![]() They lost to the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. He also stole 33 bases and struck out only 23 times in 606 at-bats that season, propelling the Padres to their first pennant. Two years later, Gwynn captured his first batting championship, hitting. “They flash on the board, ‘Tony Gwynn’s first big-league hit.’ He shook my hand and congratulated me and said, ‘Don’t catch me after one night.’ I thought, boy, wouldn’t it be great to have a career like his, to be able to do some of the things that he was able to do?” “Rose is trailing the play,” Gwynn told The New York Times. As he headed to second base, he passed Pete Rose, Philadelphia’s first baseman, who became baseball’s career hits leader. In his fourth at-bat, he hit a liner to left-center field. When Gwynn was closing in on his 3,000th hit, he recalled his major league debut on July 19, 1982, when the Padres were playing at home against the Philadelphia Phillies. Some 75,000 fans turned out at Cooperstown when he was inducted along with Cal Ripken Jr., who played all 21 of his seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, most of them at shortstop, on the way to breaking Lou Gehrig’s streak of consecutive games played. Gwynn, a 15-time All-Star, entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 after garnering 97.6 percent of sportswriters’ votes in his first year of eligibility. He was also a Gold Glove-winning outfielder and an outstanding base stealer before knee injuries took their toll. He simply possessed a brilliant consistency with his left-handed batting stroke, compiling a career batting average of. And his pudgy 5-foot-11, 215-pound frame (give or take a few pounds) did not evoke streamlined athleticism. Playing all 20 of his major league seasons with the often lackluster San Diego Padres, in one of baseball’s lesser media markets, and usually shunning home run swings in favor of well-struck hits, Gwynn was not one of baseball’s more charismatic figures. He attributed the cancer to having dipped tobacco throughout his career. Gwynn had surgery for cancer of the mouth and salivary glands in recent years and had been on medical leave as the baseball coach at San Diego State University, his alma mater. ![]() His death was announced by Major League Baseball. Tony Gwynn, who won a record eight National League batting championships, amassed 3,141 hits and gained acclaim as one of baseball’s most passionate students of the art of hitting, died on Monday in Poway, Calif. ![]()
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