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Did you know? Tony Gwynn was offered by TCU

ShreveFrog

ShreveFrog

Full Member
Just watched an MLB Network doc on Tony Gwynn. Outstanding. Got to Googling. And there's this entry on his Wiki page:

Gwynn also had an offer from Texas Christian University (TCU). However, he was told that he would be their first black player in 30 years, which ruled them out from his consideration.

This was 1977, which would have been Willie Maxwell's first season as TCU's coach. I guess Gwynn would've felt some burden as a black ballplayer back in that day at TCU. Or out of place.
 
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ShreveFrog

ShreveFrog

Full Member
Here's the entire paragraph regarding Gwynn's recruitment:
Gwynn received scholarship offers to play college basketball but none for college baseball.[18] He also went unselected in the 1977 MLB draft, which Gwynn attributed to his limited playing time.[15] He wanted to play both sports for Cal State Fullerton, which was okay by basketball coach Bobby Dye, but baseball coach Augie Garrido did not believe an athlete could handle both sports in college. San Diego State basketball coach Tim Vezie wanted Gwynn to commit to playing two years of basketball before playing baseball. Gwynn also had an offer from Texas Christian University (TCU). However, he was told that he would be their first black player in 30 years, which ruled them out from his consideration.[19] He chose to attend SDSU, calling it "the best option I had".[19]
 
East Coast

East Coast

Tier 1
ShreveFrog said:
Just watched an MLB Network doc on Tony Gwynn. Outstanding. Got to Googling. And there's this entry on his Wiki page:

Gwynn also had an offer from Texas Christian University (TCU). However, he was told that he would be their first black player in 30 years, which ruled them out from his consideration.

This was 1977, which would have been Willie Maxwell's first season as TCU's coach. I guess Gwynn would've felt some burden as a black ballplayer back in that day at TCU. Or out of place.
Click to expand...
Wait, TCU had a black baseball player in the 1940's?
 
ShreveFrog

ShreveFrog

Full Member
Yeah, I don't think the 30 years part of the story is true. The first black player I remember was in the mid-late 70s, a juco transfer from New York, but I can't remember his name. My memory goes back to about 1970 and guys like Roger Williams, Tommy Crain, Phil Turner and Jimmy Torres. I bet I saw Jeff Newman play but I don't remember him.
 
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ShreveFrog

ShreveFrog

Full Member
And 30 years before 1977, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Dodgers. :D So somewhere that part of the TCU story got messed up. Or it was a lie. But it's cool to think about Tony Gwynn possibly playing baseball and maybe even hoops for TCU.
 
Realtorfrog

Realtorfrog

Full Member
ShreveFrog said:
Just watched an MLB Network doc on Tony Gwynn. Outstanding. Got to Googling. And there's this entry on his Wiki page:

Gwynn also had an offer from Texas Christian University (TCU). However, he was told that he would be their first black player in 30 years, which ruled them out from his consideration.

This was 1977, which would have been Willie Maxwell's first season as TCU's coach. I guess Gwynn would've felt some burden as a black ballplayer back in that day at TCU. Or out of place.
Click to expand...
Cool! Never knew that…. My favorite player of all time! His rookie card is the only card I saved when I sold mine off many years ago.
 
Spike

Spike

Full Member
So was Willie Trognitz our first African American player? I think my first games were a double header against UTA in like 1980. Frogs lost them both but Trognitz hit some bombs.
 

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