San Diego Padres legend and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn has passed away. Arguably the greatest Padre of all time, Gwynn was a fifteen-time All-Star and boasted an incredible .338 batting average. The man known as “Mr. Padre” played in parts of twenty seasons for San Diego, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2007. Gwynn had been suffering from cancer in his salivary glands, brought on by a longtime habit of using chewing tobacco. Gwynn was 54.
Gwynn was a rare breed of player. Undoubtedly one of the greatest hitters baseball has ever seen, Gwynn derived his value at the plate entirely from hitting for average. Gwynn only reached double-digit home runs five times in his career. That’s far from common for a corner outfielder, yet Gwynn had the chops to stay at the position and earned four Gold Gloves and eight batting titles.
In 1994 Gwynn had one of the best seasons in recent memory. He batted .394/.454/.568 and slugged 12 homers. The season was infamously cut short by a players union strike, but it remains the closest anyone has come in a long time to batting .400 since George Brett of the Kansas City Royals hit .390 in 1980.
After retiring from the Majors in 2001, Gwynn became the baseball coach for San Diego State. He led the Aztecs to NCAA tournament appearances in 2009, 2013 and 2014, and a total of 321 wins over the course of his tenure as head coach. Gwynn’s son Tony Jr. currently plays for the Philadelphia Phillies.
We at LWOS offer our condolences to Gwynn’s family, friends, teammates, fans, and all who mourn his passing.
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