Gwynn, glory, generosity: Padres' Joe Musgrove on playing for San Diego

Joe Musgrove has been living out his childhood dreams since he was a high-school sophomore. That is when Musgrove, already a rising baseball star in the San Diego area, first met with the head coach at nearby San Diego State — one of his boyhood heroes, Padres legend Tony Gwynn.

Musgrove and Gwynn had a lengthy conversation that made a lasting impact on the current Padres pitcher, he recalled recently in an exclusive interview with Flippin’ Bats hosts Ben Verlander and Alex Curry.

"My dad got sick, and I had some grade issues, and [Gwynn] was recruiting me as a prospect to maybe come to San Diego State," Musgrove said. "He came and talked to me for a long time. We talked about family, we talked about work ethic and the program that he was running over at San Diego State."

Friday marked nine years since Gwynn died at the age of 54 due to complications from cancer, but the Hall of Famer’s impact is still felt throughout Petco Park, from his statue, standing near the stadium’s entrance to the nearby street bearing his name to his son, Tony Gwynn Jr., who does the same. (The younger Gwynn, a former Padres outfielder himself, now works as a broadcast analyst with the team.)

And Gwynn Sr.’s impact is still felt in Musgrove, who grew up as a Padres fan idolizing Gwynn and star closer Trevor Hoffman.

"He was a role model for us," Musgrove said. "If you're a kid in San Diego, he and Trevor Hoffman were the two guys that people came to watch. You came to watch Tony hit and you stayed until the ninth to hear ‘Hell’s Bells’ and watch Trevor shut the door. I grew up on that."

Musgrove has come full-circle since those days. The 30-year-old is now a Padres fan-favorite in his third year back home in San Diego after spending the first several seasons of his MLB career with the Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates. Just like his meeting with Gwynn all those years ago, it’s a dream come true for Musgrove.

"The idea of playing for your hometown team as a kid growing up is everyone's dream when you get to the big leagues," Musgrove said. "I think I'm fortunate to have taken the path I did, where I spent a few years in Houston as, like, a rookie with a bunch of big-name players and got the experience of what the big leagues is like. Then I got to take some of the stuff I learned there over to Pittsburgh for three years and try to develop my game a little bit and got back in the starting rotation.

"And then I came here as a well-rounded big leaguer and got my opportunity in my home town at a time where the team's the best it's been in the history of the team. Aside from some of those Tony Gwynn years, it’s the most exciting time for baseball in San Diego. I just feel super fortunate to come in at this time of my career as opposed to coming up here as a rookie running amok at 23, 24 years old in my hometown. It might have been a mess."

Musgrove may have returned home as a grizzled major-league veteran on a superstar-laden Padres team, but he still felt plenty of pressure during the team’s run to the 2022 National League Championship Series — the farthest the Padres had gone in the postseason since the 1998 team starring Gwynn and Hoffman won the NL title and reached the World Series.

That run included a dominant performance by Musgrove against the 101-win New York Mets in a do-or-die Game 3 of the wild-card round in which the right-hander allowed just one hit and one walk over seven shutout innings. He even overcame a lengthy stoppage of play in the sixth inning when Mets manager Buck Showalter requested the umpires to check Musgrove’s ears for any illegal substance he may have put there to transfer to his fingers for a better grip on the baseball.

"I was so locked in in that moment," Musgrove said. "That was the most stressful preparation I've ever had for a start. Not only the fact that it's an elimination game and our season’s hanging in the balance, but I'm the hometown kid that gets the ball on the biggest situation of the year in a do-or-die game."

Musgrove also revealed that he had dealt with even more adversity the night before.

"Somebody got a hold of my cell phone number and that got passed around a little bit so I got 20, 30 calls in the middle of the night. I turned my phone off and my hotel phone started ringing, just people trash talking and telling me how much I'm gonna suck the next day. So that rattled me up a little bit, and this is the night before my start at like 2, 3 [a.m.] 

"But in that moment, I was so focused and so locked in, I didn't feel like there was anything that could take me off my game. I didn't have anything to worry about. I knew I had nothing for them to find. In the moment, you're so aware of everything that I saw it as a tactic to throw me off or switch up the rhythm and I just kind of tried to focus and then worry about that stuff after the game."

Musgrove added that while it’s "ironic" that multiple Mets pitchers have been suspended for illegal substances this season, he does not hold any grudge towards Showalter for trying to get him caught for the same offense.

"As a manager, he's doing everything he can to give his team a chance and keep them in the game, so I don't hate it," Musgrove said. "It is what it is. I mean, my stuff got better from that moment on, so maybe that's what I needed that last little push to get those last six outs."

As crucial as Musgrove’s performance was to the Padres’ 2022 playoff run, he is still primarily known in San Diego for what he did in just his second start in a Padres uniform, when he threw the first no-hitter in the team’s 53-year history on April 9, 2021. 

"It was mayhem," Musgrove recalled. "I've never gotten that close to a no-hitter in my life — little league, travel ball, all the way through. As you're coming through those last few outs, you're doing everything in your power to not think about the fact that the no-hitter is on the line. You're just trying to focus on getting out and you're kind of in this zombie mode of just complete focus and not paying attention to the outside stuff. And then you get that last out, and it's just an eruption. I mean, it felt like a World Series type celebration on the field."

Having grown up a Padres fan himself, Musgrove has unique insight into the significance of his accomplishment — one he’s constantly reminded of. 

"I know how much it meant to the fans of San Diego," Musgrove said. "I think that's been the most enjoyable part over the two years since that moment happened, being able to see people on the street or see people out on the restaurant and have the chance to sit with them and they tell me their story of where they were when the final out was recorded and how long they've waited and the moment they shared with their kids. That's the most exciting part of it all. The accomplishment’s cool, and yeah, I’ll be in the history books, but like, those moments and those memories that people created in that moment was the best part of it."

The moment even earned him a nickname — "No-No Joe" — that also functions as the name of a beer Musgrove helped originate with San Diego-based Resident Brewing. The idea came to life when Musgrove sent an unsolicited direct message to the company’s Instagram account at the beginning of the 2021 season, saying he was a fan of the local brewery and asking if they would be open to collaborating with him on a beer line after the Padres returned from their first road trip.

Three days later, he threw the no-hitter. 

"No-No Joe" is a double IPA with specific levels that correspond to Musgrove’s old No. 59 and current No. 44. The alcohol by volume is 8.206, correlating to the 8,206th game in Padres history — Musgrove’s masterpiece. 

According to Resident Brewing, it’s also far and away their most popular beer, regularly selling out thanks to widespread love from Padres fans for both Musgrove and the drink.

That support from fans has helped Musgrove stay positive through a 2023 season in which he has been hampered by foot, elbow and shoulder injuries that caused him to miss all of spring training and a chunk of time at the start of the season. Musgrove has a 4.37 ERA this year but has only allowed five earned runs over 23.1 total innings in his last four starts. The advanced stats lean in his favor, too; Musgrove has a 2.95 xERA (expected ERA) — the best of his career — indicating that he’s pitching well but dealing with bad luck.

"I feel like I've just been dealing with these constant little things that's kind of taken away from my ability to go out there and focus on the execution and development of pitching, as opposed to spending all my time in the training room just trying to get healthy enough to be out on the field," Musgrove said. "So I feel like I'm starting to hit a little bit of a stride here."

Musgrove also grew up a fan of his hometown San Diego Chargers, who moved to Los Angeles in 2017. That fandom allows him to empathize with what Oakland A’s fans are going through now after the Nevada state government paved the way for the team’s move to Las Vegas following a "reverse boycott" protest staged by fans earlier this week that brought nearly 28,000 to the Alameda County Coliseum to watch one of MLB’s worst teams.

[What we learned in MLB this week: The A's still belong to Oakland]

"It's extremely frustrating," Musgrove said. "As a fan, you want nothing but an entertaining product to go watch every night, especially with the cost of going to a game and buying your family drinks and tickets and parking. It's not a cheap expense. … I feel for those fans there to be putting in year after year of support and just waiting for that moment of a good product on the field. 

"I know they had a stretch of good baseball in Oakland, so those fans know what it's like and everyone that plays baseball knows what that atmosphere is like in Oakland. When that place is rocking, it's one of the best. So yeah, heartbreaking for those fans and I know they're going to be very frustrated, but I thought it was cool to see everybody come out the other night and support and show that they do still have love for baseball in Oakland."

Musgrove’s unique connection to Padres fans has given him a new appreciation for Gwynn’s legacy not only on the field but off it, and it inspires him to keep giving back to the San Diego community in his own right.

For instance, when Musgrove got the opportunity to travel to Antarctica last offseason, he decided to partner with Challenge Athlete Foundation, a San Diego charity that provides resources including prosthetics, wheelchairs and travel expenses for people with limb deficiencies to participate in sports. (A portion of No-No Joe beer profits is also donated to the foundation.) Musgrove threw a fundraiser that raised nearly $100,000 in one night, which allowed him to take some athletes and foundation team members with him on the trip. 

Much closer to home, Musgrove is preparing to open a training facility in the San Diego neighborhood of Miramar. The facility, called Symbiotic Training Center, will aim to serve young athletes in San Diego and provide them a glimpse into the holistic work it takes to maintain one’s body as a professional athlete, featuring physical trainers, massage therapists, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, nutritionists and recovery work.

Musgrove used some of the money from the five-year, $100 million extension he signed last season to finance the state-of-the-art 6,500-square-foot facility, which is set to open July 6th. It’s just another way he’s trying to follow the path that Gwynn paved as someone who not only starred for the Padres on the field but worked tirelessly to impact San Diego off it.

"As you get older, you start to see [Gwynn’s] impact in the community and the things that he did in this town and the way that he took care of the people from the city he was playing in," Musgrove said. "Being a kid from San Diego, playing in my hometown, now I have a chance to kind of follow in his footsteps and do some things for the community and for the city of San Diego that can really improve things."