 Home-plate entrance to Tony Gwynn Stadium, Jul-2008. |
 The seating bowl, as seen from the right-field line. |
 A view from one row in front of the press box. |
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Home-plate entrance to Tony Gwynn Stadium, Jul-2008. |
The seating bowl, as seen from the right-field line. |
A view from one row in front of the press box. |
By the 1990s, a move had been made to build a permanent stadium at Charlie Smith Field. Donations were accepted, and eventually San Diego Padres owner John Moores kicked in the money needed to built this handsome facility. It became known as Tony Gwynn Stadium, named after the Padres' most recognizable player, who played both basketball and baseball for the Aztecs through 1981 and is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame.
It isn't often that you see a field named for its current manager, but that happened when Gwynn, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2007, became the head coach of the Aztecs in 2003.
When the independent Golden League Baseball arrived on the scene in 2005, the stadium became the home of one of its inaugural franchises, the San Diego Surf Dawgs. The most notable Surf Dawg was Rickey Henderson, the former Major Leaguer who felt he still had something to contribute to the game.
While the club based here folded after the 2006 season, the Surf Dawgs name lasted for a few more seasons as part of the Arizona Winter League, an organization operated by Golden League Baseball. However, the entire Winter League was based at Desert Sun Stadium in Yuma.