Gwynn fan

Tony Gwynn was 11 years old, watching from his family's home in Long Beach when Reggie Jackson hit the home run out of Tiger Stadium in the 1971 All-Star Game.

Eleven years old, but Gwynn can tell you about Reggie's home run that clanked a light tower, plus several other home runs that night by future Hall of Famers.

Gwynn also can tell you about walking into the National League All-Stars' clubhouse, wide-eyed, as a rookie outfielder in 1984. And about about the winning run he scored in the 1994 All-Star Game at Three Rivers Stadium, and why he pumped his first afterward.

Ask him about 1999, when Gwynn was 38, and he'll tell of standing next to Ted Williams in Fenway Park, tingling, amid an All-Star pregame ceremony for the ages.

Mr. Padre, as Gwynn is known in San Diego, could double as Mr. All-Star Game. Baseball's summer showcase threads through his life.

As a boy Gwynn made sure to watch All-Star game introductions, keen to see any Los Angeles Dodger. He always rooted for the National League. Still does.

A Hall of Fame career that spanned 20 seasons took Gwynn to 15 All-Star games as a player. "I've got so many great All-Star memories," Gwynn, 51, said before a recent Padres game in San Diego.

Let's join the career .338 hitter on an All-Star tour:

1971, Tiger Stadium, Detroit

"My favorite All-Star Game was the one they played in Detroit," Gwynn says. "Reggie went deep, Hank Aaron went deep and I think Roberto Clemente went deep, all of these Hall of Famers in this game went deep. It was awesome.

"I was rooting for the National League and always hoping a Dodger guy would get in there. (Dodgers outfielder) Willie Davis got in there and got a hit in that game, and I was like, 'Wow, that's my guy!' I thought that's what most kids did. Today, I don't know that they do.

"The coolest part of the All-Star Game for me was the introductions, seeing your guy from your city get introduced..That's why I like the fact that every team has to be represented, so that gives every fan in every city a reason to watch. It seems like that's going down the drain now. Fans want to see the best guys, and I understand that."

(Gwynn was right about the Hall of Famers hitting home runs. Hamon Killebrew, Johnny Bench and Frank Robinson also hit home runs in the '71 game. The American League won 6-4 but the NL, to Gwynn's delight, will win the next 11 All-Star Games.)

1984, Candlestick Park, San Francisco

"First time you go, you're just scared as heck, intimidated as heck," Gwynn says, laughing. "My first year, we're at San Francisco and my locker was between Ozzie Smith and Mike Schmidt, Candlestick Park, and I was carrying my bag to my locker, and they're like, 'Come on over here, rook.'

"These are guys that , at that point, I grew up watching on TV, and now all of a sudden my locker is between both of them. It was great. You're scared and nervous but ultimately you dream about playing in one of those, and my first one was great. I had a base hit, stole a base. I thought, 'God, this is all right; it's going to be easy.' And then I didn't get a hit for awhile. The only two games I think I got multiple hits in were Toronto (1991) and that game in Pittsburgh."

1994, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh

"The first All Star Game that I actually did something," Gwynn says, laughing. "I knocked in a couple of runs (with a tie-breaking double to right field). Lenny Dykstra was supposed to start in center, but he was hurt. So I started in center and I hadn't played in center since whenever. So the first ball Frank Thomas hit to me was a divebombing sinker and I barely got a glove on it.

"But I played the whole game. I got the double, first and second one out off David Cone. I got a base hit (off Jason Bere) to start that 10th inning off. (Moises) Alou doubled me in, and I scored the winning run.

"There was a little fistpump when I scored. I'm embarrassed every time I see it now because it's like one of the few times I ever did that. (Gwynn's son) Anthony rags me about it: 'Look at that left hand; look at that left hand! But that was a cool moment for me," Gwynn says. "The National League won. That was the first time the National League won in (six) years. I wanted to win. And I'm sure it's the same thing now, with the World Series homefield advantage at stake."

1999, Fenway Park, Boston

"Awesome. I didn't play. I was hurt but I was definitely going. Getting to take batting practice for two days at Fenway was a lot of fun. But I had no idea what was going to happen before that game started. I'm taking BP, and somebody from Major League Baseball came up to me and said, 'Mr. Williams wants you to be out there when he throws out the first pitch.' And I was like, 'What?'

"We had the All-Century Team guys there. We showed highlights of the pregame stuff for a couple of days when we got back to San Diego.

"I get goosebumps just talking about it."

Photo: ewen and donabel, Creative Commons 2.0