During a 20-year major league career, all of it patrolling the outfield for the Padres, Tony Gwynn posted some staggering numbers and miscellaneous honors. There was the .338 career batting average, the eight National League batting titles, the 3,000 hits, the five Gold Gloves for fielding excellence and the 16 All-Star Game appearances, among other various and sundry accolades. You can make book on a 2007 Hall of Fame selection.
It was the Gold Gloves awards that Tony most cherished, as he was not a polished outfielder early in his career, and devoted long hours to honing those skills. A real perfectionist, he also spent countless hours examining videotape of his plate appearances, looking for slight flaws to be corrected. He was the prototypical contact hitter, rarely striking out and spraying the ball to all fields although professing a special fondness for the “5.5 hole” between short and third. Tony met Ted Williams for the first time in 1992, and the two stars spent many hours together discussing hitting techniques. Tony’s power production improved somewhat following Ted’s suggestion of hitting inside pitches, but he had long since reasoned that he would be more helpful to his club by hitting for average.
Tony was a highly-sought prep prospect out of Long Beach Poly High. He chose to attend San Diego State when the Aztecs were the only school to allow him to play both baseball and basketball. He became a well-regarded point guard at SDSU, still holds the all-time school record for career assists, and was a tenth round draft choice of the NBA’s then-San Diego Clippers.
Although Tony retired following the 2000 season when slowed by knee and foot miseries, local baseball fans still have the opportunity to follow his career as he assumed San Diego State head baseball coach duties in 2002. The stadium at SDSU, funded by John Moores and named for Tony, is one of the finest college fields in the nation. Be assured that he’ll still lighting up the field with his high-pitched giggle and will always be available for an autograph or media moment.