Tony Gwynn
Did you know that Tony Gwynn only struck out 23 times in 606 at bats during the 1984 Season? In his first full season in the bigs Mr. Padre batted .351 for the National League Champion Padres. It was the first pennant in team history, and the first of Tony’s eight eventual NL Batting Champion awards.
Did you know that it was Moises’ walk off double in the bottom of the 10th inning that won the 1994 MLB All-Star Game for the National League? The shot to the left center gap scored Tony Gwynn all the way from first base giving them an 8-7 victory. The win broke the NL’s 6 year losing streak in All-Star Games.
It was August 12th, 1994 when the MLB Players Strike began, allowing it to become only the second season in MLB history to have no World Series be played. 1904 was the other. Along with the cancellation of the series we saw a number of players, and teams lose out on their quest for statistical greatness. One of those was Tony Gwynn and his chance to be the first player to hit .400 since the great Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941. Gwynn was batting .394 for the season when the players walked, cancelling the final 45 games. R.I.P. Tony
