Monday October 8, 2001

Ryan Finley

I remember being nine years old and sitting up perfectly still in bed, listening to the radio. He was up, the game was on the line, and I knew exactly what was going to happen.

As if on cue, Tony Gwynn would knock in a clutch run with a late-inning RBI. Then I could sleep.

Every sports fan has a first love when it comes to athletes. For some, that player was - and still is - Michael Jordan. For others, it's John Elway or Barry Bonds or Joe Montana or Wayne Gretzky or - God forbid - Dennis Rodman.

For me, that player is Tony Gwynn.

Growing up as a sports fan in San Diego, the choice was obvious. Gwynn was, in some years, the only reason to go see San Diego Padres games at Jack Murphy Stadium. Hell, some seasons he was one of the only returning starters on Padres teams that were among the worst in the history of baseball.

But, as bad as things got, as terrible as the Padres were some years, Tony was Tony. He did the little things well - he hit, he played good defense in right field, winning five Gold Gloves, he stole bases and moved runners. Some years, it seemed as if he was the only one on the team that seemed to care.

Gwynn - who made his major league debut when I was two years old - took his final cuts yesterday for the same team he started with in 1982.

In his tenure (or 20-year, to be exact) with the Padres, the club changed uniforms three times, changed colors (from brown and gold to navy blue and orange), lost 90 games, won 90 games, took two National League West crowns, made it to the World Series twice, survived two wars and witnessed the election of four presidents.

Gwynn's numbers during that time were unbelievable: Between 1984 and 1997, he finished in the top five in batting average 13 times. The only time he didn't do that was when he missed by one hit·No hitter born in the 20th century got to 3,000 hits faster than Tony did·Gwynn's career batting average is .338. When he announced his intention to retire in June, mathematicians said TG would have had to go 0-for his next-1,180 to finish with a career average of under .300. That would be, judging by Gwynn's number of at-bats, something like an 0-for-3 year slump· He hit .300 or better in 19 of his 20 seasons as a Padre, and hit .371 hitter in the two World Series that he played in·His .338 career batting average is the highest in baseball since a certain Boston Red Sox outfielder named Ted Williams retired·He owns eight batting titles, second to only some guy named Ty Cobb· Gwynn has 34 more hits than national icon Cal Ripken - who also took his final cuts this past weekend - in 2,062 fewer at-bats. That means Tony could play until 2007 without a hit and still have a better hit/at bat ratio than the Iron Man.

Tony Gwynn's last at-bat took place last night at 6:15.

The Padres, trailing 14-5 in the ninth inning, sent him up with the game hopelessly out of reach. Eleven years later, I was still listening to the radio, this time over the Internet while trying to write a column.

And, just like all the other times, I sat - perfectly still - waiting for him to come through again.

Only this time, he grounded out.

It was a hard shot to the shortstop, a 21-year old kid named Juan Uribe, and his career was over.

Maybe it was time.