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Tony Gwynn (1 Viewer)

Damn sad day. I also had no idea about the mouth cancer. Chewing tobacco. ####. If Ted Williams got a freeway named after him Tony should get the airport or better.
Ted has a tunnel named after him in addition to multiple roadways. Ted was a better hitter than Gwynn and he was a war hero (twice).

 
Damn sad day. I also had no idea about the mouth cancer. Chewing tobacco. ####. If Ted Williams got a freeway named after him Tony should get the airport or better.
Let's not get carried away. Ted Williams was a better player than Tony.
He was, but not by much.
You can't be serious
Different era. Pitchers had more stuff against Gwynn.
I loved Tony Gywnn. Again, he was my favorite player as a kid.

But, you need to stop. You make some pretty crazy statements on these boards. This is up there.

 
As an Expos fan, I have a keen interest in the 1994 season and what could have been.

Gwynn: .394 average

Bagwell: .368 average, 39 HR, 116 RBI in 110 games, 1.201 OPS

K. Mitchell: .326 average, 30 HR, 1.110 OPS

Galarraga: .319 average, 31 HR

McGriff: .318 average, 34 HR

Bonds: .312 average, 37 HR

And that was just the National League.

A. Belle: .357 average, 36 HR, 101 RBI, 1.152 OPS

F. Thomas: .353 average, 38 HR, 101 RBI, 1.217 OPS

Lofton: .349 average, 12 HR, 60 SB

Boggs: .342 average, 11 HR

Molitor: .341 average, 14 HR, 75 RBI

Griffey: .323 average, 40 HR

Just incredible stuff.

RIP, Tony Gwynn.

 
Damn sad day. I also had no idea about the mouth cancer. Chewing tobacco. ####. If Ted Williams got a freeway named after him Tony should get the airport or better.
Let's not get carried away. Ted Williams was a better player than Tony.
I don't think Ted faced many Hispanic or African American pitchers. You could make the case that Gwynn faced harder pitching.

:DanielToshRoutine:

 
The guy was both an athlete and a scholar of the game. I was never a Padres fan, but really like Tony Gwynn. This is a terrible loss for baseball. A sad day.

 
Also, Tony was a sweet guy and Ted, by all accounts, was a jackass.
I agree with Tim.

Today, Gwynn is the greatest baseball player to have ever played.

Tomorrow, it can be debated... but not today.
Tony did lead the league in WAR in 1987 and should have been NL MVP (as should have Trammel in the AL), but was punished by the lack of HR's and RBI's and finished a ridiculous 8th place. Even when he batter .394 he finished 7th.

 
favorite Gwynn stat i read today:

with 2 strikes in the count, Gwynn batted just over 300. The next best was Boggs at around 260.

 
So sad. As a Dodger fan, I saw more than my share of Tony Gwynn. What a freakin' hitter. He had no holes, and I have no doubt he's the best 2 strike hitter in the modern baseball era. Hitting coaches talk about "squaring up" the baseball. Gwynn wrote the book on it. Inside/outside, high/low - he just hit the ball hard to all fields. Love that he had "5.5" on his shoes to remind him to own the hole between SS and 3rd. George Brett and Tony Gwynn in their primes were 2 of the sweetest swinging hitters I've seen. I don't count Carew in their league - a little too banjo-ish for my liking.

I hope there are lessons learned here. I'm 52 and still have friends that dip from their baseball days. Fortunately for me, I took a dip of Copenhagen one time in an on-deck circle in college, was buzzing by the time I got to the plate, K'd on 3 pitches and never did it again. RIP Tony. Condolences to his family, friends and players.

 
Wow, that's sad. He was Mr 90's to me, along with Boggs.

Unstoppable in the '98 postseason and World Series.

 
Gwynn batted .400 over a "tiger year": http://www.highheatstats.com/2012/06/the-year-that-tony-gwynn-hit-400/

From July 27th 1993 through May 13, 1995, Gwynn appeared in 162 games, and had 704 plate appearances. He had 624 at-bats with 251 hits (.402 BA), as well as 15 HR, 100 RBI, 121 runs scored, a .457 OBP and a .563 SLG.

The lowest “rolling-162″ batting average of Gwynn’s career was .290 (actually .28952), which he had after the game on August 1, 1992. His full stat line for the preceding 162, covering back to June 23, 1991, was 702 PAs, 639 at-bats, 8 HR, 51 RBI, 88 runs scored, with a slash line of .290/.348/.388. Decidedly un-Gwynnish, but a “worst” career line that hundreds of ballplayers would gladly take, especially the .348 OBP.

Dude closed out his career batting .343 in his final 162 games, slightly higher than his career mark of .338.

Those 251 hits Gwynn got over his .400 “season”–that’s an extremely high number. Ichiro had 262 in 2004 (with the benefit of 704 at-bats) and before that the last guy to have so many in a regular season (within a single year) was Bill Terry, with 254 in 1930.

 
Saw this on Twitter earlier:

The only pitcher to strike Gwynn out three times in one game? Bob Welch.

:oldunsure:
I didn't know Welch died too. Yeesh.

He had 233 three-hit games in his career, and only one three-strikeout game. "It was against Bob Welch," Gwynn said. "He actually struck me out four times, but I didn't check my swing, and the ump didn't call it."
 
Saw this on Twitter earlier:

The only pitcher to strike Gwynn out three times in one game? Bob Welch.

:oldunsure:
I didn't know Welch died too. Yeesh.
Wow, neighter did I. Just a week ago.http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/10/4169688/former-pitcher-bob-welch-dies.html

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Bob Welch, the 1990 AL Cy Young Award winner with the Oakland Athletics and the last major leaguer to win at least 25 games in a season, has died. He was 57.

Welch died late Monday night at his Southern California home in Seal Beach, the team said Tuesday. Police said officers responded to a call for medical aid and found Welch dead in the bathroom area.

Authorities have not released the cause of death. The coroner was awaiting toxicology test results, which can take eight to 12 weeks

 
http://deadspin.com/how-tony-gwynn-cracked-baseballs-code-and-became-a-lege-1591491368

What Gwynn is describing here is what it's like to be a physical genius, to know by feel the difference between reacting at 9/30ths of a second and 10/30ths of a second. It's easy to look at all of those batting titles, or his incredible averages against some of the most cerebral pitchers of his time—.444 against John Smoltz, .415 against Greg Maddux, .390 against Curt Schilling, .333 against Pedro Martinez, .303 against Tom Glavine—and assume that he was just outthinking them at the plate. (Unbelievable fact: in 366 plate appearances against those five, he struck out five times. Five.)
Dang.

 
Damn sad day. I also had no idea about the mouth cancer. Chewing tobacco. ####. If Ted Williams got a freeway named after him Tony should get the airport or better.
Let's not get carried away. Ted Williams was a better player than Tony.
He was, but not by much.
You can't be serious
Different era. Pitchers had more stuff against Gwynn.
I am not here to disparage Tony Gwynn because he was a great hitter and a class act. I am really sorry to hear about this.

However, regarding the Ted Williams-Tony Gwynn comparison. There really isn't that much a comparison, Ted was a better hitter in all aspects.

 
Damn sad day. I also had no idea about the mouth cancer. Chewing tobacco. ####. If Ted Williams got a freeway named after him Tony should get the airport or better.
Let's not get carried away. Ted Williams was a better player than Tony.
He was, but not by much.
You can't be serious
Different era. Pitchers had more stuff against Gwynn.
I am not here to disparage Tony Gwynn because he was a great hitter and a class act. I am really sorry to hear about this.

However, regarding the Ted Williams-Tony Gwynn comparison. There really isn't that much a comparison, Ted was a better hitter in all aspects.
Gwynn agreed with this. He revered Williams as a hitter and a student of hitting.

 
Gwynn had 107 plate appearances agains Greg Maddox and struck out zero times!

Saw this today:

First, Maddux was convinced no hitter could tell the speed of a pitch with any meaningful accuracy. To demonstrate, he pointed at a road a quarter-mile away and said it was impossible to tell if a car was going 55, 65 or 75 mph unless there was another car nearby to offer a point of reference.

“You just can’t do it,” he said. Sometimes hitters can pick up differences in spin. They can identify pitches if there are different releases points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision.

“Except,” Maddux said, “for that [expletive] Tony Gwynn.”

 
Damn sad day. I also had no idea about the mouth cancer. Chewing tobacco. ####. If Ted Williams got a freeway named after him Tony should get the airport or better.
Let's not get carried away. Ted Williams was a better player than Tony.
He was, but not by much.
You can't be serious
Different era. Pitchers had more stuff against Gwynn.
I am not here to disparage Tony Gwynn because he was a great hitter and a class act. I am really sorry to hear about this.

However, regarding the Ted Williams-Tony Gwynn comparison. There really isn't that much a comparison, Ted was a better hitter in all aspects.
Numbers certainly support this, even though there was far less competition back then.

Where Tony dwarfed Ted was off the field. Almost everyone agrees Ted was an #######, while Gwynn is revered as one the the all time great guys.

 
MLBTV just said that from 1994-1995 he never went more than two games without a hit! Incredible.

 
Gwynn had 107 plate appearances agains Greg Maddox and struck out zero times!

Saw this today:

First, Maddux was convinced no hitter could tell the speed of a pitch with any meaningful accuracy. To demonstrate, he pointed at a road a quarter-mile away and said it was impossible to tell if a car was going 55, 65 or 75 mph unless there was another car nearby to offer a point of reference.

“You just can’t do it,” he said. Sometimes hitters can pick up differences in spin. They can identify pitches if there are different releases points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision.

“Except,” Maddux said, “for that [expletive] Tony Gwynn.”
Anybody who saw Greg Maddox shred every left hander known to man with that backdoor cutter that starts inside and comes back to catch the inside corner realizes how unfathomable this stat is.

 
Gwynn had 107 plate appearances agains Greg Maddox and struck out zero times!

Saw this today:

First, Maddux was convinced no hitter could tell the speed of a pitch with any meaningful accuracy. To demonstrate, he pointed at a road a quarter-mile away and said it was impossible to tell if a car was going 55, 65 or 75 mph unless there was another car nearby to offer a point of reference.

“You just can’t do it,” he said. Sometimes hitters can pick up differences in spin. They can identify pitches if there are different releases points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision.

“Except,” Maddux said, “for that [expletive] Tony Gwynn.”
Anybody who saw Greg Maddox shred every left hander known to man with that backdoor cutter that starts inside and comes back to catch the inside corner realizes how unfathomable this stat is.
How good was Gwynn? He hit .415 against Greg Maddux, .444 against John Smoltz, .469 against Doug Drabek. Those aren't small sample sizes as he faced all three at least 50 times. In fact, he faced Maddux more often than any other pitcher: 107 times. Never hit a home run off him, but drew 11 walks, hit eight doubles. And get this: Maddux never struck him out.
 
What an excellent career this guy had. He was .300 his entire career. Amazing, stand up guy and beloved around the league.

RIP.
That is understating it a bit. He was an amazing .338 career hitter. Every season above .300 outside his rookie year. 6 seasons above .350 and one where he almost went .400.

ETA: Highest career average of any player who played after 1960. And second only to Ted Williams since 1940.
Gwynn would have to have gone 0-for next 1183 for his career average to drop below .300 :o

 
Sad to hear about Gwynn. Great ballplayer. HOF is fine, regardless of who is "best" from any given era. Saw him inducted into the HOF with my hometown hero Cal Ripken. Tony gave a great speech., What a wonderful man. He will be missed.

 
I'm a Yankee fan but I remember being quite legitimately excited and happy for Tony Gwynn when he went upper deck at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the 98 World Series. This was in the relative infancy of Interleague so it was still quite a shock to see him here.

Was lucky enough to see a relatively decent amount of him with the old Hotel California ESPN baseball schedule with the Friday double header or the other game they used to show. And as a kid with a gut, you couldn't help root for him.

Boggs had a great run and Ichiro would give Gwynn a serious run for his money, but Tony was the best.

Just enjoyed the hell out of his game, I loved that shockingly high voice, I loved him spraying hits, I loved him running out a triple.

Godspeed big man.

 
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As an Expos fan, I have a keen interest in the 1994 season and what could have been.

Gwynn: .394 average

Bagwell: .368 average, 39 HR, 116 RBI in 110 games, 1.201 OPS

K. Mitchell: .326 average, 30 HR, 1.110 OPS

Galarraga: .319 average, 31 HR

McGriff: .318 average, 34 HR

Bonds: .312 average, 37 HR

And that was just the National League.

A. Belle: .357 average, 36 HR, 101 RBI, 1.152 OPS

F. Thomas: .353 average, 38 HR, 101 RBI, 1.217 OPS

Lofton: .349 average, 12 HR, 60 SB

Boggs: .342 average, 11 HR

Molitor: .341 average, 14 HR, 75 RBI

Griffey: .323 average, 40 HR

Just incredible stuff.

RIP, Tony Gwynn.
that shutdown was DISGUSTING. I hope that fool Selig never sniffs the hall of fame

 
He was my favorite hitter growing up and I always tried to model my swing after his. I wrote 5.5 on my cleats to remind myself to hit the ball to left field because that's what he used to do. What a shame.

 
As an Expos fan, I have a keen interest in the 1994 season and what could have been.

Gwynn: .394 average

Bagwell: .368 average, 39 HR, 116 RBI in 110 games, 1.201 OPS

K. Mitchell: .326 average, 30 HR, 1.110 OPS

Galarraga: .319 average, 31 HR

McGriff: .318 average, 34 HR

Bonds: .312 average, 37 HR

And that was just the National League.

A. Belle: .357 average, 36 HR, 101 RBI, 1.152 OPS

F. Thomas: .353 average, 38 HR, 101 RBI, 1.217 OPS

Lofton: .349 average, 12 HR, 60 SB

Boggs: .342 average, 11 HR

Molitor: .341 average, 14 HR, 75 RBI

Griffey: .323 average, 40 HR

Just incredible stuff.

RIP, Tony Gwynn.
that shutdown was DISGUSTING. I hope that fool Selig never sniffs the hall of fame
Don't forget Matt Williams had 43 HR back when 61 was still the thing

 
Damn sad day. I also had no idea about the mouth cancer. Chewing tobacco. ####. If Ted Williams got a freeway named after him Tony should get the airport or better.
Let's not get carried away. Ted Williams was a better player than Tony.
He was, but not by much.
You can't be serious
Different era. Pitchers had more stuff against Gwynn.
I am not here to disparage Tony Gwynn because he was a great hitter and a class act. I am really sorry to hear about this.

However, regarding the Ted Williams-Tony Gwynn comparison. There really isn't that much a comparison, Ted was a better hitter in all aspects.
Numbers certainly support this, even though there was far less competition back then.

Where Tony dwarfed Ted was off the field. Almost everyone agrees Ted was an #######, while Gwynn is revered as one the the all time great guys.
Have you guys watched a lot of Ted Williams baseball games?

 
As an Expos fan, I have a keen interest in the 1994 season and what could have been.

Gwynn: .394 average

Bagwell: .368 average, 39 HR, 116 RBI in 110 games, 1.201 OPS

K. Mitchell: .326 average, 30 HR, 1.110 OPS

Galarraga: .319 average, 31 HR

McGriff: .318 average, 34 HR

Bonds: .312 average, 37 HR

And that was just the National League.

A. Belle: .357 average, 36 HR, 101 RBI, 1.152 OPS

F. Thomas: .353 average, 38 HR, 101 RBI, 1.217 OPS

Lofton: .349 average, 12 HR, 60 SB

Boggs: .342 average, 11 HR

Molitor: .341 average, 14 HR, 75 RBI

Griffey: .323 average, 40 HR

Just incredible stuff.

RIP, Tony Gwynn.
that shutdown was DISGUSTING. I hope that fool Selig never sniffs the hall of fame
Don't forget Matt Williams had 43 HR back when 61 was still the thing
I knew I was missing something in there.

:goodposting: :goodposting: to both of you.

 
http://deadspin.com/how-tony-gwynn-cracked-baseballs-code-and-became-a-lege-1591491368

What Gwynn is describing here is what it's like to be a physical genius, to know by feel the difference between reacting at 9/30ths of a second and 10/30ths of a second. It's easy to look at all of those batting titles, or his incredible averages against some of the most cerebral pitchers of his time—.444 against John Smoltz, .415 against Greg Maddux, .390 against Curt Schilling, .333 against Pedro Martinez, .303 against Tom Glavine—and assume that he was just outthinking them at the plate. (Unbelievable fact: in 366 plate appearances against those five, he struck out five times. Five.)
Dang.
Strikeout numbers are the most impressive thing about him. 6 straight seasons where he struck out fewer than 20 times for the ENTIRE season. You just don't see that nowadays. Show someone his career stats with the years excluded and they'd probably guess he played in the 1920s or thereabouts.

 
Gwynn had 107 plate appearances agains Greg Maddox and struck out zero times!

Saw this today:

First, Maddux was convinced no hitter could tell the speed of a pitch with any meaningful accuracy. To demonstrate, he pointed at a road a quarter-mile away and said it was impossible to tell if a car was going 55, 65 or 75 mph unless there was another car nearby to offer a point of reference.

“You just can’t do it,” he said. Sometimes hitters can pick up differences in spin. They can identify pitches if there are different releases points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision.

“Except,” Maddux said, “for that [expletive] Tony Gwynn.”
:moneybag: Go Tony

 
Larryboy starts Gwynn at 3B for every baseball sim we do, shows the greatness and utility of one of the best hitters of my lifetime. Super nice guy too, baseball and fans of the game lost a real great guy today. RIP.

 
No matter how you feel about Keith Olbermann, please watch this. Very nice tribute.
Great stuff, regardless of Olbermann. I'm more sad as the day wears on. The tributes are fitting. Personal anecdote: Used to live in SD for the summer when my brother was out there: Tix were five to seven bucks. This was when they were terrible. Got to see him many times. God bless him. Okay, enough of the maudlin. :yes: Great job, Tony.

 

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