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Little known fact in memory of "Mr. Padre" Tony Gwynn, who passed away of cancer at the age of 54 on Monday: Gwynn's San Diego State Aztecs played in the NCAA Midwest Regional at ORU in 1981. Tony was a consensus All-American that season, and was just a week or two away from being picked by the Padres in the 3rd round of the major league draft. Though SDSU went 0-2 in the regional (losing 1-run games to Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts), Gwynn was already recognized as a classy guy who had "star" written all over him. Speaking of star power, that regional was loaded: ORU had eventual overall No. 1 draft pick Mike Moore, along with future major leaguers Tom Nieto, Ray Krawczyk and Kelvin Torve, while OSU countered with the likes of Jim Traber, Robbie Wine, and Mickey Tettleton. In addition to Gwynn, San Diego State's roster included future New York Yankee Bobby Meacham. That's NINE eventual big leaguers playing in one 4-team college regional (Southern Illinois, the 4th team in Tulsa that year, had no one reach the bigs). You just don't see that kind of MLB talent any more at the college level - they all take the money right out of high school now....