San Diego State Retires Tony Gwynn's No.19

In the near future, my hope is to transfer to San Diego State. I love the weather down South and love the vibe that SDSU's campus has. I saw earlier this week that for the opening of SDSU's baseball season, they were planning to honor the late Tony Gwynn by retiring his number, 19. This is his second number that is being retired by the university, (he was number 3 in his Aztec playing days.) Seeing this reminded me just how much Tony Gwynn meant to me. He was the perfect example of a true baseball player, a great head coach for the Aztec baseball team, and was a huge inspiration for me in my hopes of attending San Diego State.

I very vaguely remember seeing him play in the MLB, but that is due to the fact that I was 6 years old when he was playing his last year of professional baseball. Even though I was young when I watched him play, I knew he was special. Watching old interviews on MLB Network, and hearing stories about him from others has always made me jealous that I wasn't able to appreciate him more in his playing days.

I made sure to follow him as head coach at SDSU so I wouldn't miss out on any more of his fantastic career. Even though he was a hall of famer and one of the best baseball talents ever, Aztec baseball was where his heart was. Even though he was battling cancer (most likely due to chewing tobacco) and seemed to be getting more and more run down, he continued coaching the Aztecs and signing contracts to coach another season. This showed how much he loved his job and how deeply he cared for the game of baseball. The fact that current players, like Stephen Strasburg and Addison Reed were coached by him at SDSU shows how much of an impact he had as well as the kind of work ethic he instilled in the Aztec baseball team.

If and when I am an Aztec, I know I will be thinking of Tony Gwynn's legacy everyday. Seeing the remembrance patches on SDSU's jerseys made me smile, yet made my heart sink. He was too young to leave us, and had much left to do in the world of baseball. Number 19 will live on forever not only in San Diego, but to all sports fans.

Thank you, Tony Gwynn.