Gwynn Thoughts: The statue, the brick

On Thursday I wrote of a few initial memories that arose from the ashes of my mind after hearing of Tony Gwynn's pending cancer surgery. I meant to continue with my Gwynn thoughts on Friday but life found a way to interrupt my little plans. This was from the 2007 season . . .

I knew this girl. She was not a baseball fan. But it was tickets to a ball game she had received for some demonstration of excellence. She knew I was a baseball fan however and quickly approached me to make the sale.

Sheepishly, I replied to her sales pitch, "Awww . . . I don't know. Those seats are pretty expensive." 

She reduced the price and I guiltily scooped them up. This particular game was to be played off in the future. July 21st to be exact. Against the Phillies. Excited that the seats were right behind the visitors' dugout I filed away the tickets and didn't give the game another thought . . .

As the date came-up on me over the summer I realized it would be the game in which Tony Gywnn would be immortalized with a statue at the Park in the Park. 

Earlier that year as a Valentine's Day gift for Mrs. AJM I had purchased a brick inscribed with our daughter's name to be placed around the base of the statue. Perfectly, I had purchased tickets to the game in which Tony Gwynn would be recognized for his career accomplishments. One week later he would head to Cooperstown to be enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

The seats were three rows behind the visitor's dugout, the best seats I ever had to a game. And that is my most vivid memory* -- being close to the Phillies players as Ted Leitner served as Master of Ceremonies. Each player -- Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and the rest of the Phillies -- stood at the top of the dugout with stares fixed on Gwynn. I may have spent more time watching them pay their respects to Gwynn than watching Gwynn receive a career summation from Leitner. I didn't feel too bad about it though -- I have a brick.

*This game was absolutely brutal. The Phillies stomped the Padres into the ground. The fossil known as Jamie Moyer, baffled the Padres into submission and Ryan Howard destroyed whoever was pitching for the home nine.

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Research tells me that the match-up between Jaime Moyer and David Wells (both 44 years old) combined to be the second oldest pitching match-up in the history of the game:

On Saturday, the second-oldest match-up will take place at PETCO Park between the San Diego Padres' David Wells and the Philadelphia Phillies' Jamie Moyer.
The 44-year-olds will have a combined age of 88 years, 307 days when they take the mound, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

They didn't think to mention who was #1 so I went and found it for you (us). Here it is: The oldest pitching match-up occurred in 1987 when Don Sutton and Phil Niekro got after it at 90 years and 135 days. Interestingly enough, in 2007 the mark for the oldest lefty match-up was set four different times:

April 12th: Jamie Moyer versus Tom Glavine
April 24th: David Wells versus Randy Johnson
May 9th: Jaime Moyer versus Randy Johnson
July 21st: David Wells versus Jamie Moyer.

What a fun year for old people.

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To be specific regarding Ryan Howard. He hit two HRs, one of which landed in the upper deck in left center field, and finished with 5 RBI. Just so I can describe the destruction with a degree of precision, ya know.

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Milton Bradley fell a double short of the cycle. It was his 10th game as a Padre.

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Khalil Green left three runners on base and Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out twice. I. Am. Shocked!

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Thank you, Mr. Padre.