life & Legacy of Tony Gwynn—Part 1: “Bugs Bunny Numbers”
By Matt Ginella
Growing up in Santa Rosa, Calif., Matt Ginella would fall asleep to baseball games on the radio. And although he lived an hour north of San Francisco, his favorite team was the San Diego Padres. His favorite player: Tony Gwynn. Now Ginella lives in San Diego, and, along with his son, listens to Padres games on the radio in which Tony Gwynn Jr. is the analyst. So, to get a chance to produce a three-part tribute podcast on the life and legacy of “Mr. Padre,” is a little boy’s dream come true. In episode one, the emphasis is on Gwynn’s athleticism, mind, preparation, consistency, dedication, humility and his secret weapon: his wife.
The interviews include Gwynn Jr., Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Ryne Sandberg, Trevor Hoffman, Ken Griffey Jr., and Tom Verducci. This collection of Hall of Famers reflects on some of Gwynn’s outlandish stats, what Griffey refers to as “Bugs Bunny Numbers.” Smoltz says Gwynn “hunted hits” and tells the story of Gwynn breaking up one of his bids for a no-hitter. And Maddux explains why he’s actually pleased that Gwynn only hit .415 against him. “It was up to .485 [laughs], so I actually don’t feel too bad about the .415 to be honest with you.”
Matt Ginella has been covering golf for 25 years. First at Sports Illustrated, then Golf Digest and Golf World magazines and most recently for Golf Channel, where he appeared as the Travel Insider for “Morning Drive” and wrote for Golf Advisor.com.
My little girl is an ass-kicking midfielder who wears #19. She thinks she wears it because her Dad wore it on the baseball diamond ages ago, but she’s making her first trip to SD in a couple of months, and I’m going to take her down to the statue and tell her the REAL reason her Dad and her uncle wore #19 all over the ballfields of southern Oklahoma. I miss TG, and I imagine I always will. What a treat to find out your hero was an even better human being than he was a hitter, and he was the best hitter of his generation and any that’s come since.
Still can’t believe he’s gone. I really appreciate Tony Gwynn Jr., and how respectfully and gracefully he represents the family name and his father’s legacy.