![]() One of the most underrated parts of his career is that he played on both franchise National League championship teams that went to the World Series, in 19. He had the microscopic career strikeout rate of Ty Cobb (4.2%) and his 132 wRC+ is better than Ken Griffey Jr. He had a career 132 OPS+, his 69.2 WAR is better than Ernie Banks, Roberto Alomar, Craig Biggio, Dave Winfield, Willie McCovey, and Jackie Robinson, just to name a few. If you put Gwynn’s numbers through modern sabermetics, you won’t be disappointed. In fact, he won the award so much, now today’s batting champions in the National League earn the “Tony Gwynn National League Batting Champion” award. Gwynn put separate streaks of three (1987-1989) and four (1994-1997) straight seasons with a batting title. Only three players ( Jose Altuve, DJ LeMahieu and Christian Yelich) have won multiple batting titles over the last seven seasons. To put his eight batting titles in perspective, future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera is only halfway there with four. He needs no introduction to San Diegans and Padres fans, but let’s do it anyway.ġ5 All-Star selections, eight batting titles, seven Silver Sluggers, five Gold Gloves, and a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction in 2007 are just some of the accolades Gwynn piled up in his 20-year career, all with the Padres. This is about Tony Gwynn being the greatest Padre, and one of the greatest hitters of all-time. ![]() We had pictures of his swing in our batting cages, teaching us the proper way to swing and stay balanced at the plate.Įnough about me. ![]() I imitated his stance, whether it was in my backyard with a wiffleball bat or at the plate in a San Pasqual High School varsity game, donning 19 on my back. Today would have been his 63rd birthday.īeing born in 1991, I was just a kid through his dominant years in the 1990s decade, but I think that made it that much more magical. He made it cool to be a San Diegan and a Padres fan. I always jump at the opportunity to write about my favorite baseball player of all-time, Tony Gwynn. Credit: AP Photo A remembrance of the Padres’ Tony Gwynn on his birthday.
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