Tony Gwynn biography
Tony Gwynn, byname of Anthony Keith Gwynn, (born May 9, 1960, Los Angeles, California, U.S.—died June 16, 2014, Poway, California), American skilled baseball participant who, whereas with the San Diego Padres (1982–2001), turned one of many sport’s all-time greatest singles hitters. He threw and batted from the left facet.
Gwynn attended San Diego State University (California) on a basketball scholarship, the place he set a college document for assists because the workforce’s level guard. He additionally excelled at baseball and was drafted in 1981 by each the San Diego Clippers (later the Los Angeles Clippers), of the National Basketball Association, and by the San Diego Padres, of Major League Baseball. He selected the Padres, and through the 1982 season he was known as up from their minor league workforce to play. He performed his complete profession as an outfielder with the Padres.
In 1984 Gwynn hit .351 and helped his membership attain the World Series. In the 1994 strike-shortened season he hit .394, one of the best batting common since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. Although the Padres misplaced to the New York Yankees within the 1998 World Series, Gwynn hit .500 (8 for 16), with 1 dwelling run and three runs batted in. His success on the plate was resulting from excellent hand-eye coordination, an intuition for pitch choice, and a batting approach that was refined by way of numerous hours of video evaluation. He was not an influence hitter, however he developed one of many sport’s most effective swings, reaching base on line drives and sharply hit grounders.
Gwynn’s profession highlights embrace setting the National League (NL) document for many consecutive seasons hitting .300 or higher (19), tying the NL document for many batting titles (8), and being the twenty second participant to achieve 3,000 hits. Though Gwynn was greatest identified for his offense, he additionally developed right into a strong defensive participant after initially struggling within the outfield. He was a five-time Gold Glove recipient (1986–87, 1989–91). He retired from skilled baseball on the finish of the 2001 season, and in 2002 he turned the top baseball coach at San Diego State University. Gwynn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 2007. In 2010 he was identified with most cancers of the salivary gland; 4 years later he died from the illness.