On the Sunday before Christmas, I found myself at the San Diego Museum of Art where I recently became a member. For those unfamiliar with the southernmost large city in California, the museum is located among a cluster of institutions in Balboa Park. A highlight of the visit was the temporary exhibit entitled Sergio Hernández: Embers of Oaxaca.
Next door to SDMA lies the small but memorable Timken Museum. Their Jewels of the Season exhibit put me in a festive mood, but I didn’t expect to see the swinging friar on any of the displayed ornaments.
Having lost the Clippers and Chargers to Los Angeles, San Diego has embraced baseball even when the Padres haven’t shown much to cheer about. The most recent iteration of the San Diego Gulls hockey team formed in 2015-16 as the primary minor league club for the Anaheim Ducks and attendance has been strong. Nevertheless, the Padres are basically on an island as far as major professional sports go.
Back on October 5, I was generously gifted a ticket to the Padres’ regular season finale against the San Francisco Giants. That put me in a seat very close to prized trade acquisition and former World Series hero Juan Soto. While Soto has only one year remaining on the contract originally signed with the Nationals, he is already being marketed heavily alongside Manny Machado in light of a very rough year for Fernando Tatis, Jr. An appearance in this year’s National League Championship Series should also help boost ticket sales in 2023.
Excited to have secured a free parking spot, I walked into Petco Park and noticed the jersey of former Padre Tony Gwynn. In addition to posting a lifetime .338 batting average and garnering a whopping 15 All-Star appearances, Gwynn was a very likable person who starred at San Diego State in baseball as well as basketball.
A Jake Cronenworth RBI double put San Diego ahead 1-0 in the first inning. However, a pair of David Villar home runs would help the Giants win 8-1. Machado got a huge ovation in his final at-bat of the game, but I will remember this one for being Wil Myers’ last regular season game in a San Diego jersey. Myers made sure to acknowledge the crowd as the game wound down.
After the game ended, I decided to make a visit to the Tony Gwynn Museum inside Alesmith, a brewery in the Miramar area. I had heard of the museum some years ago but until this day never actually set foot in the place. Apparently photography of the collection is discouraged, but I will share photos I took prior to discovering this policy.
The story of Gwynn’s career and family life is told here through action figures, magazine covers, trophies, and more. Gwynn’s play was a major reason for the last World Series appearance for San Diego back in 1998.
It feels like the city is still reeling from the outfielder’s untimely death in 2014. His legacy lives on in part through his son Tony Gwynn, Jr. who has done radio and television commentary since the end of his playing days. I declined to have a drink but did grab Mexican food from Artesano Taco, a truck parked outside the building.
Unlike the Yogi Berra Museum, this collection fits into a relatively small room. Nevertheless, this place feels like a labor of love involving Gwynn’s widow Alicia and Alesmith, which sells plenty of Gwynn merchandise in its store. Also, you can’t beat free if you’re looking for any kind of baseball activity while waiting for pitchers and catchers to report to Spring Training.