Tony Gwynn the San Diego Padres Hall of Famer on Monday announced that he will be joining a group led by Thomas Tull in an effort to purchase the Padres.
Gwynn stated that he is the coach at San Diego State first and planned on continuing with that responsibility but was excited about the opportunity to join Tull’s group.
There are at least four other groups believed to be interested in buying the Padres from current owner John Moores: hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen, Chicago White Sox executive Dennis Gilbert, former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley and David S. Wolff, a minority owner of the San Francisco Giants.
Gwynn has resumed his responsibilities as the head baseball coach at San Diego State.
Gwynn had 3,141 hits, was a career .338 hitter and won eight NL batting titles. He played on San Diego’s only two World Series teams, in 1984 and 1998.
The Padres retired Gwynn’s No. 19 in 2004 and erected a bronze statue of Gwynn in the grassy park just beyond Petco Park’s outfield in 2007. Petco Park’s address is 19 Tony Gwynn Drive.
