San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
IT WAS FIRST GAME AND FIRST HIT FOR GWYNN
Tony Gwynn’s initial reaction when the Padres selected him in the third round of the 1981 major league draft was not a pleasant one.
“The first words out of my mouth were, ‘Aw, (bleep). The Padres. That damn brown and gold,’ ” Gwynn said in an interview late in his career.
Within moments, Gwynn had a second thought cross his mind: “You know, they’re letting a lot of young players play there. I thought I might have a chance to move up real quickly.”
He was right.
Gwynn’s rapid rise through the minor leagues — from Single-a Walla Walla (batting .331) to Double-a Amarillo (.462) to Triple-a Hawaii (.328) — required just 13 months from the day he was drafted out of San Diego State to the night he made his major league debut at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.
It is a handshake as much as a hit that Gwynn remembers most vividly from his first game in the big leagues.
Perhaps that is because congratulations came from the man who collected more hits than anyone who ever played the game.
It is the 38th anniversary of Gwynn’s major league debut — July 19, 1982 — in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
“I wasn’t nervous or anything,” Gwynn said in a 2012 conversation as the 30th anniversary of his debut approached. “I did want to get a hit in my first game — and I ended up getting my first hit in the eighth inning.”
It was a double to center field off Phillies reliever Sid Monge.
“I got a fastball out over the plate and just kind of carved it in to left-center field,” Gwynn said. “You get to second base, you’re kind of basking in the glory of getting a hit . ... I’m standing on second base, kind of looking around and see them flash on the board that I got my first big-league hit. And as I turned back around, there’s Pete Rose standing in front of me.”
Rose, the Phillies’ first baseman, had been trailing the play.
“First big-league hit, huh?” Rose said.
“Yes, Mr. Rose,” Gwynn said. That’s when Rose stuck out his hand. Gwynn accepted it with a big grin on his face.
“Shaking Pete Rose’s hand is what sticks out for me,” said
Gwynn. “It was an era when veteran guys didn’t say a whole lot to young guys. He didn’t have to do that but he did. That always resonated with me.”
So did this:
After shaking hands, Rose took a few steps back toward first base, stopped, turned and said, “Congratulations, kid. Don’t catch me in one night.”
A day earlier, Gwynn had no idea he was about to be promoted to the major leagues. In fact, when he was called into the office of Doug Rader, Gwynn’s manager at Triple-a Hawaii, the outfielder assumed he was about to be scolded for a baserunning blunder the previous game.
“The night before I had been thrown out at the plate to end the game, and we lost,” Gwynn said. “Doug called me into his office, he closed the door and before he could sit down, I said, ‘Doug, I know I should have picked up my third-base coach a little sooner and that was my fault.’
“He said, ‘Yeah, you’re right, but that’s not why I called you in here.’ Then I didn’t have any idea what he was going to talk about.”
Rader told Gwynn he wouldn’t be playing in that night’s game because there was a plane to catch for the mainland. Gwynn thought Rader was pulling his leg.
“No, I’m serious,” Rader said. “I called my wife, Alicia, who was six months pregnant at the time, and told her,” Gwynn said. “I can still hear the scream out of the phone in my ear of how happy she was that we were going to get to go back to San Diego.”
They flew all night, touching down midmorning at Lindbergh Field.
“My wife slept on the plane, but I couldn’t,” Gwynn said.
Once at their hotel, Gwynn remained restless. So he went to the ballpark — five and half hours before the start of the game. Gwynn’s wife and his parents, who drove down from Long Beach, would settle into their seats somewhat closer to first pitch.
In the clubhouse, Padres equipment manager Ray Peralta directed Gwynn to his locker. Longtime clubhouse man Whitey Wietelmann brought Gwynn his jersey.
“When he handed it to me it was No. 19,” Gwynn said. “When I looked at it, I was just happy it was lower than 53, which is the number I wore in spring training.”
Gwynn said Wietelmann told him that only a few players had worn No. 19 — including Wietelmann for the minor league Padres and, most notably, Ted Williams when he joined the original Padres team in 1936.
Weitelmann concluded by saying, “So don’t disgrace it.”
“I’ll try to do the best that I can, Mr. Wietelmann,” Gwynn said.
The rookie was warmly welcomed in the Padres clubhouse by second baseman Tim Flannery, catcher Terry Kennedy and outfielder Ruppert Jones, among others.
Gwynn did receive some needling. Someone put stick pins along the bottom edge of his jersey. That was the extent of his hazing. That, and one player pretending to throw the ball from Gwynn’s first hit into the stands. It was deposited safely behind glass in Gwynn’s trophy case.
Gwynn had been anxious on the flight from Hawaii wondering if he would play in the game and whether Hall of Fame left-hander Steve Carlton would be on the mound for the Phillies.
Gwynn was in. Carlton wasn’t (Mike Krukow was the starting pitcher). Padres manager Dick Williams penciled Gwynn into the starting lineup in center field. He batted fifth in the order.
“Just play the game like you’ve been playing it,” Gwynn said Williams told him.
Gwynn was surprisingly calm for his first plate appearance.
“I wasn’t nervous in the ondeck circle,” Gwynn said. “As I walked up to the plate, obviously you could hear the crowd cheering for you but when you’re playing you just try to focus in on what you’re trying to do.”
The first-inning at-bat produced a sacrifice fly to center field for his first RBI. A lineout to shortstop and a strikeout followed before the eighth-inning double. Gwynn added a single in the ninth, giving him a 2-for-4 performance in his debut.
Rose also had two hits in the 7-6 Phillies victory, giving him 3,800 for his career. Gwynn, who finished with 3,141 hits, didn’t catch Rose, who retired four years later with 4,256. He made a pretty good go at it, however. No one had more hits than Gwynn over the next 20 years.
Also on this date …
1977: LF Dave Winfield appeared in his first All-star Game at Yankee Stadium, coming off the bench to go 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIS in the NL’S 7-5 win. Winfield appeared in four of his 12 All-star Games as a Padre.
2012: Houston’s Matt Downs’ infield single in the fourth inning is the only hit that Edinson Volquez allowed in a 1-0 win at Petco Park. Volquez struck out five and walked three in the shutout.
kirk.kenney@sduniontribune.com