Old Titan Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Little known fact in memory of "Mr. Padre" Tony Gwynn, who passed away of cancer at the age of 54 on Monday: Gwynn's San Diego State Aztecs played in the NCAA Midwest Regional at ORU in 1981. Tony was a consensus All-American that season, and was just a week or two away from being picked by the Padres in the 3rd round of the major league draft. Though SDSU went 0-2 in the regional (losing 1-run games to Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts), Gwynn was already recognized as a classy guy who had "star" written all over him. Speaking of star power, that regional was loaded: ORU had eventual overall No. 1 draft pick Mike Moore, along with future major leaguers Tom Nieto, Ray Krawczyk and Kelvin Torve, while OSU countered with the likes of Jim Traber, Robbie Wine, and Mickey Tettleton. In addition to Gwynn, San Diego State's roster included future New York Yankee Bobby Meacham. That's NINE eventual big leaguers playing in one 4-team college regional (Southern Illinois, the 4th team in Tulsa that year, had no one reach the bigs). You just don't see that kind of MLB talent any more at the college level - they all take the money right out of high school now.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Great job, OT.....Gwynn was a true pro, Hall of Famer and a wonderful guy......today lots of players strike out 150-200 times a season....Tony never struck out more than 40 times in a season and his average over 20 Major league seasons was 21 times per season...one year he struck out only 8 times.....he had one season where he used the same bat the entire year without breaking it...lol....and over the last 70 years he is the closest man to come to hitting .400 when he hit .394 in 1994.....his lifetime average of .344 is the highest lifetime average in the past 80 years....he was also a gold glove outfielder and a great base stealer early in his career he had a season where he stole over 50 bases.....what an amazing talent!!!....His son Tony Gwynn Jr. plays here in Philly.....I wish he was half as good as his dad..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 I'm glad I got to see Tony Gwynn play once when I was in San Diego years ago. He was at the tail end of his career and was already a legend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 He was a class player on and off the ball field. He always seemed cheerful and gracious. I was sorry to hear of his passing. Baseball lost a giant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Olbermann paid tribute to Gwynn last night. "What you hoped Tony Gwynn was like, he was like." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Great job, OT.....Gwynn was a true pro, Hall of Famer and a wonderful guy......today lots of players strike out 150-200 times a season....Tony never struck out more than 40 times in a season and his average over 20 Major league seasons was 21 times per season...one year he struck out only 8 times.....he had one season where he used the same bat the entire year without breaking it...lol....and over the last 70 years he is the closest man to come to hitting .400 when he hit .394 in 1994.....his lifetime average of .344 is the highest lifetime average in the past 80 years....he was also a gold glove outfielder and a great base stealer early in his career he had a season where he stole over 50 bases.....what an amazing talent!!!....His son Tony Gwynn Jr. plays here in Philly.....I wish he was half as good as his dad..... The strike year when Gwynn could have equalled Ted Williams is probably one of the biggest "what ifs" in sports. I also never knew that Gwynn played basketball at SDSU in addition to baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Yep....if not for the strike which ended the 1994 season prematurely....Tony Gywnn may just have become the only player since 1941 to hit .400....ah, but we will never know.....Gywnn was an incredible contact hitter who also had some power.....his career OBP was .388 which is really good.....Rickey Henderson was even better at .401......those were the good ol' days....the golden era of baseball before it all became about the home run...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacAlum Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Consider this: In 1987, Tony Gwynn hit .370, winning his 2nd batting title, drew 82 BB compared to just 35 K's. On top of that, he also won a Gold Glove and stole 56(!) bases. Last years NL MVP Andrew McCutchen hit .317, struck out 101 times and stole 27 bases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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