Tony Gwynn

[MrBug708]

RIP to one of the greatest hitters ever. 54 years of age. Fuck Cancer

[Coop Cat]

Woke up this news today. Very sad.

He had taken most of the year off from his coaching duties with San Diego State and I do not believe made an appearance on any of the Padres broadcasts as he has been battling cancer (mouth I believe). However, he did just sign an extension with SDSU which made me think that these were headed in the right direction.

[wyo-cat]

Wow.

Tony was one of the good guys.

[Chicat]

RIP Tony

[JMarkJohns]

Met him twice. Great guy. Started following baseball in early 90s because of him and Padres training in Yuma. Far too young to die.

[UAdevil]

Way too young to go. RIP Tony.

[Olsondogg]

Sad about this. Greatest hitter I've ever witnessed in person. Also, he was a good PG in college too...

[catgrad97]

Jesus. I rooted for the Pads over the Cubs in '84 because of him.

The whole San Diego franchise would have moved to another city years ago if it wasn't for Tony Gwynn. Absolute giant of the game. They talk about Dave Winfield, but nobody will ever be a greater baseball player in the history of the city than Gwynn.

One more of the greats gone. RIP.

[Olsondogg]

BTW... Fuck you, cancer.

[Merkin]

Does anyone still chew any more?

[CatnapTom]

A truly great athlete and even greater human being .

We will all miss you Tony ..... R I P

[Coop Cat]

Now the strories start to come out about how sick he really was. The extension with SDSU was a gesture of respect for him and his family with SDSU knowing that he would more than likely would never coach another game for the Aztecs.

The response to his death really has been incredible on TV/Radio and in print.

I have game tickets from his 2000th career hit (was at the game) and from his 3000th hit game when I bought a ticket for each game of the away series in Montreal in anticipation of the hit.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11093 ... ztM9%22%7D

[azcat49]

Really one of the all time great hitters. Just a shame. even in death he can teach young people about staying away from tobacco.

RIP Tony

[Coop Cat]

I will be participating:

[thenewazcats]

Lots of great memories of watching Gwynn at Jack Murphy. He's the type of player we're missing today.

[Coop Cat]

From Jayson Stark:

Astounding Tony Gwynn Facts of the Week

OK, I know I spewed a bunch of astounding Gwynn facts the other day. But I've got a million of them!

• Over an eight-year period from 1989-96, Tony Gwynn swung and missed an average of three times a week. Our man Adam Dunn, on the other hand, averaged four swings and misses a game last season.

• Have I mentioned that these Dunn-Gwynn comparions never get old? In 1995, Gwynn struck out 15 times all season -- in 535 at-bats. In 2012, Dunn had a week (April 13-19) in which he struck out 15 times -- in 27 at-bats.

• Gwynn had eight different seasons in which he qualified for the batting title and struck out fewer than 20 times. No active player has ever even had one season like that. And since Gwynn debuted in 1982, 3,382 different position players have come to the plate in the major leagues. They've combined for two seasons like that (by Ozzie Smith and Felix Fermin).

• Finally, Gwynn had seven different seasons in which he hit .350 or better (and qualified for the batting title). That's as many as all active players put together (if you don't count Alex Rodriguez as "active") -- three by Ichiro Suzuki, two by Albert Pujols, one each by Joe Mauer and Josh Hamilton.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11105 ... de-targets

[Coop Cat]

[Coop Cat]