Carlsbad couple drives to Cooperstown for Gwynn

By: LOREN NELSON - Staff Writer | Saturday, July 28, 2007 11:07 PM PDT ∞

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. ---- Tony Gwynn doesn't know Carlsbad's Jim and Leah Frampton, but the three have been inseparable for more than 20 years.

Gwynn, along with Cal Ripken Jr., will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame today in front of what is expected to be a record gathering of 60,000 or more.

Hanging on every word of Gwynn's speech will be the Framptons, who would drive to Earth's end ---- or in this case, more than 3,000 miles to upstate New York ---- to show their respect and gratitude for the man known as Mr. Padre.

"I get chills just being here," Jim said.

"We wouldn't have missed this," Leah said. "Not for anything."

The Framptons headed east on July 2 and made baseball-themed stops in, among other places, Salt Lake City, Milwaukee, Chicago and Pittsburgh. They arrived in Cooperstown last week, the only snag in their trip being a series of wrong turns in Pittsburgh.

"We got lost," Jim said. "Twice."

The Frampton's white 1998 Honda station wagon has a personalized Padres license plate that reads PLA BAL affixed to the front bumper and a whopping 200,000 miles on the odometer.

The model name of their vehicle is Odyssey, perfect for the journey the Framptons and Gwynn have been sharing all these years.

Gwynn, who won a record eight National League batting titles and five Gold Gloves, has a deep appreciation for his legions of fans. Fans who, like the Framptons, have been unwavering in their devotion all these years.

"The people here, they're baseball fans, just like I am," said Gwynn, who played all 20 of his big league seasons with the Padres. "Because I started and finished in the same place, I think they are all a part of this, too."

In their 60s and retired, the Framptons have been married for 37 years. Jim worked for Pac Bell; Leah stayed home to raise their two daughters, Julie and Traci, both of whom are Carlsbad High graduates.

If hockey is a religion in Canada, much as soccer is in Europe and South America, then baseball is that and more to the Framptons.

Jim and Leah grew up in Los Angeles as Dodgers fans, switching their allegiance to the Padres when they moved to Carlsbad in the 1970s.

"I just traded in my Dodgers cap for a Padres cap," Jim said. "And I've been wearing it ever since."

Jim has played or coached baseball and softball most his life. He's still a volunteer freshman softball coach at Carlsbad High. Leah played softball, as did their daughters.

A teacher at La Costa Meadows Elementary, Julie considered naming the first of her two children Gwynn, but decided the name would too easily be confused with Gwen.

"And I didn't want to come off as being too stalkerish," she said. "That, and my husband (Christian) is a Dodgers fan."

Julie keeps a poster of Gwynn hanging in her classroom, just as she did when she worked at John Muir Elementary in Long Beach, the same school that produced a future Hall of Famer named Anthony Keith Gwynn.

"How's that for a coincidence?" asked Jim.

Trips to spring training in Arizona have long been part of the Frampton's yearly routine, accounting for some of those miles on the Odyssey. Gwynn has signed countless autographs for the Framptons over the years.

"We got him to sign the Sports Illustrated cover that he's on," Leah said. "He's wonderful."

"But he doesn't know us," adds Jim.

No, Gwynn doesn't know the Framptons. Not personally. But he knows all about his fans who have assembled in Cooperstown by the thousands. He knows they have loaded planes and buses and, yes, even driven their cars to get here.

He knows they will be watching today when he steps to the stage, just as they have from the start.

"They watched me grow up," Gwynn said. "And a lot of them grew up watching me play.

"I saw them when they retired my number, I saw them when they closed down the Q (Qualcomm Stadium), I saw them my last day, the big one.

"(Today) I'm representing them."

Contact staff writer Loren Nelson at (760) 745-3332 or lnelson@nctimes.com.