No Tony Gwynn tribute at the All Star Game

For a guy who gave everything to baseball, the sports didn’t do enough for Tony Gwynn last night. By Krusty from Saint Paul, MN, via Wikimedia Commons

On a night that belonged to Derek Jeter, one Hall of Famer’s presence was conspicuously absent last night. Tony Gwynn, who passed away a month ago today, went without mention through the entire broadcast.

Baseball struck out on this one.

Major League Baseball usually does a great job of recognizing its past in prior All Star Games. Twin Cities-based Hall-of-Famers were in attendance before the home run derby on Monday, throwing out the first pitch. Whenever I think of an all star game in any sport, I think of a number of great past players being on-hand for a celebration of the game. One of my favorite things is seeing Bill Russell in attendance at an NBA All Star Game with a “not amused” face on as players go through the motions of pseudo-competition.

Tony Gwynn was the modern-day Ted Williams. He represents one of the last of a generation of players who was able to talk seriously talk baseball and hitting with guys like Ted Williams. In baseball culture, Tony was as important as they come. His career started before Jose Canseco‘s and ended in the middle of baseball’s steroid era, but Gwynn never hit more than 16 home runs in a season. He was a connection to the past, and for a sport so concerned with its heritage and history, it’s mind-boggling to think that there wasn’t a moment of the actual broadcast dedicated to Mr. Padre.

Which is why not seeing any mention of Tony Gwynn was such a surprise.

Here’s a good recap with some tweets from around baseball mentioning the fact that Fox and MLB whiffed by not mentioning Tony.