Gwynn Wants to Be MVP, but Most of All He’s . . . : Looking for Recognition

Welcome to Tony Gwynn’s annual identity crisis. Ballots for the Most Valuable Player and Gold Glove awards have just been mailed to the media and baseball people, and odds are that Gwynn will be forgotten.

As usual.

Tony Gwynn is the Padres’ MVP, but he’s not their Most Visible Person. Steve Garvey wins that distinction hands down. And Gwynn goes into a shell any time he’s surrounded by five or more people. And he’s not the Padres’ Most Vain Person, either.

Somehow, though, it is hardly fair that the MVP and Gold Glove awards are, in part, popularity contests. Gary Carter is batting .242 with 21 homers and 95 runs batted in, and The Sporting News is saying this week that he’s the favorite for the league MVP. Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt is batting .289 with 36 homers and 116 RBIs and Houston’s Glenn Davis is batting .267 with 29 homers and 96 RBIs, yet both seem to be an afterthought.

This is because (a) Carter’s Mets are in first place, (b) Carter, a catcher, has done a great job with the Met pitching staff, (c) he likes television cameras and (d) he happens to play in a Very Big Apple.

Meanwhile, Gwynn leads the National League in batting average (.332), hits (198) and runs scored (95). He has thrown out 15 runners from right field and stolen five bases in one game. And still may not get any MVP votes.

This is because (a) the Padres are in last place, so how valuable can he be? and (b) he plays in San Diego. If New York is a big apple, San Diego is your average everyday raisin.

Gwynn shouldn’t win the MVP award, but shouldn’t he get a vote?

And shouldn’t he win a Gold Glove? He says he used to have a spaghetti arm, but it looks as if he has straightened it out. And he makes a 9.9 degree-of-difficulty catch once a week.

“I won’t win it,” he says.

His reasoning: Nobody’s paid attention in the past.

If he does win the Gold Glove, it might be because of one game against the Mets in San Diego. With a lot of people watching back in New York, he had three hits, two steals, almost ran through a wall to make a catch and tossed out three baserunners.

The following week, the Padres were in New York. Gwynn’s wife and kid flew in to join him there, and he had an uplifting encounter at the airport.

As Gwynn waited for the plane, he was your average kind of guy--wearing sneakers, jeans and stereo headphones. A man walked by, looked Gwynn in the eye, put his head down and began to walk away.

Then the man turned.

“Hey, aren’t you Tony Gwynn?”

Gwynn, shocked, said: “Uh huh.”

“I’m glad to meet you,” the man said. “I saw that game you had against the Mets when you threw those guys out. That was the best game I’ve ever seen.”

Gwynn, shocked, said: “Thank you.”

Later, he said: “Nobody has ever recognized me here before. Not ever.”

Here’s a recent question-and-answer session with Gwynn:

Question: Are you ever going to win an MVP award?

Answer: I thought I had the numbers in ’84 (a .351 batting average for a first-place team). But, at the time, I was just happy to be in there. It was my first full season, and I had a good season, and the team did well. I was just happy to be in the top three or top five of the (MVP) balloting.

Q: What about now?

A: Well, the more I played and the more I played against teams, I saw the guys who were considered MVP candidates, and I’d see what they’d do. And I came to the conclusion that a guy will never win an MVP unless he hits 20 home runs, or close to 20, and drives in close to 100 runs. Unless it’s a pitcher.

Q: You’re sure?

A: The things I do best don’t fit into the MVP-type category. You think of MVP and the things you think of are home runs and RBIs. What I do is get hits, hit for average and score runs. Those are the three things I do best offensively. . . . Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to be an MVP one year, but I don’t honestly think I have a chance. . . . Same with Gold Glove.

Q: You have to have a chance to win a Gold Glove.

A: Well, I am--in my own mind. . . . I’m hoping I am. That would get me closer to my goal of being a complete player. It’s out of my hands. . . . I mean, I’d like to win the batting title again, I’d like to win the Gold Glove and I’d like to be the MVP. But two out of the three I have no control over (MVP is voted by the media; Gold Glove by managers and coaches), so I can’t worry about it.

Q: Don’t you think you’ve had a decent year? You’re only hitting .330, you know.

A: It’s been, by far, the best year I’ve had since I’ve been here. The numbers may not reflect that, but I’ve hit the ball better than in ’84. I’ve hit for more power, scored more runs. I think I’ve been better. And I’ll keep working hard.

Q: You want 200 hits badly, don’t you?

A: If I don’t get it, it’ll be my own fault, and I’ll be upset. Because of what Pete Rose told me last year. . . . See, I had fouled a ball off my shin late in the year, and we were about to face Rick Honeycutt, who I don’t hit too well. So I took the next day off. When I saw Rose a couple days later, he said, “Why the hell did you take yesterday off, man? You could’ve had three hits. You don’t know. You can’t be ducking people. Two hundred hits is the plateau every hitter wants. It looks like you’ll fall short. I’ve had 198 hits so many times. Man, 198 hits! Anytime you can get 200 hits, get it.” Well, I’m listening to Pete. I fouled a ball off my foot this year, and I could’ve rested, but I’m trying for 200 hits.

Q: Who you picking for MVP?

A: I’d pick Mike Schmidt, but I think Gary Carter is gonna win it. Still, though, I think Schmidt should win it. He and Dave Parker have put up consistent numbers.

Q: What if the Padres were contending this year?

A: I think I’d have a shot. I think some of the things I’m doing this year are catching the attention of people.

Q: But do you even care if they notice?

A: I can walk downtown in any city in the National League and nobody will recognize me, which is great, really, because I can go out and get things done that I want to get done. I think playing in San Diego has its drawbacks as far as getting attention, but I’m not in it for attention. . . . Garv? Everywhere he goes, people know him. We could be in any airport. We could have a stop in Kansas City, and we’re walking to our plane, and people say, “Hey, that’s Steve Garvey!” The rest of us will be following, and they don’t know us.

Back in New York one day, Padre coaches held this conversation about Gwynn:

Manager Steve Boros: I think he’ll win a Gold Glove.

Batting coach Deacon Jones: Tony? If he don’t win it, then there shouldn’t even be an award.

Boros: You can quote him. Deacon Jones is his name. J-O-N-E-S.

Bench coach Harry Dunlop: He has one thing in his favor. He had that game against the Mets. A friend of mine in New York said that’s the greatest game he’s ever seen a right fielder play.

Jones: I know the police chief from White Plains and that game was all he’d talk about.

Boros: As far as MVP, so many writers give that award to someone on a winning club. It’s tough to overcome that. . . . Plus, Gary Carter plays in New York.

Third base coach Jack Krol (suddenly looking up from his newspaper): Well, if the (bleeping) news media did a better (bleeping) job of promoting the (bleeping) good things out there (in San Diego), someone else like Tony would get it instead of players from New York, Chicago and L.A.! Remember who you heard that from!

Boros: You can quote him. His name is Jack Krol. K-R-O-L.