RIP Tony Gwynn

Losing Jerry Coleman and Tony Gwynn in the same year is a blow to the Padres.

There aren't any others who are so ingrained with the franchise.

 

UT San Diego obit. RIP

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jun/16/padres-great-tony-gwynn-died/

 

Among my most memorable baseball experiences was sitting in a green room (like a fly on the wall) listening to Ted Williams, Ken Griffey Sr., Ken Griffey Jr. and Tony Gwynn talk hitting for close to an hour one night. Williams, as you would guess, led the discussion by peppering the other three with one hitting situation after another, quizzing them on what they were thinking, what their approach would be.

 

Damn, damn shame. RIP.

 

I was able to go a lot of Padres games in the '90s when I was living in San Diego, and watching Gwynn was always worth the price of admission all by himself.

I sat through some really lean years with Padres back then, but we could always at least brag about having Tony Gwynn. And in addition to being a Hall of Fame player, he the perfect representative for the Padres, the city of San Diego, and our common alma mater, SDSU.

Someone mentioned he and Coleman both passed this year. Also notable is that both their passings also tempered some great happenings for San Diego sports fans. In January, Coleman's death came the same day the Chargers won their playoff game and the SDSU basketball team upset Kansas in Lawrence. This time, Gwynn passed a day after we saw Aztec alum Kawhi Leonard win the NBA Finals MVP.

 

Best hitter since George Brett and Rod Carew.... and I'm well past 40. Such a shame.

 

RIP to one of baseball's greatest hitters but also to one of baseball's greatest ambassadors.






This might be too early to discuss....

Who will SDSU hire to succeed Tony as head coach?

Do they promote one of his assistants to head coach or do they try to hire a big name college coach?

Does SDSU interview former UND & Arizona State head coach Pat Murphy for the job?

Would Murph leave his Triple-A managerial position for the Padres to go there?

 

Never struck out more than 40 times in a season. Other than his first (when he played in only 54 games), never had a season where he struck out more times than he walked or hit less than .309.

RIP to one of the all-time greats.

 

Indeed, will never, ever understand the obsession a lot of baseball players - and loads of hockey players - have with that shit.

 

I really hope this tragedy awakens players to the dangers of chewing tobacco. It's amazing to watch a game and see all the chewable stuff lined up in dugouts -- sunflower seeds, gum, etc. It seems as if the nature of baseball, a sport with considerable down time, facilitates all of this.
Although I never had the pleasure of meeting Gwynn, he struck me as a perpetually pleasant, enthusiastic guy who would have been a dream to cover.

 

Saw on Twitter
Smoltz, Glavine, Martinez, and Maddux managed to strike out Gwynn three times ... Total.

 

Another stat I heard today (per Cowherd) that absolutely floored me.

Gwynn hit .444 career with the bases loaded.

On top of his average against the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz Braves (Maddux never struck him out, apparently), the .444 bases loaded average smacked me in the nose.

My Gwynn memory - on a This Week in Baseball episode (year unknown) with a feature on how he kept VHS tapes rolling all the time during games and he would go back in the clubhouse or training room and look at his previous at-bat. That story stuck with me every time I thought of #19.