Whether one plays baseball, raises a family or is devoted to public service, Winfield believes inclusion is the key -- both being included and allowing others to belong.

Maybe it was the way he was raised, maybe it was the people who influenced him along the way, and maybe it was his chosen sport of professional baseball that caused him to broaden his scope beyond ethnic lines. Maybe it's just the man.

But Winfield knows one thing: either you involve everyone or you have nothing.

"There is no difference in people," the Hall of Famer said. "Everyone belongs."

Winfield grew up in St. Paul. Minn., and gives part of the credit for his broad outlook to his hometown team, the Twins.

"I loved baseball since I was a kid, since I can remember," Winfield said. "Some of the first people that I identified with were people of color. The Minnesota Twins were a pretty diverse team when I was growing up. I liked people like Zoilo Versalles, Earl Battey, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, those were some people that I looked up to."

But even closer to home than his Twins was his family, to whom he gives the most credit for guiding his principles and providing him with a life outlook.

"My heroes and the people that were most important to me happen to be my family," Winfield said. "They were more role models than anything. There were some coaches, teachers and professors that were important to me.

"I had a pretty diverse group of people that made me who I am today, so I think the issue of diversity is fairly natural in how I deal with things. I had so many different people in my life who were important."

Winfield says there is one person, though, who was the greatest single influence on his life: his mother, Arline.

"My mother was no doubt my best friend and role model and best supporter in life," Winfield said. Arline Winfield died in 1988 of breast cancer.

It was that background and the perspectives he gathered on his own that made him realize that no one should be left behind.

Winfield made it clear throughout his 22-year Major League career that he belonged, first going straight from the University of Minnesota to the bigs after the Padres made him the fourth overall pick in the 1973 draft.

A multi-sport star with the Golden Gophers, Winfield was also drafted that year by the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Stars of the now-defunct ABA.

From 1973-95, Winfield established Hall of Fame credentials, getting there in 2001 on the first ballot. A physical presence, the 6-foot-6 Winfield played for the Yankees, Angels, Blue Jays, Twins and Indians after eight seasons in San Diego.

Eventually climbing to 13th on the career RBI list, Winfield played in two World Series, winning a title with the '92 Blue Jays, and on 12 All-Star teams. He captured seven Gold Gloves and is one of only seven players to have at least 400 homers and 3,000 hits in his career.

During his time in San Diego, Winfield found time to put his keen social awareness to work and established the non-profit David M. Winfield Foundation that provided free tickets and health exams to underprivileged kids.

"I was pretty much the first guy if not in all sports to have a non-profit foundation," he said. "The first thing that I did was try to bring less fortunate kids to baseball games. There were scholarship programs, there were health and education programs."

Winfield also helped provide momentum to the All-Star Game as a multi-day event when his foundation opened up the practice to the public when the game was played in San Diego in 1978.

"At the All-Star Game, we had a party for the kids, which has continued to evolve into what it is," Winfield said about the pre-game event that was attended by some ballplayers and then-Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. "Then we opened the ballpark and probably had about 14,000 people who came in and watched the practice. That was the first time that had been done."

Winfield now wears the uniform of a front-office man. The 52-year-old Padres vice president and senior advisor is involved in a number of departments with the ballclub, including marketing and community outreach.

But his passion continues to return to getting the message of baseball out and getting it out to everyone.

"To me it's just about inclusion," Winfield said. "When I first came to the Padres I questioned, 'Who are we marketing to? Are we casting the net of this great game of baseball to capture everybody?'"

While he sees the sport improving its focus on diversification, Winfield also sees a more troublesome trend on the field.

"When I hear alarming statistics like the 20 percent of African-Americans that were playing when I was in the league down to 10 percent now," he said. "Five years ago, 11 percent of the people who came to Major League Baseball games across the country were African-Americans and now it's five percent. Those numbers tell me we can do a better job.

"I wouldn't knock it," Winfield said of how the league approaches the issue. "They're trying and moving in the right direction; they're aware of it. Diversity and inclusion is a business imperative. Just to be a strong viable business moving forward into the future, you have to think about everybody."

Winfield is a lifer. He's dedicated to baseball for the long haul, and he's passionate about making the sport available to all who want to play, no matter his or her background.

"Baseball is still a great sport," he said. "It promotes teamwork and healthy activities. You can still get a great college scholarship. If you get to the professional level, it's still probably the best. The pay, the benefits and you'll probably be healthy when you finish playing."

And Winfield would like to see everyone invited to the party.

Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.