Summer Classic: Tony Gwynn joins The Fellas

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to a vacation classic edition of no Wrong Choices hosted by the fellas.

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Tushar Saxena, larry Shea and I, larry Samuels, are currently off working on season three until just after Labor Day, so in the interim we thought it would be fun to share some old interviews from our Sirius XM show, the Fellows.

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That show is a little bit different than what we're doing now as it was super sports heavy, but we dug into many career journeys along the way, which was the inspiration for no Wrong Choices.

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We'll lead in with Tushar and I speaking with the late Hall of Fame, where Tony Gwynne, who opened up about a lot of stuff, including what it was like to play and then coached during the steroid era.

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This was a really interesting conversation.

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If you enjoy what you hear, please be sure to subscribe or follow no Wrong Choices on your podcasting platform of choice and to seek us out on the web and social media by searching for no Wrong Choices.

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Here is Tony Gwynne, courtesy of Sirius XM, speaking with Tushar and I leading into the 2006 MLB All-Star Game Weekend.

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Welcome back to the Fellows on Sirius Sports Action 123.

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Along with Tushar Saxena, I'm Larry Samuels, and joining us on the telephone is a man who, I think, knows a thing or two about All-Star Weekends.

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I'm referring to 15 time All-Star Tony Gwynne.

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Tony, how are you?

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I'm doing good.

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How are you guys doing?

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Oh, we're great.

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Are you out in?

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Pittsburgh.

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Now I am.

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How is life right now in Pittsburgh?

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I know you're at the convention center.

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Yeah, they're getting excited.

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I think the fan fest is packed.

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I signed autographs earlier.

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There were so many people in line.

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We ran out of pictures and stuff.

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I'm not surprised.

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I mean, you're one of the most beloved guys.

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I gotta be honest, this is an absolute pleasure for me to have an opportunity to speak to you.

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You're one of my favorite all time players.

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Oh, thank you, tony.

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I gotta ask.

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I mean, you've been a member of so many All-Star teams, so many All-Star Weekends.

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Is it still somewhat special now being outside the game, seeing it from a fan's perspective?

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I've been excited for a whole week about coming to Pittsburgh, love the whole experience 23 All-Star guys making it for the first time.

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I'm sure they're gonna feel just like I felt my first one.

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No matter what you've done in the first half, you just don't believe you belong in the All-Star Clubhouse.

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And it's the veterans of those All-Star teams, it's their job to make sure that those young guys feel like they belong and by the end I'm sure they'll remember this for the rest of their lives.

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Trust me, it's just.

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The All-Star game was always special to me and it didn't matter if you were starting or coming off the bench or were injured.

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I was always here so, and I think fans here are getting pretty excited.

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The last one here in 94 was as good an All-Star atmosphere as you can imagine, and I'm sure it's gonna be the same way here on Tuesday.

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We're talking to 15-time All-Star and future Hall of Fame, or Tony Gwynn right here on the FELLOWS.

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Lock Hall of Fame.

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I don't mean to jinx you, tony.

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Hopefully I didn't screw things up for you.

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Well, you know, I'll wait for that call.

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Everybody's been saying that for me when I was my last few years in the big leagues and now, since I've been retired and to get to where we are now, either get a phone call in January or I won't.

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I'm just kind of anxious, because you play the game as long as I play.

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Obviously, the Hall of Fame would be the crown jewel of all of it, and so when January comes, man, I hope the phone rings.

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I'm sure even I can't screw this up for you.

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You mentioned before memories and how a lot of the players are gonna do some pretty cool things that they'll remember for the rest of their lives as a player.

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What were some of your great All-Star moments?

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Well, that first year walking in that clubhouse like I described, I mean my locker was between Ozzie Smith and Mike Schmidt- and just petrified.

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How old were you?

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And those guys put their arm around me and said you know what you belong.

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This is congratulations.

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You've played great here in the first half and you belong here.

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And so I kind of always remember that.

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And so as the years went by and young guys were making it for the first time, I would make sure I went up to them and told them the same thing, and so that one sticks out the game here in 94 in Pittsburgh, because I played 15 All-Star games.

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That's the only one I actually did anything in you know.

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I knocked in a couple of runs, scored a run, I played the whole game and I ended up scoring the winning run of the game.

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You know we had to lead early.

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Freddie McGriff hit a home run to give us even a chance to win late in the game and we ended up winning it in 10 or 11, I think.

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And so you know, playing here in Pittsburgh, playing in San Diego, being the hometown guy, that was a lot of fun.

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Meet Ted Williams at that one, the one at Fenway where yeah, remember that one.

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The Hall of Famers and Ted Williams were honored before the game.

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That one really sticks out because the atmosphere was electric again.

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But playing wise Pittsburgh is about the only game where I really did some things Others and that Just the whole experience of coming.

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I always look forward to coming in and just being a part of it, because it was always a lot of fun and and for a while there was like the closest I was gonna get to a playoff or world series for a long time and unfortunately yeah, unfortunately yeah, but then at the end of the year went to the playoff a couple of times, went to the world series again, so, but the offer experience is always been one I look forward to tony, which was more special to you personally your first all star game of the last one.

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I think the last one really, because you know I, I I'd let people know I was gonna retire and you know I wouldn't pick to be on the squad.

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But you know they, the major league baseball invited cal ripkin and I to come in and you know it's funny because you play.

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I play 20 years and I never really yeah, I never really got caught up in all the fanfare stuff.

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You know you, just you just play, you do what you do and you feel good about what you do and that's it and I.

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It still amazes me that you know, people still remember who I am, people remember what I did oh please I'm like I was in Seattle, got a stand in ovation and, and you know, guys imploring me to play, to get out there, taking it back and unfortunately my me was shot and I I really couldn't but look it back on it.

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Yes, the adults probably probably more special than the first no, it's great talking to somebody who you know you were such a great player and you get it and you understand.

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The appreciation that that the fans had for you and really would set you apart from a lot of the other guys is that you always came across as a very fan friendly player.

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It was nice guy.

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He was one of the genuine nice guys of the exact and that's why it's such a pleasure to speak with you and see all these accolades get thrown on you because you weren't one of the the the affected people, so to speak.

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Well, yeah, I, like I said I, I learned early on funny, I had a bunch of great teachers in my locker room at the age of a greg nettles, with my locker mate on my right, steve Garvey was on my left and I got a chance to pick their brains early in my career and they really taught me some things about you know how to handle stuff, how to deal with.

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You know you realize early on that everybody was gonna love you.

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You know you get comfortable with what you do and how you do it.

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And you know try to go through, go through life with a smile on your face right, let people know you enjoy doing what you're doing.

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And I did I.

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I I loved going to work every day and I love going out and trying to perform, and trying to perform at a level that you know the best ones perform that.

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But I didn't let it go to my head, you know I'm a football player you know, and so for twenty years that's what I did.

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now I'm coaching those lessons that you learned.

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I learned the first twenty years of really help me here in these last five years being a coach, because Kids want to get to the same point I got to, and and I tell you, you need to understand that when you sign your name on the dotted line is more to it than just Getting a check and plan baseball.

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There's responsibilities that come with it, and if you aren't willing to deal with those responsibilities, you're not gonna be.

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You're not gonna be that big, be as good a player as you can be, because In order to be one better player, you gotta be able to handle all this stuff.

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And so and some guys don't believe me until they actually find a name on the dotted line, and I can imagine, I can imagine they find out what is really like.

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But Again, the whole major league experience for me was an awesome one, and and now that I'm coaching is awesome, and when they give me a chance to come back to these all start games, man, I'm like a kid in the candy store.

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I'm on the first flight and trying to get here.

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Hey, tony I, you mentioned a moment ago that your coach.

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Now, for those who may not know out there, tony gwin, is the current Manager, skipper, head baseball coach for san diego state university.

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How ironic that, mr podger mr san diego state, in san diego, and that's where he's coaching A former alum as well.

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You know one of the former as tech grace as well, hey.

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So I gotta ask me and I'd be remiss if I didn't In this day and age of baseball and that we're seeing with the revelations of hg h and steroids, how do you tell your young players hey, you know what?

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Yes, maybe these, maybe some of these guys did take, did take performance enhancing drugs, but you don't need to do that.

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You should not do that for the, for the, for the respect towards the game and to make sure that you go on to that next level.

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Hard because they see these guys, they know guys are taking it and they wonder what the big deal?

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Yeah, kind of the question I get a lot and I tell them I, you know, I said the.

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Yeah, I played the game straight for twenty years and part of being a really good player is you're gonna have those days where you feel like crap.

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You know you're gonna have those days where your legs aren't good or your arm is hurting or whatever, and mentally you gotta be able to get past that and do what you do now.

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I played in an era that unfortunately, I think is gonna be looked back upon as a steroid here and some of my numbers are gonna look unfavorably upon my career, because for 13 years I was a 329 hit, 329 hitter who thought I knew all there was to know about hitting.

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And then I had a conversation with Ted Williams and all of a sudden I found out some more and I took that advice and I turned the last seven years of my career and I went from 329 to 338.

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But if I remember correctly, the power numbers went down right?

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No, the power numbers went up.

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They did.

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Everything went up.

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Now, when you say power, you go from five to ten.

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Okay, let's remember it.

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I think what your career best was what?

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15 or 17 homers, yeah, so you know the numbers aren't gonna really be that way.

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But you know people who saw me play here in the last 10 years, you know they're gonna remember what type of player I was.

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But in the next 50 when they look back on it, you know who knows how people are gonna proceed those numbers.

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So you know and I tell them you know I played it straight.

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I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish.

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I hope that you will too feel good about what you do, because it's you.

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But you know, as far as them being in college, you know I have a little bit of control.

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We have testing at the college level and you're able to kind of stay on top of things.

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You know you always talk about these supplements and talk about these things that guys are taking.

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We have to have them cleared through our trainer at San Diego State.

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But you know there's always gonna be people who are gonna try to cross that line and the great thing now is at least they have tested and able to test for some of this but now this HGH stuff just kind of throws another monkey wrench into things.

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But again, you're always gonna have those guys trying to, you know, trying to cross that line.

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If they feel like they can get away with it, they're gonna try to cross that line and when they get caught there's a penalty that has to be paid.

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So at least they have that.

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I'm not one to really I'm not one who thinks that there should be asterisk by numbers and stuff.

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I just think you just label it the steroid error.

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I agree with you.

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Let people think what they want to think about it and let's move on.

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You know, because the game today is a different game than the game I played, you know, just five years ago.

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So these players are evolving.

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They're working at their craft, they're bigger, they're stronger, they're faster and I enjoy it because I think the last I would say the last 10 to 15 years people have recognized that this is a sport you have to work full time on.

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You can't just do it like the old days where you go to spring training, get in shape and then go play.

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It's not like that anymore.

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It's a year-round thing.

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Guys are really working at their craft.

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Videos everywhere you know.

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You got guys watching at bats on iPods.

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Sure Sure.

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So you know, those avenues to make yourself a better player are out there and a lot of guys are diving head first into it and I think it's great.

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We're talking to Tony Gwynn on the fellas and, tony, I'm not going to ask you anything about names or players or anything like that.

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I mean, don't worry about that.

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What I'm curious to know you know you played the game for 20 years how did the game change from day one to the last day, in terms of the players, when things became more pressure-filled, when perhaps you know different things started to work into the environment?

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How did the game change over that period?

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That's a really good question, and since I've retired, I think I think about that a whole lot more than I did when I was playing, because when you're playing you're kind of you're lucky in a sense, because you only have to take care of you.

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Yeah, you're also caught up in that moment of everything too.

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Yeah you don't have to really worry about what somebody else is doing.

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Your whole game plan is to figure out what you need to do and work hard at trying to.

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Once you figure it out, you work hard at trying to keep it.

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But looking back on my career, I think you know first few years of my career it was just really all about establishing myself and trying to get to that point where I felt like I belonged.

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And then from about the middle 80s to the early 90s, to me it was about trying to get better, trying to actually get better at my craft.

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But somewhere in the late 80s and early 90s there was a sentiment that something's going on here.

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Guys are starting to do things that we hadn't seen in the game.

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And then from about the middle 90s to the time I retired, I think for the most part lots of people knew that there was stuff going on but there wasn't any real way to tell you know.

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Sure.

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The players were mumbling under their breath, press was mumbling under their breath.

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I even think baseball people were mumbling under their breath.

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They had their thoughts, they had their suspicions, but they kind of kept it to themselves until this thing blew.

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And then, when Conceal's book came out, there were lots of doubters.

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Sure, Initially absolutely.

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That's what he said.

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But I think people who played the game especially if you played the game as long as I played it you kind of thought that, hey, you know, there probably is some truth to that.

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Tony, as a player, did you resent these guys that you thought were using?

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At first I did, I think I did, but when I really think about it again, I just knew I couldn't do what some of these guys were doing.

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Okay.

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Home runs wasn't my game, so I didn't really focus on it.

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You know, it just wasn't a part of my game and I wasn't really so concerned that, you know, somebody didn't more home runs than me or whatever, because everybody did, you know, and so I just kind of got locked into what I was doing, like I said.

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But you know, ken Kamini played on my team.

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Absolutely.

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I worked with him every day.

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I took extra batting practice with him every day and I saw how hard he worked at his craft and I just figured that he's having this kind of success because he's working hard at his craft with no idea that he was taking steroids.

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So again, when you're playing you kind of get tunnel vision and then when you retire you have a chance to kind of reflect and look back on all the stuff that's happened and I just, you know the steroid error was just what it was.

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It's an error.

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The guys must have been trying to do it and it wasn't just hitters, I think it was pitchers.

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And you know you just dealt with it.

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You know there wasn't anything you could do about it.

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So you just went and played and you tried to be the best player that you could be.

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Hey, Tony, I was talking to Paul Blair on earlier in the show, the great outfielder from the Orioles back in the 60s and 70s, and we asked him this question.

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We asked him, you know, are you happy with the state of the game today?

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And I mean you're a very recent graduate, so to speak.

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You know, unlike Paul Blair, Are you happy with the state of baseball today?

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Right now I am.

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I think we're headed in a more positive direction.

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I think, obviously, you have some things that still have to be dealt with.

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You know, what are we going to do about this HGH?

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How are we going to?

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Is there going to be a test for you know?

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Other than that, I think you look at the game.

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The game itself is good.

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I think the American League has Dominated play here, Not only in the All-Star game, but in World Series here the last few years.

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Do you like the All-Star game, meaning home field for it?

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No, okay.

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I don't like the fact that the World Series is determined on who wins the All-Star okay but I I do like the fact that If it makes it a competitive game, if players feel like it you know it makes it competitive, then so be.

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I think that's good.

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But I don't really agree with the, with the other part.

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But I think the stage of the game is pretty good.

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Fans are coming out in record numbers, lots of interest on TV.

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You know you have different avenues now to to enjoy a major league game.

00:18:05.075 --> 00:18:09.169
You can watch it on TV, you can hear it on your, on your computer.

00:18:09.169 --> 00:18:16.508
They've got in be MLB, calm and just all kind of avenues to watch games and people are watching and I think that's good.

00:18:16.508 --> 00:18:21.147
But the focus everybody focuses in on the negative.

00:18:21.249 --> 00:18:25.607
Yeah but I think, in the big picture, I think the game is headed in a positive direction.

00:18:25.607 --> 00:18:27.275
More kids are playing it now than ever before.

00:18:28.017 --> 00:18:32.007
Hey, I got to ask one last question before I have one last question for me before we look kind of let you go.

00:18:32.007 --> 00:18:39.946
Tony, I know that you were on two World Series teams 1984, 1998, how I you know it's it's.

00:18:39.946 --> 00:18:56.148
I feel bad for the fact that the Padres, who took, who took so long to go between they, ran into two buzz saws of teams, the first in 1984 against the Tigers, yeah, who coasted the second half of the season, and then, of course, the 98 Yankees, who said all sorts of records for wins in the regular season.

00:18:56.148 --> 00:18:59.474
I, both of those, both of those Padres teams, were very good.

00:18:59.474 --> 00:19:01.097
Which one was the better one?

00:19:01.097 --> 00:19:06.910
And how resentful you're the fact that the two times you go you face two of the great teams in the modern era.

00:19:07.737 --> 00:19:19.970
It's funny because that 98 team I think the best Padres team that's ever been in existence and you know, and we would happen to play probably who a lot of people consider the best team of all time.

00:19:20.676 --> 00:19:24.773
Yeah exactly and as good as our team was it?

00:19:24.773 --> 00:19:32.401
It, when I look back on that series, we have swept four games and then and I look back on that series, they're the only team.

00:19:32.401 --> 00:19:33.104
They made you.

00:19:33.104 --> 00:19:34.470
They made you throw strikes.

00:19:34.470 --> 00:19:36.798
If you didn't throw strikes, they would take walks.

00:19:36.798 --> 00:19:41.779
They pitched it, they caught it, they base ran and they just were a great, great team.

00:19:41.779 --> 00:19:43.723
And you know better team one.

00:19:43.723 --> 00:19:44.786
They beat us four in a row.

00:19:44.806 --> 00:19:52.710
But In the 84 team the Tigers started the year 35 exactly coast in the second half of the season.

00:19:52.710 --> 00:19:53.557
What are you?

00:19:53.557 --> 00:19:54.162
What are you gonna do?

00:19:54.162 --> 00:19:56.938
But I wouldn't trade those two experiences for anything.

00:19:56.938 --> 00:20:03.301
You know, the Tigers Having a chance to play at old Tiger Stadium and and face those guys, that was great.

00:20:03.301 --> 00:20:11.970
Going to Yankee Stadium and playing, you know, in the biggest stage in the world and in the big Apple, that was great, even though we lost four in a row.

00:20:11.970 --> 00:20:21.642
And so for me, I look back on my career and have an opportunity to play in two world series and feel thankful, because there's lots of guys who've never had the opportunity at all.

00:20:21.642 --> 00:20:24.159
But sometimes that's just the way it goes, you know.

00:20:24.159 --> 00:20:34.155
I mean, sure, we worked hard and we got there and unfortunately we were where In my years we were one and eight it was.

00:20:34.155 --> 00:20:36.049
It was a great experience well, tony.

00:20:36.109 --> 00:20:43.922
We definitely enjoyed the experience of getting to watch you play, and I know that you're at Pittsburgh this weekend for the All-Star game and and you're doing some work for DVT.

00:20:44.182 --> 00:20:45.750
Yeah, you, you'd mentioned Paul Blair.

00:20:45.750 --> 00:20:48.076
He too is is doing some work.

00:20:48.116 --> 00:21:28.046
When, in 1997, I had a blood clot in my in my right leg and, like I was telling you guys, I was really focused on playing, yeah, I really didn't, really didn't pay as much attention to it as I should have, and and once I retired, you start to do some research on it and In my case, in my case, it was like a knot in my calf and it turned out to be a blood clot and you know, I ended up going on thinners and having a problem taking care of but I mean, you come to find out that 200,000 people Wow die a year because of complications from blood clots and the Unfortunate thing with Paul Blair, his son being a victim of DVT.

00:21:28.066 --> 00:21:28.890
Oh, it's unbelievable.

00:21:29.432 --> 00:21:30.576
And so some of us are.

00:21:30.576 --> 00:21:47.193
You know we wanted to get involved and let people know about the risk factors which are, you know, getting older, hip or knee surgery, cancer, chemotherapy treatment, in some cases, a heart and respiratory disease and even pregnancy.

00:21:47.193 --> 00:21:49.820
These could be risk factors for you.

00:21:49.820 --> 00:21:54.058
And so, you know, go to your doctor, have your doctor check it out.

00:21:54.058 --> 00:22:02.589
In my case, I was lucky because, like I said, I was focused on playing, but he was focused on the big picture and yet be the kind of treatment that I needed to take care of it.

00:22:04.553 --> 00:22:11.773
And then good, and most, most cases, you know, it can, it can be prevented, and then that's why we're here, that's why we're talking about it.

00:22:11.773 --> 00:22:16.846
And so, when you see a doctor, have him check to make sure that things are okay.

00:22:16.846 --> 00:22:34.923
If there's questions you might have or our information that you're seeking, you can go to dvtnet and Hopefully you know there, there you can find some of the answers, because if it's caught in time, the risk can be reduced in In most cases, and so that was the case with me.

00:22:34.923 --> 00:22:44.538
And when I have this opportunity, I try to use my what little celebrity I have left to try to help people, and so hopefully this can help some people out there with list.

00:22:44.759 --> 00:22:45.240
Well, totally.

00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:52.422
Hopefully you'll be able to help somebody in our audience tonight and, as we say goodbye, I need a prediction from you who's gonna win the all-star game.

00:22:55.531 --> 00:22:57.317
I'm a national league or so you know.

00:22:57.317 --> 00:23:05.368
I know we've lost like eight of last nine or nine or last ten, but hopefully this will be the one that they'll break through allegiance rests somewhere.

00:23:05.429 --> 00:23:08.470
Tony, thank you so much for joining us on the fellas All right guys, thank you.

00:23:08.691 --> 00:23:21.173
That was Tony Gwynne, who was an obvious thrill for us to speak with as big baseball fans, and we also feel incredibly lucky to have recorded that prior to his passing in 2014, at the age of 54, he died of cancer.

00:23:21.173 --> 00:23:24.683
Thank you again to serious XM for allowing us to share that with you.

00:23:24.683 --> 00:23:33.036
As I mentioned off the top, we'll be sharing other interviews from our old show, the fellas, over the next few weeks as we get ready For season three of no wrong choices.

00:23:33.036 --> 00:23:35.181
We'll launch that just after Labor Day.

00:23:35.181 --> 00:23:51.801
In the interim, we hope you'll explore some older episodes of no wrong choices that you may have missed along the way and Encourage you to subscribe or follow us on your podcasting platform of choice and on Facebook, instagram threads and now X, by searching for no wrong choices.

00:23:51.801 --> 00:23:55.874
On behalf of Tushar Saxena and Larry Shay, I'm Larry Samuels.

00:23:55.874 --> 00:23:59.567
Thank you again for joining us and remember there are no wrong choices.

00:23:59.567 --> 00:24:03.111
On the road to success, we learn from every experience.

Summer Classic: Tony Gwynn joins The Fellas

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