Tony Gwynn

Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr., nicknamed “Mr. Padre”, was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball for the San Diego Padres. The left-handed hitting Gwynn won eight batting titles in his career, tied for the most in National League history.

Tony Gwynn grew up watching and idolizing Willie Davis play center field for those great 1960’s Los Angeles Dodgers teams. Then as an outfielder and hitter himself for the San Diego Padres, Gwynn surpassed many marks set by other Hall of Famers. Honus Wagner established the record for most batting titles in a career with eight. That’s one record Tony Gwynn could not surpass. He only tied it. At the end of his career he could have gone 0-for-1199 and still finished with a 300 batting average! He played for 20 years in the “bigs” and struck out three times in a game…but once!  

Hall of Fame baseball great Tony Gwynn was an amazing hitter. During the period from 1970 to 1990 there were only six players who one time enjoyed a season with more than 150 hits and less than 20 strikeouts. Tony Gwynn did this six times, every year from 1991 through 1996.