Trevor Hoffman: On a scale from Zero to Tony Gwynn

The Zero to Tony Gwynn scale is a rating of a Padres' importance to the San Diego Padres and their fans. The scale works to determine the relative importance of a particular Padre based on the assumption that Tony Gwynn is the perfect representation of the San Diego Padres.

I can already tell that I'm going to have a hard time explaining the idea behind this post, because I'm having trouble explaining it to Dex. He keeps cutting me off saying "Jerry Coleman is a Yankee!"

If we assume that Tony Gwynn is the perfect Padre in every conceivable way, then how do other people associated with the Padres measure up?

I want to do a series of blog posts trying to figure out how some other San Diego Padres icons measure up to Mr. Padre. Then after we get the results we can maybe figure out a formula that tells us what criteria is important to us as fans.

This isn't so much about stats as much as it is about how beloved they are by Padres fans.

For instance if I said "Paul McAnulty", you might say "Who?" or "That good for nothin' sonuva--" and he'd get a zero. But if I said "Ken Caminiti" then you might scratch your chin and say "Well, I love him 1/3 as much as I do Tony the Gwynn" So you'd vote him a 3.

It's not just about love, but also how important he was to you and the franchise.

If I said "Kevin Kouzmanoff", you might swoon and fall off your pony and say "he's a NINE!" In this case you'd be an outlier because you're crazy if you think that.

It also might depend on your age. For example, I might have been alive when Winfield still played for the Padres, but I wasn't cognitively aware of him. I think of him as a Padres executive who wears a Yankees hat any chance he can get. So while an old guy like WG might say something crusty like "Winfield was the cat's meow", I just can't get behind that.

So does this make any sense? Do you understand what you are voting for? No? Hmmm. Let's try anyway.

Let's start with another Padres all time great, Mr. Trevor Hoffman. He's the all time save leader. He's the link between the 1996, 1998, 2005 and 2006 teams. He was a Padre for what 16 seasons? A great guy by all accounts and involved in the community. He was always friendly to fans and the media. Where does Trevor rank on the Tony Gwynn Scale?