tony gwynn is in my hall of famer collection

the fact that steve garvey joined the padres prior to the 1983 season gave me a reason to follow the dodgers' nl west rival, and it also helped me tune in to tony gwynn early in his career.  gwynn is in my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that is a 1997 donruss signature series millennium marks autograph. it's numbered on the back:

to address the back of the card first - gwynn did hit over .300 in 1998 and 1999, and in his final two seasons (2000 and 2001) as well. in fact, gwynn never hit less than .309 in a season outside of his 54-game rookie campaign in 1982 (in which he hit .289). and, while his at bats in his last two seasons were limited, i believe he has received credit for a national league record 19 consecutive seasons batting over .300.

as i mentioned up top, having gwynn in the nl west allowed me lots of access to his exploits during his early years that i may not have otherwise had. i went to a dodger/padres game in april of 1983, but gywnn was not with the big club at that time. he returned to the majors in june of that year, and faced the dodgers in his first games back. we listened to the game on the radio, and afterwards my friends and i were digging through our 1983 cards to see how many gwynns we had.  my fandom grew from there as i followed the pads pretty closely through their 1984 run to the world series.

while i watched the dodgers play the padres on local tv as often as i could, i didn't get to see gwynn play in person until i was in college and living in orange county.  i tried to get to a few dodger (and angel) games each year, and made it a point to see the pads at dodger stadium in 1991.  gwynn was coming off of his fourth batting title that year, and i saw him twice. he went 3 for 9 over those two games, predictably, but that was it.

later in the decade, i was spending a fair amount of time in san diego and realized that it was a great place to see the dodgers play.  one game i attended at jack murphy stadium was on september 30, 1995. gwynn tripled in his first at bat off of rookie sensation hideo nomo, and then singled in a later at bat. this was the penultimate game of the 1995 season, and the game wherein the dodgers clinched the nl west title, so it was exciting for me to be in attendance. however, one of the things i recall most about the game was the standing ovations (plural) that the fans (myself included) gave to gwynn throughout the game.

i saw gwynn play at the murph/qualcomm a couple more times in 1996 and again in 1998, the latter of which saw him go 2 for 3 with a double and a single in a hitting clinic. overall, he was 7 for 20 in games that i attended in person which is about right given that his career average was .338. that is the highest average for any player of the modern era not named ted williams - a guy with ties to san diego that gwynn admired and spoke with many times about the fine art of hitting.

i was at the metrodome in 2006 when joe mauer carved up dodger pitching, going 11 for 14 over the three game series. at the time, i was thinking to myself that i had not seen a hitting display like that since watching tony gwynn in the 90's. that is still my bar for hitting excellence.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relic

nap lajoie - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

tris speaker - 2011 topps tribute dual relic green parallel 53/75

eddie collins - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

george sisler - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

dizzy dean - 2001 topps tribute relic

hank greenberg - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

bob feller - 2001 topps archives certified autograph

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relic

ted williams - 1992 upper deck baseball heroes autograph 1067/2000

stan musial - 2002 topps team topps legends autograph

yogi berra - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1640/2000

sandy koufax - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1707/2000

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints certified autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

bob gibson - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

frank robinson - 1995 upper deck autograph

don drysdale - 1993 nabisco all-star autographs

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

pee wee reese - 2001 topps tribute relic

jim hunter - 1998 donruss signature series significant signatures 0736/2000

willie stargell - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures 

jim palmer - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

fergie jenkins - 2013 topps five star baseball autograph 154/333

gaylord perry - 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

hal newhouser - 1993 front row premium all-time greats autograph

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autograph 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autograph 43/45

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback 048/147

phil niekro - 2017 panini donruss recollection collection 1983 donruss buyback autograph 13/33

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

carlton fisk - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

tony perez - 2004 fleer national pastime 2002 fleer greats authentic autograph buyback 30/59

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

ozzie smith - 2019 topps finest finest origins autograph

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

eddie murray - 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary sigs 45/50 

dennis eckersley - 2017 topps archives signature series 1984 topps buyback 47/99

paul molitor - 2016 topps museum collection archival autographs 021/125

wade boggs - 2005 upper deck baseball heroes autograph red parallel 30/49

ryne sandberg - 2016 topps five star autographs gold parallel 17/50

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites certified autograph

tony gwynn - 1997 donruss signature series millennium marks autograph 0702/1000

cal ripken jr - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 32/75

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants past time signatures

andre dawson - 2000 fleer greats of the game autograph

bert blyleven - 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams autograph

ron santo - 2004 topps retired signature autograph

greg maddux - 2018 topps luminaries masters of the mound autograph 13/15

pedro martinez - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 09/60

ken griffey jr - 2003 upper deck game face autograph

tim raines - 2018 topps tribute tribute autograph green parallel 26/95

alan trammell - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

roy halladay - 2017 topps archives signature series 2004 topps buyback 15/23

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

roger clemens* - 1995 upper deck autograph

 

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.