Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Deaths: "Mr. Padre": Tony Gwynn

Tony Gwynn, 54,  -Died June 16, 2014.

One of my all-time favorite baseball players and a master hitter.  If anyone knew how to hit better than Tony Gwynn, it might have had to be Ted Williams.  And, he played his WHOLE career with the San Diego Padres, just about their only highlight in a lot of very poor years other than 1984 (when they beat the Cubs to get there) and 1998.

The only time he batted below .300 was the year he was called up, 1982, and even then, he batted .289.  He never batted below .309 in a full season and had a shot at .400 before the 1994 season ended with a players strike and he batted .394.

Gwynn had 3,141 hits, 18th highest in the majors and only struck out  434 times in 9,288 at bats.

He was a great one.

Thanks for the baseball, Tony.

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