Tony Gwynn

As most of you know, Tony Gwynn died today. I can't and won't say anything about his greatness as a hitter, player, and person that everybody doesn't already know. I can say, that as a Giants fan growing up in the 80's, he was one of those rare players I both looked forward to and dreaded seeing at Candlestick. His swing was beautiful to even my young, untrained eye and he always seemed to get the clutch hit against us. I'm sure many other baseball fans had similar experiences with Mr. Padre.

Yes he was a class act as well as one of the greatest hitters of all time. R.I.P.

I loved to hear him talk about hitting! RIP Tony!

The only reason to go to Padres games as a kid vacationing in San Diego was to watch Tony Gwynn hit.

As a Padres fan this hurts quite a bit. I always felt he never truly accepted his own greatness.

It was fun watching him and I loved how he really cared about maximizing his performance on the diamond through watching tons of video and taking extra batting practice.

He actually hated striking out too....imagine that!

It's almost trite to say he was one of the best hitters I ever saw. When I lived in Orange County I used to drive down to see him when the Dodgers were out of town. I made quite a few such trips in 1987 , he was on fire that year. One announcer yesterday (I wish I remember which one but I was flipping around a bit) said that he never saw anyone get the barrel of the bat to the ball more consistently than Gwynn.

He was one of my favorite players. I love it when I get him on one of my teams. RIP

was listening to some sports talk radio today. they talked about gwynn and some of his awesomeness.

1. most athletes decline their last ten years..gwynn hit .350

2. 107 career abs vs maddux..he hit .400+ ( and i think they said he never struck out once vs GM?)

Those are some impressive stats against a HOF pitcher.

Tony Gwynn had more four hit games in his career than two strikeout games. That's incredible!