This is a particular sad day for Major League Baseball and for us here at Notinhalloffame.com as it was announced that Tony Gwynn passed away today at the young age of 54 due to cancer. Gwynn is considered to be the best player of all time in the history of the San Diego Padres (he is referred to as Mr. Padre after all), and for many the finest pure hitters of his generation.
Tony Gwynn joined the Padres in 1982, and Southern California would be the only MLB home that he would ever know. By 1984, Gwynn would be a full time starter and would lead the National League in Hits and win the Batting Title for the first time. This would become a regular occurrence as Gwynn would become one of the few players to eclipse the 3,000 Hit Mark and would win seven more Batting Titles. With the exception of his first season where he played only 54 games, Gwynn never had a season where he batted under .300, and his career Batting Average was .338.
It was not a misprint to state that Tony Gwynn was ahead of his time. Nowadays, it is commonplace for franchises to have gigabytes of data and recordings on each baseball player from the majors, minors and leagues throughout the world. In the 80’s, Gwynn was already accumulating film (yes film) on potential pitchers he would face, and his own past At Bats so that he could become an even better hitter. Pardon the pun, but Gwynn always stayed ahead of the curve in that regard.
Although Tony did not win a World Series Ring, (though he led them to the National League Pennant twice in 1984 and 1998) he did fill up his trophy case. Gwynn was selected to represent the NL in the All Star Game fifteen times, won the Silver Slugger seven times and the Gold Glove five times. Considering he was not a power hitter, the Silver Slugger honors was a testament to just how keen his batting eye was. Other notable stats of note from his career, was winning an On Base Percentage Title, stealing 319 bases, and winning five Player of the Month Awards. Gwynn may never have won the National League MVP, but he did finish in the top ten in balloting seven times.
Gwynn was also known for his philanthropic endeavors and was recognized as such in 1995 by MLB with the winning of the Branch Rickey Award, which annually goes to the player in recognition of his outstanding community service. As further evidence of Gwynn being one of the league’s “good guys”, he also won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1998, which goes to the player who best exemplifies the character and integrity of Gehrig on and off the field. The year later, he was chosen to receive the Roberto Clemente Award. That accolade goes to the player who “best exemplifies the game of Baseball, Sportsmanship, Community Involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team”. Putting Gwynn in the same breath as Clemente and Gehrig seems so normal as he was that good and that well respected in Baseball and in life as a whole.
“Mr. Padre” entered the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first vote, accumulating 97.6 percent of the vote in 2007. At this time we would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Tony Gwynn and as for us, we are going to spend some time on YouTube remembering what a great player and great man he was. Tony, you will be missed.
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