Gaslamp Ball conducted an interview with Tony Gwynn on Gwynn's Hall of Fame election eve. The interview was only supposed to go fifteen minutes, but Gwynn ended chatting in his San Diego State University office for twice that long. What a guy!
[Confidently] Yeah. [Pause] Yeah. You know it's like riding a bike you never forget.
Got to love that. Also, Gwynn provides some interesting insight on Ichiro! vs. Bonds-style high-average hitting. Check it out.
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This is totally unrelated to the interview above, but when the election results were announced yesterday I heard talking head after talking head saying, "Tony Gwynn is such a great guy. Everybody loves him. Nobody ever had a beef with him." While I'm sure Gwynn's a swell guy, that's not quite true. I was reminded of this story from years and years ago:
Even San Diego fan favorite Tony Gwynn had detractors in a career that ended after the 2001 campaign. He finished his career with a .338 batting average which most certainly will take him to the Hall of Fame. Former teammate Jack Clark once hung a Gwynn doll in effigy in the Padres dugout.
It wasn't the good kind of hanging in effigy, either. Oh well.
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At any rate, to relate this post to the Nats:
Beltran Perez.
That is all.