Holding out for a Hero

Hero may be an over-used word these days, but I think it's perfectly applicable to use it when referring to Tony Gwynn. A couple of card companies have thought the same.

Card Number 130: DonRuss Team Heroes, 2004; #357
This was a nice looking set that was mainly of the then-current players with a bonus retired player for each team. Tony was the natural choice for the Padres.

All the cards gave a little summary of the current status of the team and the team stat totals for the previous year. On the Padres cardbacks the write-up mentions Petco Park, which opened for the 2004 season.

The generic blurbs also mention Padres former stars, which means that Tony Gwynn's name is on all 13 cards featuring Padres players. I have not yet reached a level of insanity when I would include those in cards I am chasing.

Card Number 131: Upper Deck Baseball Heroes, 2008; #147
This is another set with a mix of contemporary players and retired stars.

Nothing to complain about here, with the 1984 uniform and a photo of young Tony. There's a mention of his .394 batting average in 1994 on the back.

Tony featured on another card in this set on a card he shared with Cal Ripken Jr. There were three other Padres with their own cards in the 200-card set - Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux and Kevin Kouzmanoff (a highly rated young star in 2008, who unfortunately burned bright and fast). Peavy and Maddux also shared cards in the set with players from other teams.

[For those interested in this sort of thing, these are the first cards from 2004 and 2008 to feature on this blog.]

Total: 131/394