With all the attention we've been giving Cal, I thought it would be nice to devote a thread to other HOF inductee.
He's one of the best pure(a nice way to say didn't hit for hr's) hitters this game has seen imo. Tim K's intro today said he has the 2nd highest career AVG of any player that's played since 1938. Another interesting fact Tim mentioned was that between '93-'97, Gwynn hit .338 with 2 strikes, which was higher than any other hitter during that stretch provided with all their strikes! He won 8 batting titles! He also once had very good speed(stole 56 bases once) and was a plus OF for most of his career. He wasn't much of a HR hitter, but did finish his career with a solid .459 slugging % to go along with a .388 OBP.
Congrats to Tony Gwynn, a great ambassador for the game, and a great player!
Baltimoron
07-30-2007, 11:35 PM
This touches on the amazing average with two strikes and is a big part of why TG was such a special player.
Coming into his age 32 season in 1992, Gwynn had hit .328/.382/.434 over 5181 at bats over 10 years, for a 129 OPS+. link (http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/scomp.cgi?I=gwynnto01:Tony+Gwynn&st=career&age=31)
The best "hitter" since Ted Williams, well on his way to the Hall of Fame and the history books as one of the greatest hitters ever.
During his age 32 season (1992), Gwynn (as detailed in his Hall of Fame induction speech), first really met and talked hitting with Ted Williams. Williams, of course a stubbornly proud pull hitter, opened Tony's mind to turning on the ball and looking to pull the ball.
Up until that point is his career, Tony Gwynn had been famous for the 5.5 hole between short and third base, where he routinely had ripped line drives and sharp ground balls the other way. Up until that point in time, Gwynn eschewed pulling the ball. He was a go the other way guy.
We talk a lot about physical decline, and the peak age for hitters coming around 28, and how heavy guys don't age well. Here we have Gwynn, a career .328 hitter, at age 32 (no longer slim Tony) deciding he would start to pull the ball, essentially redefining his approach and himself as a hitter. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Umm no.
Following the 1992 season when Gywnn first met with Williams and began to change his approach, from his age 33 through age 40 season over his last 3587 at bats (when guys get paid bloated salaries to Aubrey Huff it), TG hit .356/.400/.500 for a 139 OPS+. link (http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/scomp.cgi?I=gwynnto01:Tony+Gwynn&st=career&age=-33)
Moose Milligan
07-31-2007, 12:41 AM
IMO, the biggest travesty of the 1994 strike was seeing TG getting robbed of his chance at .400.
I think it was a foregone conclusion that the single season HR record was going to be broken. I think everyone wanted to see Griffey do it but I also felt that a lot of people thought that he was going to do it eventually...
However a run at .400 seemed a lot more special. He only played in 10 games of the month of August but was on a tear hitting .475 over the 10 games...
An amazing career. I Kurkjians intro was pretty spectacular, I had no idea he changed his hitting approach in 1992 after talking to Ted Williams.
Great player and a great guy, class act. Congrats to Tony Gwynn!