Somewhere I have read a story about Tony Gwynn nervously waiting for the announcement of whether he had been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and saying that he wasn't going to get in because he never won the MVP Award. I can't remember where I read that. I have looked through He Left His Heart in San Diego a couple of times but can't find the reference, so I must have read it somewhere else, probably on the Internet somewhere.
Anyway, Tony might never have won the MVP, but that didn't stop card companies from including him in MVP subsets.
Card Number 674: Fleer Baseball MVPs, 1989; #17
This card was sent to me by Michal. It took 2 weeks to travel the 30 miles from where Michal lives to where I live. I think I could have walked to pick it up and walked back home again quite easily in the time it took for the mail to get it to me.
This card is from one of the 44-card complete sets that Fleer produced. They seemed to produce a few of these sets every year in the late 80s. I have a couple of cards from other sets issues in 1989, and this card brings me up to 12 Tony Gwynn cards issued in sets like this overall. They have a nice quality glossy finish and the card stock is higher quality than the regular Fleer base cards.
The back is a bit dull, but it is nicely laid out.
The blurb has an oddly specific comment about ruining a pitcher's attempt at a no-hitter, which takes precedence over his batting title in 1988. There's also a mention of his brother Chris playing in the Major Leagues too. Chris had played 25 games for the Dodgers in the two previous seasons.
Fleer had given Chris Gwynn a rookie card in their 1988 set, which he shared with Peter Smith from the Braves. He also had a Score card in 1988 as a "rookie prospect". In 1989, Chris got a card to himself in the Fleer main set. He was also in the Upper Deck set that year, and was also still appearing in minor league sets. He didn't get a Topps card until 1990, although he was mentioned on the back of Tony's 1985 Topps card.
I have noted before how despite never winning the MVP Award, Tony appeared on a lot of MVP-related cards, mainly from DonRuss cards. Tony was in an MVP insert series in the 1994 DonRuss set, and in earlier sets too. That second link also includes some cards from the Upper Deck MVP brand sets.
Total: 674 cards
I really like the Fleer box sets of the 80's and early 90's. The design was simple and checklists were solid. And I sure hope Gwynn wasn't worried about getting into Cooperstown. He was the best contact hitter of his generation. If that doesn't get you in, then the system is flawed.
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