When Decision Time Came, It Was Baseball All The Way For Tony Gwynn

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Tony Gwynn pulled off one of the rarest doubles in draft history on June 9, 1981. He was drafted that day by professional teams in baseball and basketball, by the San Diego Padres and San Diego Clippers, in the same city where he played the two sports as a collegiate star.

For three years, Gwynn had excelled as a point guard for San Diego State, and helped turn around a downtrodden program. He earned all-conference honors as a senior, while becoming the school’s all-time assists leader. Basketball was his passion. But when the 5-foot-11 Gwynn was forced to make a decision on which sport to pursue professionally, it wasn’t a tough call. It was baseball all the way.

Even though Gwynn didn’t play baseball as a freshman, and joined the Aztecs baseball team only at the conclusion of basketball each of the next three springs, he excelled at his second sport. As a fourth-year junior, he hit .416 with 11 homers and 62 RBIs, in spite of missing the first 20 games of the season. “I thought I could play baseball for a long time,” Gwynn said. “In the NBA, guys who are 5-11 usually only last one or two years. There is always someone coming out of the draft who is better than you are.”

Gwynn excelled in both sports at Long Beach Poly High. He hit .563 as a senior, but was recruited almost exclusively to play basketball. He chose San Diego State because basketball coach Tim Vezie agreed to let him play baseball. But when an overweight Gwynn was a freshman, Vezie reversed course and forbade him from playing baseball, putting him on a conditioning program and get in better shape for basketball.

A year later, Bobby Meacham, a highly recruited freshman shortstop who remembered Gwynn as an outstanding hitter in high school, spotted him on campus and pushed Aztecs baseball coach Jim Dietz to give him a shot. A skeptical Dietz did, though only after two of his outfielders were injured. “There were flaws.” Dietz recalled. “He was way behind in fundamentals. His throwing arm wasn’t developed. I watched him in batting practice, though, and he a short, compact swing. Within a few days, he was hitting everything thrown at him. So we hid him in left field and went from there.”

Gwynn hit .301 in his first season, mostly in a reserve role. He spent two more seasons juggling basketball and baseball. By 1981, Meacham had emerged as a star and attracted droves of scouts, which also benefited Gwynn. By hitting in excess of .400 for a second straight season, Gwynn also convinced scouts he was a viable baseball prospect.

The Padres focused on Gwynn because general manager Jack McKeon was a regular at San Diego State games to watch his son Kelly. McKeon took a liking to Gwynn and pushed hard to draft him as early as the second round. They took him one round later, and signed him for $25,000.

Gwynn wasted little time in proving he could hit professional pitching. Assigned to short-season Walla Walla, he hit a league-best .331, and with 12 homers and 37 RBIs might have won a Northwest League triple crown had he not been promoted to Double-A Amarillo, where he hit .462 with four homers in 23 games. Of equal significance, Gwynn developed into more of a complete player.

“After a couple of weeks at Walla Walla, I felt my arm getting stronger and stronger,” Gwynn said. “I didn’t do anything special to work on it. I was just able to play and throw every day without worrying about basketball or my studies.”

From there, it was just a matter of time until Gwynn joined the Padres. He did on July 19, 1982, and remained in San Diego for 20 years, winning eight batting titles while hitting .338 overall. By the time he finally hung it up after the 2001 season, Gwynn had built his Hall of Fame credentials with 3,141 hits and five Gold Glove Awards.

After his playing career, Gwynn succeeded Dietz as the baseball coach at San Diego State in 2002, and remained in the role until he died in 2014 of salivary gland cancer.