Barry Bloom - Tony Gwynn. Mr. Padre

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ISBN: 978-1-61321-155-7

Tony has played his entire major-league career for the Padres. (AP/Wide World Photos)

A fter 16 years playing major league baseball, Tony Gwynn finally made it to Yankee Stadium.

Having grown up in southern California and playing his entire career in the National League with the San Diego Padres, Tony never had the opportunity to visit one of the great shrines of baseball history. He had played many games across New York at Shea Stadium, the ballpark in Flushing, Queens, that is home to the New York Mets. Shea isnt Yankee Stadium, known for more than 70 years as The House That Ruth built.

Tony made his first visit to Yankee Stadium in 1998. (AP/Wide World Photos)

It is 10 miles by car between the two ballparks spanning two boroughs, one bridge and two parkways. By subway the two-hour trip is long and difficult, winding its way through mid-town Manhattan where passengers must change from the Flushing line to the Lexington Avenue line for the Bronx.

In baseball terms, the trip is also a hard one. Shea Stadium was built on a garbage dump and opened in 1964. Yankee Stadium opened in 1923 just across the river from the old Polo Grounds, the home of baseballs New York Giants. That stadium served for a time as the home of the Yankees, and in its final two years before it was torn down, was the home of the expansion Mets. The Yankees have won 24 World Series championships; the Mets have won two.

Tony, who understands and appreciates the history of the game he plays, knew about the significance of Yankee Stadium. So when his Padres won their second National League pennant in 1998, advancing to the World Series, it was with a special reverence that Tony prepared to make his first visit to Yankee Stadium.

Tony warms up before the 1998 World Series begins in 1998. (AP/Wide World Photos)

The first two games were in New York. The Stadium had changed a great deal since Babe Ruth hit a home run in the first game there, having been renovated in the 1970s, but that didnt matter to Tony.

The day before the opening game is reserved for workouts, and Tony awoke early and left the team hotel with Anthony, his 16-year-old son. They decided to take the subway north through east Harlem and into the Bronx. They entered the stadium through an outfield gate, and instead of heading directly to the visiting clubhouse, they walked toward the famed Monument Garden beyond the left-center field fence. Tony was so much in awe that he made the trip twice.

Tony has a great appreciation for the history of baseball (AP/Wide World Photos)

That first time, he wanted to see the monuments in private, without the pressure of the media watching him. A Yankee Stadium guard almost kept Tony from the area until he recognized him.

Later, as the Padres took batting practice, a television crew and several reporters went along as Tony again looked at the tributes to all of the great Yankees of the past. It occurred to Tony that the Yankees had already won 20 World Championships before the Padres franchise was born in 1969.

Its impressive, Tony said. So many great players. So much history. Tony stood in front of the original three monuments honoring Ruth, Lou Gehrig and manager Miller Huggins. And the way they have it done, wow, there are some museums that arent this plush.

In the Garden, the retired numbers of 15 Yankees players rest on a bank of flowers just below the bullpens, including Roger Maris (9), Mickey Mantle (7) and Reggie Jackson (44). The original three monuments are set aside just as they once were around the flag pole. Before the stadium was renovated in 1972, those monuments and the flag pole were on the field460-feet away from home plate.

Tony receives congratulations from teammate Andy Ashby after another of Tonys game-winning hits. (API Wide World Photos)

I had no idea that was the home run wall back there, Tony said. You learn something new about the game every year you play. This place kind of reminds me of the Hall of Fame. You walk into that room and see the plaques honoring all the great players who have played the game. Theres only something like 200 players in there. You realize its something to make the Hall of Fame.

When Tony began playing baseball, he could only dream about places like Yankee Stadium and the Hall of Fame.

Tony (at left) and his younger brother, Chris Gwynn. (AP/Wide World Photos)

T ony grew up in Long Beach, Californianot far from downtown Los Angeles. He went to college at San Diego State, almost as far away from New York as one can get and still be in the United States.

Tony was the second oldest of three boys in a close-knit, working class family. Tony considered his mom, Vendella, a postal employee, the glue of his family, and his dad Charles, who worked in shipping and receiving for the state of California, the rock. Tony preceded younger brother Chris as a baseball player at San Diego State and in the majors. Years later, in 1996, the only season the two played together with the Padres, Chris got the extra-inning, extra-base hit in the seasons final game against the Dodgers that won only the Padres second National League West title.