Its mind-blowing. In 2.440 career games, Gwynn struck out twice in a game only 34 times. No surprise, six-time NL batting champion Tony Gwynn is among the best against the four-time Cy Young winner. The closest anyone has come after World War II are Wade Boggs and Rod Carew at .328, a full 10 points behind Gwynn. During his 20-year career, he struck out 434 times, an average of 21.7 K% At the end of April, 129 players had struck out 22 times, a 49% increase from the previous year. How does this translate to their WAR/WAA? Reggie Jackson's Record-breaking Strikeouts Part of HuffPost News. Gwynn hit .400 for a stretch as long as a season: from July 3, 1993 to May 9, 1995, he batted .403 over a 179-game stretch. Against Randy Johnson, however, Gwynn slashed .111/.111/.167 for a .278 OPS with no walks and five strikeouts . A 76 Pitch . They can be viewed by season or over an entire career. In 1997 he was 37 years old but his bat hadnt slowed down. But Gwynn got every one of his hits in the National League. Myth: Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters during his career. Only Ty Cobb, who won 12, all before 1920, had more. The pitcher that Gwynn faced most often was Greg Maddux, which makes sense since the two were in the National League together for 15 seasons. Only once. In the other 19, the batter put the ball in play. In fact, Gwynn owns the top three single-game assist tallies in Aztecs history -- with his 18 dimes against UNLV on Feb. 5, 1980, as the most. The streak lifted his batting average to .402 as late as July 14th. Gwynn was hitting .390 as late as August 5, 1997, but cooled in late August and September and settled for a .372 average and his eighth batting title. tony gwynn Than Had Was Toni The Todays Greates And Walked Into . Gwynn had six straight seasons (and eight altogether) in which he struck out fewer than 20 times. Gwynn hit .415 in those 107 PAs. Aztec Ticket Exchange. We'll be proud to tell our grandchildren we did. More on Gwynn's lack of strikeouts: He faced some great pitchers, but even the cream of the crop had trouble getting him out. He's shocked. He previously worked for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and Major League Baseball Advanced Media. Maddux was also a good hitting pitcher, with a career . I'm looking for any Tony Gwynn or Greg Maddux cards that I need. Including postseason play, Gwynn faced 18 Hall of Fame pitchers for a total of 541 plate appearances. Sadly, we lost Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn this week to cancer. As Howell broke for second, Gwynn put his picture-perfect swing into a Maddux slider and lifted it into center field . Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=81411994, Yankees Free Agency Push Needed Post-Lockout, Ten Greatest Comebacks in MLB History: #3 (2), A Complete History of the Major League Baseball Playoffs. Manny Machado vs Jose Ramirez Comparison. Gwynn's 60th celebrated all day, Sat. The only pitcher to strike out Gwynn three times in ONE game was Bob Welch, who sadly passed away last week. As if to show everyone what theyd missed in the summer of 94, Gwynn came out swinging a red-hot bat. Well, except one. He struck out 3 times and hit .381. There were two strikeout specialists who got Gwynn on strikes more than a few times: Nolan Ryan and Dwight Gooden. Here are seven crazy stats and facts, in no particular order. He batted .381 with a 101 hits and 3 strikeouts. on MLBN. Tony Eusebio gives Houston an early lead with an RBI single off Greg Maddux. Greg Maddux once explained that you could trick any hitter into not being able to read the speed of a pitch"Except for that fucking Tony Gwynn." G/O Media may get a commission 13% off A few hitters, however, have had their way with Maddux since he made his major league debut in 1986. No 3,000-hit man who was born after 1900 had a higher lifetime batting average than Gwynn (.338). . In fact, Maddux saw Gwynn more than anyone. * Bip Roberts, now in Kansas City, hit .471 (16-for-34) with seven walks. He batted .462 with 12 extra-base hits off John Smoltz. He hit .303 against fellow lefty Tom Glavine and struck out twice in 105 times at the plate . Some NFL teams dont make the grade, players say, New era of football begins at Mater Dei under coach Frank McManus. *Gwynn hit over .350 five times after the age of 33. Even better man and family man. Throughout his 20 years in the league, Gwynn would wield his bat and give opposing pitchers nightmares while putting up astounding numbers on the stat sheet. These miscellaneous characteristics include all counts with a certain number of balls or strikes as well as first pitch, pitcher ahead, count even, and batter ahead. NAME AB H HR RBI K AVG; Gwynn: 94: 39: 0: 9: 0.415: Maddux is indisputably one of the top pitchers in MLB history, racking up 355 career victories, four Cy Young Awards . San Diego State Aztecs. 307 - Tony Gwynn has a younger brother, Chris Gwynn, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1987-1991), Kansas City Royals (1992-1993), Los Angeles Dodgers (1994-1995), and San Diego Padres . Kinda random it was just these two especially Pedro Martinez since it was probably only the beginning of his career when they were facing eachother. He had at least two hits in his first five games and hit safely in his first twelve. Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, After four decades, trainer Ed Moger gets his first Triple Crown starter, An exclusive look at details of Chip Kellys two-year contract extension from UCLA, His shoe game is pretty tight. Why Dodgers hope Miguel Rojas play matches his swag, Rats in the laundry? So maybe we never saw Hornsby or Wagner or Tris Speaker hit a baseball. Winner of eight batting titles, Gwynn finished in the top five for the league's best average 13 times from 1984 through 1997. Many see 30 count and notice that there are 312 plate appearances (PA) something the original meme creator might have rounded down to 310. But all I know is this: I've never seen anyone, in my years covering baseball, who mastered the art of bat meeting ball as brilliantly, or as artfully, as Tony Gwynn. Would Gwynn have hit .400 that season? He had little home run power. Do not let the reality fool you this is still nothing short of amazing. That was hit #4 and it helped spark a three-run rally that helped the Padres tie the score 10-10. In 20 seasons he struck out a total of 434 times most hitters today strike out that much in three seasons. He struck out 15 times during the entire 1995 season a year in which he batted .368. Bob Gibson et Pedro Martinez et Greg Maddux sont venus vous battre. He was 39-for-91 off the right-hander, with eight doubles and a triple. Evan lives in Mesa, Arizona and loves history, especially of sports. Theres no need to add myths to the equation. On the morning of June 11th his mark was at .409 after another three-hit game against St. Louis at Qualcomm Stadium the night before. Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters in his career. . Six times in Padres history has a player recorded 200 hits in a season. Despite the respect shown in the above comment, Tony Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 103 times in regular-season games - and never struck out (and another four times in the post-season without a whiff. His batting average stood at .394 and unfortunately, a run at .400 was one of the things lost when the season was cancelled. He dazzled batters with his precision and command. Here comes more. Neither Pedro Martinez nor Greg Maddux ever struck him out.Maddux faced Gwynn 107 times and Gwynn hit .415 off Maddux. While most left-handed batters are declining and being rested against southpaws in their twilight years, Gwynn was punishing them. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Caught that special the other night and enjoyed it. Other Colleges and Conferences. Ryan est venu te frapper. Could Gwynn have reached .400? I've updated those numbers now, in the wake of the awful news of Tony Gwynn's death. As we outlined in #2 above, Gwynn tore apart Greg Maddux to the tune of a .429 career average and he NEVER struck out against the Hall of Fame hurler. When it comes to choosing between two of the greatest pitchers of all time, Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez, there are a number of factors to consider. * Marquis Grissom, now Madduxs teammate, batted .405 (17-for-42). (1915) @Wang Chi on the clock. In those three seasons, Maddux faced 3,060 batters, and 158 roughly 5.1% saw a 30 count. Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson vs. Hall of Fame hitter Tony Gwynn in the 1998 NLDS: San Diego Padres vs. Houston Astros.Just a great piece of hitting vs.. That jump-started arguably the hottest 20-game streak of his career. The former Atlanta Braves hurler faced Gwynn 107 times during their overlapping Hall-of-Fame careers. 97 players struck out 20 or more times in May of 2014 alone (, If Gwynn went 0 for 4 for the next 295 games he would still have a career average over .300, per. DarthIntegral JCC FODEUSS Commish VIP - Former Mod/RSA VIP - Game Host. It can be no coincidence that Gwynn developed a strong friendship with another one of the all-time great hitters, Ted Williams. Tony Gwynn owned Greg Maddux, and Mad-Dog knew it. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Dan Holmes is the author of three books about baseball, including Ty Cobb: A Biography. But his feats are as amazing today as they were back then. In addition, Gwynns nine five-hit games rank second all-time to Pete Rose, who had 10. But Gwynn played a pivotal role in that game, nonetheless, singling in the eighth, and scoring the tying run in the 10th after reaching on an error. Against Randy Johnson, however, Gwynn slashed .111/.111/.167 for a .278 OPS with no walks and five strikeouts in 18 PAs. Greg Maddux, Robin Roberts, Warren Spahn, Orel Hershiser. Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby and Al Simmons did so before him. 7 Cubs pitchers combine for no-hitter vs Machado, Padres, Top moments from Brady, Manning, Jordan and other athletes hosting 'Saturday Night Live', Fantasy baseball rankings, projections, strategy and cheat sheets, Rojas to withdraw from WBC, stay with Dodgers, The best pitcher in MLB? Westbrook went 3/12 in the, The Dallas Cowboys surprisingly decided to part ways with Kellen Moore after losing in the playoffs. Is it wrong that I'm STILL not over letting him go as a free agent? Eric Karros, though, hasnt been so fortunate. Results of Baseball Roundtable Survey on 2023 MLB Rules Changes, Book Review The Greatest Summer in Baseball History: How the 73 Season Changed Us Forever, Triple Crown Moundsmen Big Names with Big Seasons, A Look at MLB Triple Crown Winners Starting with Three-for-Three Oscar Charleston. On this date (April 8) in, 1986, Will Clark, a 22-year-old rookie, stepped into the batter's box for his first-ever major league at bat. I read earlier that in 323 combined career PAs against Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, and Pedro Martinez, Gwynn struck out only three times. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. Sure enough, while Gwynn and Boggs have nearly equal Offensive RAA according to B-Ref (432/430) and Fangraphs (401.5/399), their contextual offense is much more lopsided, with Tony having a 56/36.8 WPA lead at B-Ref, and a 57.85/36.97 lead at Fangraphs. There are so many great stretches, but amazingly in 1997, he got maybe as hot as hes ever been with the stick for a long stretch of time, and he did it twice. That season came in the middle of a five-year stretch where he batted .369. He could have stuck around the big leagues and gone 0-for-1172 and still had a .300 career batting average. Here's Maddux on how he gripped the baseball. In 293 of those, the batter walked; 153 were intentional. For his career against all pitchers Gwynn hit .302 with two strikes. The baseball world was mourning the passing of one of its most beloved players on Monday, as San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn lost his battle with cancer at the age of 54. Thank you for reading and commenting, Christian. In the fifth inning he lined sharply into the glove of first baseman Will Clark. In 1995 he went 35 games without striking out. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision. For the eight-week period from mid-May to mid-July, Gwynn hit a sizzling .430 and collected at least one hit in 44 of 46 games. . During his career, Tony won batting titles by 32 points (1987), 30 points (1984), 28 points (1994), 22 points (1995), and 17 points (1996). Most players have a disadvantage when they are facing pitchers of the same stripe as them. No hitter born after 1900 reached 3,000 hits in fewer games (2,284) or at-bats (8,874) than Gwynn. He also is a credentialed member of the Diamondbacks press corps for Last Word on Baseball. He gets more of the bat on the ball on some pitches than anyone else, Maddux said. The baseball world is mourning the loss of Hall of Famer and "Mr. Padre" Tony Gywnn the best way it knows how: by remembering how incredible a player he was. Tony Gwynn broke Greg Maddux's spell. Gwynns career batting mark was .338, the highest mark by any player who started his career after 1939. The great players are usually the ones who are able to maintain their skills later than their contemporaries. If you were going to do it you had to get him the first time you saw him (through lack of unfamiliarity) or by having a trick pitch of some sort. Greg Maddux vs. Tony Gwynn. Aztec Game Videos. His 6-for-7 performance raised Gwynns average to .357, though he would lose the batting title that season to Andres Galarraga, who batted .370 for Colorado. That six-hit game deserves closer examination. In addition to his pitching skills, Maddux was an excellent fielding pitcher. Gwynn was on several mediocre teams and he often hit ahead of guys who did not make good contact. In the history of baseball, only Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie got there faster -- and when they played, the gloves were made of the same material as those trains they rode on.