Do you remember shortstop Tony Fernandez playing with the Padres nearly 30 years ago?
Wiry and smooth, that was Fernandez.
He threw from near his hip, the ball tracing an arc over the diamond. Batting from either side, he assumed a slight crouch. He had loose wrists, and smacked line drives.
What Padres fans remember most about Fernandez, though, had very little to do with his performance.
What they remembered, to no end, is that he wasn’t Roberto Alomar Jr.
They couldn’t forget the Padres traded Alomar, 22, for Fernandez, 28.
Fernandez — who died this month at 57, after complications from kidney disease — didn’t trade himself to San Diego.