Finishing Touches

By STEVE SPRINGER

Oct. 8, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN DIEGO —

It was the day the United States plunged into military action. It was the weekend baseball soared to historic highs and immersed itself in sentimental farewells.

That mixture of tears and cheers was evident at Qualcomm Stadium Sunday afternoon on what otherwise would have been a truly joyous day.

For the 60,103 attending, the game between the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies began in hushed silence as California Gov. Gray Davis asked the crowd to pray for the men and women taking part in the military operation that began with the U.S. and British airstrikes in Afghanistan.

Within minutes, the mood turned back to baseball, and euphoria, as San Diego outfielder Rickey Henderson, the first Padre to bat, blooped a double into short right field for his 3,000th career hit.

At the end of a long day, the crowd felt a tinge of regret as favorite son Tony Gwynn closed out 20 seasons in a Padre uniform with a groundout to short, pinch-hitting in the ninth inning for his final at-bat.

Despite the fact the Padres finished out their season with a 14-5 loss, emotions rose again in a memorable 45-minute farewell to Gwynn under the Qualcomm lights.

“I feel good,” Gwynn told the crowd. “I’ve done all I can do as a baseball player.”

For Gwynn, who will go on to coach his alma mater, San Diego State, in 2003, his accomplishments include a league-record tying eight batting titles, equaling Honus Wagner’s mark, 3,141 hits and a .338 career average.

Henderson, who completed his 23rd season, wasn’t even sure he was going to play Sunday. Having collected his 2,999th hit Saturday, he agonized at the thought of detracting from Gwynn’s big day.

It’s a situation was all too familiar to Henderson. When he broke Lou Brock’s career mark of 938 stolen bases back in 1991, Henderson had to share the headlines with Nolan Ryan, who pitched his seventh no-hitter on the same day.

When Henderson homered Thursday to break Ty Cobb’s career mark of 2,245 runs scored, Henderson was overshadowed by Barry Bonds’ 70th homer of the season.

It was Gwynn himself who told Henderson he had to play Sunday, that it would be crazy to wait through a long off-season at age 42 for a chance to join the 3,000 club.

“Tony Gwynn is so sweet in my heart,” Henderson said. “He told me he wanted to see me do it.”

So Henderson played, and it didn’t take him long to join Gwynn in the spotlight.

Just one pitch.

Leading off in the bottom of the first, Henderson swung at the opening pitch from Colorado right-hander John Thomson, a fastball that ran in, and lofted a fly ball into short right field.

Too short for onrushing rightfielder Mario Encarnacion.

Too far for backpedaling first baseman Todd Helton.

Too much of an angle for second baseman Terry Shumpert, who finally caught up with the ball after it had bounced on the grass.

By then Henderson was well on his way to second for his 503rd double, thus becoming the 25th man to reach 3,000 mark.

Shumpert jogged out to hand Henderson the historic baseball, barely getting out the way before Henderson was engulfed in a sea of blue and white as the Padres came racing from the dugout and the bullpen to offer their hugs and congratulations.

Sunday is usually Gwynn’s favorite day at the stadium. As the commissioner of the Padres’ fantasy football league and an ardent San Diego Charger fan, Gwynn loves to watch football in the Padre clubhouse until game time on a normal day.

But this, of course, was hardly a routine day.

Gwynn had informed everybody that he’d be unavailable until shortly before Sunday’s 3:05 p.m. starting time, that he’d be watching football from 9 a.m. on.

“I wound up watching the news,” Gwynn said. “It turned out to be a tougher day than it was supposed to. I am so glad the governor said what he did. We are going to war, and our thoughts should be with our troops.”

Gwynn made his way around the clubhouse, handing out signed bats to everybody from fellow players to bat boys.

Outfielder Mike Darr asked Gwynn to autograph a program.

“I really wanted to get something signed,” said Darr sheepishly, “but I almost feel sorry for the guy because everybody wants him to sign something.

Bat boy Tony Gutierrez, 18, brought by two baseballs to be signed for his mother and a sister.

“Just being here,” Gutierrez said, “is really better than any autograph.”

A radio reporter brought by a broken bat he’d saved from 1987.

“I hit a game-winning homer,” Gwynn said, recalling instantly the last time he’d held that bat. “Hanging curveball from Jesse Orosco.”

Gwynn tried his best to make Sunday an enjoyable experience.

“My whole approach was just to have fun, but everybody kept coming up to me crying, and that made it hard. I wanted to have fun. It’s a celebration.”

When the time came for Gwynn to swing the bat one more time, he nearly finished up with a trademark bouncer through the infield.

Instead, a fastball from Jose Jimenez was bounced sharply by Gwynn to short where Juan Uribe threw him out.

“I just hit it a hair forward instead of letting the ball get deeper,” Gwynn said. “I just got out in front of it. I could have done better, but it doesn’t matter. It wasn’t going to win a game and it wasn’t going to lose a game.”

What really mattered, Henderson stressed, was the news from halfway around the world.

“This is a special day for me, for Tony Gwynn, but also for society,” he said. “Let’s hope that, for all the people sent over there, this day is a blessing for. Let’s hope they take care of business.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

First Rate

Baseball all-time hit leaders:

1. Pete Rose 4,256

2. Ty Cobb 4,189

3. Hank Aaron 3,771

4. Stan Musial3,630

5. Tris Speaker3,514

6. Cap Anson 3,478

7. Carl Yastrzemski 3,419

8. Honus Wagner 3,415

9. Paul Molitor3,319