This morning, Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn passed
away at the age of 54 after a multi-year battle with salivary gland cancer. He
was just 54.
I do not want to go into much detail on the unfortunate
event, but I do want to cover how amazing of a hitter he was. Mr. Padre
was an eight time batting champion, a fifteen time all-star, and won five gold
gloves and seven silver slugger awards. His career WAR was 68.8, but the man
could hit so well for contact that it was scary. If he had more power, he would
be the most dangerous hitter of all time.
Since Teddy Williams hit over .400, only two players have
batted over .390: George Brett and Gwynn. In 1994, he was so close to being the
first since Williams, but he finished .394. He had seven years with 190+
hits.
Take a look at "Baseball's All-Time Best Hitters"
by Michael J. Schell, which takes every single great hitter baseball has ever
seen and compares each one based on time period, ballpark effects, etc. Spoiler
alert: They found that Tony Gwynn had the best batting average when adjusting
for each stat.
We lost a true great hitter today. Mr. Padre will be
missed.
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