Tony Gwynn has passed
- Thread starter DJnVa
- Start date
Nooo! One of my favorite all-time ballplayers. Very sad news. By all accounts, a great guy and man could he hit.
Shit.
Didn't he just sign a new contract to keep coaching at college?
Edit: Like, this week
http://fansided.com/2014/06/14/san-diego-state-gives-tony-gwynn-one-year-extension/#!ZJR3z
Didn't he just sign a new contract to keep coaching at college?
Edit: Like, this week
http://fansided.com/2014/06/14/san-diego-state-gives-tony-gwynn-one-year-extension/#!ZJR3z
Too soon. Only 54 (10 years older than I am). T&P to his family and loved ones (and to the Padres fans.)
Holy f***. everything about that man was great. He was the first non-Red Sox player I rooted for.
So young, so tragic.
So young, so tragic.
One of the true greats who by all accounts seemed to have been a really, really good guy as well. Cancer sucks and I am saddened by this news. May he rest in peace and thoughts and prayers to his family and all those who knew him.
This sucks. I had a feeling that things were getting bad when he couldn't appear at Petco last month on the day they recognized the 1984 team.
By all accounts a good guy. He left behind four grandkids as well. What's sad is all of his major ailments has been a result of excess, be it eating or tobacco use, and likely could have been prevented. In 1991, who would have guessed that Strawberry and Gooden would have outlasted him?
When I was a kid my family planned a random vacation to Montreal. My dad bought tickets to two games against the Padres a couple months in advance. One of the games happened to be Gwynn's 3000th hit. My dad and I followed every box score as it got closer to the date in hopes we'd see it and when it did it was awesome. It's probably the most historically important baseball moment I've ever seen live and is one of my the coolest experiences I remember as a kid. Since then, I've always been a monster Tony Gwynn fan.
This news sucks. RIP.
This news sucks. RIP.
Sad news.
How good a hitter was Tony Gwynn? He faced Pedro 36 times and never struck out. He faced Greg Maddux 107 times and never struck out. That's two all time greats and he consistently was able to put the ball in play against them.
RIP
How good a hitter was Tony Gwynn? He faced Pedro 36 times and never struck out. He faced Greg Maddux 107 times and never struck out. That's two all time greats and he consistently was able to put the ball in play against them.
RIP
Red(s)HawksFan said:
@JeffPassan 8m
Tony Gwynn struck out 434 times over 9,288 career at-bats. That is not a misprint.
Some of the numbers are just amazing.
@tomhaberstroh 16m
Tony Gwynn hit .444 with the bases loaded in his career. No mercy.
@tomhaberstroh 16m
Tony Gwynn hit .444 with the bases loaded in his career. No mercy.
That is absolutely crazy.Red(s)HawksFan said:
As a Boggs fanboy back in the mid 80's I always had an eye on how Gwynn was going in the NL. Oddly enough I didn't feel like it was a competition between the two - I was a mid-teenager and everything in life was competitive. I absolutely despised Buddy Bell because he 'stole' an All Star selection from Boggs in '84. But with Gwynn & Boggs I just really liked seeing how one measured up vs the other. And I loved watching him hit.
RIP
With Bob Welch also passing it's been a rude awakening - ballplayers I clearly remember playing are passing on.
Gwynn was amazing. At the end of his career his knees were shot from playing and from being rather overweight for much of his career, but the guy could get the bat head on the ball like nobody's business. Nobody's. He hit .324 as a 41 year old and his retirement had nothing to do with his ability to hit. If he could DH, have knee replacements, or have a guy do his running for him, he could probably still be hitting over .300 today.
Gwynn was amazing. At the end of his career his knees were shot from playing and from being rather overweight for much of his career, but the guy could get the bat head on the ball like nobody's business. Nobody's. He hit .324 as a 41 year old and his retirement had nothing to do with his ability to hit. If he could DH, have knee replacements, or have a guy do his running for him, he could probably still be hitting over .300 today.
Just tragic. Didn't know he even was sick. That exchange between him and Teddy Ballgame was awesome. A very sad day for MLB as a whole.
M
MentalDisabldLst
Guest
In 1994, the strike deprived us of a chance to see if the Expos could win the WS. But it also deprived us of a chance to see one of the best hitters of his generation challenge Ted Williams and the .400 barrier. With 2/3s of a season, Gwynn hit .394 / .454 / .568 / 1.022. Somehow he only finished 7th in MVP voting, but nevertheless had a chance to have an achievement that would have lived on far past the memory of him.
Since Ted in 1941, the closest anyone has come to .400 has been:
Tony Gwynn, 1994, .3938
George Brett, 1980, .3898
Ted Williams, 1957, .3881
Rod Carey, 1977, .3880
Stan Musial, 1948, .3764
Nomar Garciaparra, 2000, .3724
One of the greatest pure hitters of all time,
Since Ted in 1941, the closest anyone has come to .400 has been:
Tony Gwynn, 1994, .3938
George Brett, 1980, .3898
Ted Williams, 1957, .3881
Rod Carey, 1977, .3880
Stan Musial, 1948, .3764
Nomar Garciaparra, 2000, .3724
One of the greatest pure hitters of all time,
MentalDisabldLst said:
I should also point out that Matt Williams had 43 home runs and was red hot. He might have hit 62.
Shit. I didn't even know he had cancer until today.
(I really can't believe chewing tobacco is still sold as a legal product.)
(I really can't believe chewing tobacco is still sold as a legal product.)
Toe Nash said:
I think the use has gone down because people have become much more educated on the link between smokeless tobacco and squamous cell carcinoma (oral cancer). Very aggressive form of cancer.
There are still lots of places where it is huge among high school and college age players. It shouldn't be, but it is.Toe Nash said:
Damn, this sucks. I was fortunate to see him play on a cross country trip with my family back in the mid 90's.
RIP
RIP
Man, this really sucks. My wife grew up in San Diego and while she's not that big of a baseball fan, she loves Tony Gwynn and saw him play plenty of times as a kid. It's rough being a Padres fan, but cool that one of the all-time greats was playing in his prime and she got to see him. Cheers, big guy.
One of the best hitters I had the privilege to watch as a kid. Seemed like an incredible man off the field as well. He will be missed.
Toe Nash said:
Young ballplayers, especially from the southern states, dip with reckless abandon. But it's actually everywhere.
As I posted just last week, Josh Pennington, the Sox' 29th round pick in this year's draft, was given a detention for chewing tobacco in class on the last day of school for seniors. Then he took to Twitter and bitched about it. He's from South Jersey.
It's a huge issue, and MLB needs to deal with it immediately and far more forcefully than a Smokey The Bear "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires" casual PR approach.
Tony & Ted. Brothers from another mother.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3hLiyNSISQ
Tony & Rod Carew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trHvVG0iMrY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3hLiyNSISQ
Tony & Rod Carew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trHvVG0iMrY