Tony Gwynn was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame ten years ago

On Sunday the National Baseball Hall of Fame will induct its newest members. While none of those inductees will be wearing a Padres hat, this weekend is an important anniversary for us Friar Faithful.

Saturday, July 29th, will mark ten years since our beloved Tony Gwynn officially became a Hall of Famer. On that day in 2007 a record 70,000 fans made their way to Cooperstown as Gwynn, alongside fellow first-ballot Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., became baseball immortals.

MLB Network will be airing the 2017 induction ceremonies Sunday morning, and to commemorate the anniversary of that 2007 Hall of Fame class, they will include the following video essay by Tom Verducci, who reminds us of the connections between the two inductees. They were born just a few months apart. They both played their entire careers with one team. They played their first games within a season of each other, and their last games within a day of each other. And they each collected more than 3,000 hits in their careers.

It's impossible to think that Mr. Padre has been gone from this world for more than three years. But thankfully we will never stop being reminded of his impact on San Diego and the baseball world, and he'll continue to live on, not just in Cooperstown but in our hearts and in generations of baseball fans to come.