Today, the baseball world mourns one of its greatest hitters of all time, Tony Gwynn. After a long battle with cancer in his salivary glands, Mr. Padre passed away Monday at the age of 54. A condition that he contributed to chewing tobacco for many years. Such a sad ending to a brilliant life and career. He is survived by his wife Alicia Gwynn, daughter Anisha Nicole ( R&B singer ) and son Tony Gwynn, Jr. ( MLB outfielder ).
In 20 seasons, all with the Padres, Tony Gwynn was simply the best pure hitter of the last 50 years. In his Major League career, Gwynn batted over .300 19 times and never struck out more than 40 times in a season. A career .338 batting average, 3141hits, eight batting titles and four in a row ( 1994-1997 ), never hit below .309 in a full season and since 1961 he has the highest batting average of anybody with 2,000 or more hits.
In his route to 15 All-Star games he led the NL in hits seven times and had seven Silver Slugger awards. But, he wasn’t just a great hitter. Gwynn had 30 or more stolen bases four times in his career while topping out at 56 once. And in the field, Mr. Padre was a five time Golden GLove winner. His 97.6 percent of the Hall of Fame vote, a record, shows how much he loved on and off the field.
Though these numbers are astonishing, this only begins to descrilbe one of the biggest icons in all of sports. His smile was as big as his love for the city of San Diego. Born in nearby Los Angeles, he attended nearby San Diego State University where he played baseball, basketball and later was the head coach from 2004 until his death. Gwynn was drafted by both the Padres ( MLB ) and the Clippers ( NBA ) of San Diego. Saying that it was a practical choice, he decided to play baseball instead of basketball. Great choice!
Any kid that grew up watching baseball in the ’80s and ’90s tried to emulate Gwynn’s swing. All arguements on who was the best of his era began and ended with Mr. Padre, who’s statue of that swing stands outside the San Diego Padre’s Petco Park. He had 5.5 printed on the tongue of his shoes during his career. That number represented the hole between third base ( 5 ) and shortstop ( 6 ) on the infield that scorers used to signify an out on that side of the field according to where someone hit it to. His favorite area to hit it was in between the two, hence the 5.5 reference.
The man was an absolute magician waving a magic wand. Scouting reports and shifts did not work because he always had a ‘hit em where they ain’t’ mentality. Patience in the count and incredible balnce through the hitting zone, he was a rare talent that was an absolute treat to watch during his career. He had less strikeouts in his career at 434 then some guys have in a couple of years today. He absolutely loved the art of hitting and anybody that had a chance to hear him broadcast before his illness, could learn a lot in a little time.
After reading a lot of articles and interviews this excerpt is by far the best one that gives an insight of his personality. The fact that he had a great personality as well as an understanding of gentleman’s code of baseball. He knew as well as anybody that if you showed up or antagonized a pitcher, you might get a ball in your ribs or up near your head. He and the great Ted Williams were talking hitting as they loved to do:
“All the good players are smarter..Always remember this between the lines, and I’ve said it for 25-30 years maybe longer, that the dumbest guy in the ball park is the pitcher ( laughter by both ).” —Ted Williams
“You can think that, but you sure can’t say that” — Tony Gwynn
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