The Hall Calls for the '84 Padres

Tony Gwynn blazed a trail. He walked into the Baseball Hall of Fame and sported the plaque that wore the cap of the San Diego Padres on his chiseled bronze head. That plaque has been posted on the walls inside the Cooperstown, New York paean to the game.

This weekend, two more men will be enshrined just a few feet away from Gwynn's plaque. They also had an impact on baseball in "America's Finest City" as the manager and teammate of the young contact hitter at the ball club's finest hour. They were all involved on the seminal 1984 Padres team, also starring ex-Los Angeles Dodger Steve Garvey, that met the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.

Yet, the Hall has rules. Since the Padres did not win the 1984 World Series, these men accomplished Fall Classic victory elsewhere. For Veteran's Committee selection Dick Williams, he will wear the cap of the Oakland A's, the team he piloted to back-to-back World Championships in the early 1970's. For the BBWAA-elected reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage, he will wear the cap of the New York Yankees for the job he did in turning around the 1978 World Champions when he was sent to the bullpen in place of the departed and popular Sparky Lyle.

This is not a post questioning the Hall's decision to have these two men represent their winninest teams on their bronze plaques in Cooperstown. Yet, as a native Southern Californian, one who prefers the Pads over the Bums, it would be nice if they were recognized for their contribution to uplifting the Padres at a time when the game wrote them off.

As their skipper, Dick Williams always had a way with players. He was one tough guy who demanded the best out of the players and fought with his superiors. In 1967, he forged the "Impossible Dream" in Boston to the mercy of Bob Gibson's hard pitching and the offense of the St. Louis Cardinals. When he went on to Oakland, he led a revolution in many ways. For the first two championships in the 1970's, Williams was there, the first to wear the once-taboo moustache. His players were also on the revolutionary act, which is debatable whether they won because of it or now.

After even tougher tours in Anaheim and Montreal, he arrived in San Diego to don the brown-and-yellow...and orange. In his third season in Mission Valley, his Pads grabbed the National League Western Division pennant en route to a comeback win against the Chicago Cubs in the League Championship Series. Though the Pads won a game in the Fall Classic, Williams could not out-manage Sparky Anderson and the Tigers.

An integral part of the 1984 success was Gossage. Goose's career was never the smoothest getting to this point. He came up in the majors to the Chicago White Sox in 1972 as a reliever. He was making a name for himself, but Goose was never the marquee closer in the class of Lyle, Hoyt Wilhelm and Rollie Fingers. That was until 1978 when Gossage took over for the defending Cy Young Award winner Lyle in the ace closer role in The Bronx. Despite the fans anger towards this change, Gossage was credited for taking the Yanks back to winning the American League East from 15 games behind. Goose not only shut the door the Red Sox's season in that one-game playoff at Fenway Park, he also helped the Pinstripes to their victory over the Dodgers for the championship.

After a successful run in The Bronx, Gossage was signed by "Trader" Jack McKeon before the 1984 season to join a Padres club determined to reverse history. McKeon was a busy man making sure Williams will have a championship-level team on the field of Jack Murphy (Qualcomm) Stadium. Gossage was joined by his old Yankees teammate Graig Nettles, but it was clearly Garvey's team with a young Gwynn making plenty of noise. With all components in place, the Padres accomplished their objectives with a resounding 12 game gap between themselves and the rest of the NL West.

Considering this history, clearly the Baseball Hall of Fame recognizes the ties that bind these two 2008 Inductees. The Padres are entering their 25th season since that seminal 1984 campaign and shown their post-season prowess since then. A place in the 1998 World Series and subsequent divisional titles kept the Friars busy even as they moved from Mission Valley to the Gaslamp Quarter. Still, Williams and Gossage will take the stage in Cooperstown with their World Championship caps on their plaques, instead of their greatest triumphs represented in bronze.