One of the greatest hitters in baseball history was born May 9, 1960 in Los Angeles, California. His name? Anthony Keith Gwynn, better known as Tony Gwynn.

Tony Gwynn made his Major League debut July 19, 1982 for the San Diego Padres. His final game was October 7, 2001 for those very same San Diego Padres. Tony Gwynn played his entire 20-year baseball career for the Padres, which is a remarkable feat considering how athletes jump from sports city to sports city nowadays.

In his first game in 1982, Tony Gwynn drove a base hit off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Sid Monge. Twenty years later in 2001, Tony Gwynn got his final hit off Colorado Rockies pitcher Gabe White. In between those 20 years, he compiled 3,141 hits in route to becoming the Padres’ all-time hits leader.

Hits aren’t the only Padres’ record Tony Gwynn holds, either. Tony Gwynn is also the San Diego Padres’ all-time leader in average (.338), games played (2,440), at bats (9,288), runs (1,383), doubles (543), triples (85), RBI (1,138), walks (790) and stolen bases (319).

It’s safe to say that Tony Gwynn is the greatest player in Padres history.

Below are some of Tony Gwynn’s most memorable moments:

500th hit – August 18, 1985 vs. Atlanta pitcher Craig McMurtry
1,000th hit – April 22, 1988 vs. Houston pitcher Nolan Ryan
1,135th hit – September 17, 1988 vs. Atlanta pitcher Jim Acker (Gwynn became the Padres’ all-time hitter leader, surprising Dave Winfield.)
1,500th hit – August 15, 1990 vs. Montreal pitcher Steve Frey
2,000th hit – August 6, 1993 vs. Colorado pitcher Bruce Ruffin
2,500th hit – August 14, 1996 vs. Cincinnati pitcher Hector Carrasco
3,000th hit – August 6, 1999 vs. Montreal pitcher Dan Smith
3,141st hit – October 6, 2001 vs. Colorado Gabe White

For his career, Tony Gwynn was selected to 15 All-Star Games, was a five-time Gold Glove Award winner and a seven-time Silver Slugger Award winner. Tony Gwynn also won several more awards, including the Roberto Clemente Award in 1999, Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1998 and the Branch Rickey Award in 1995. In honor of his accomplishments, the San Diego Padres retired Tony Gwynn’s #19 jersey.

Not many players in the history of baseball had a better plate approach than Tony Gwynn. Tony Gwynn’s legacy was built on what he did with the bat, but he was also a solid defender and despite his size, could swipe a bag with the best of them, too.

In 2007, Tony Gwynn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He earned 97.6% of the total votes and was a first ballot inductee.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 8:33 pm and is filed under Baseball, General, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.