Saying Goodbye to Tony Gwynn

Baseball fans everywhere, but especially here in San Diego, are mourning the death today of Hall of Fame player Tony Gwynn. He was only 54. He starred in both basketball and baseball here at San Diego State University before being drafted by the San Diego Padres and playing his entire career here in San Diego for the Padres. He was without question the greatest hitter of the last half century. He was also a truly good human being, as my son, Greg Weeks, remembers today in his blog. After finishing up his big-league career, he came back here to SDSU to coach the baseball team, in a facility named for him. He was unable to make it through the entire season this year, however, because of the devastating effects of the cancer in his salivary glands. The national report today on NPR notes that Tony himself was convinced that the cancer arose from 30 years of using chewing tobacco. This is just one more tragic reminder of why tobacco is at the top of the list in this country (and many others) in terms of the "real" causes of death.