On July 19th, future Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn played in his first Major League game. In his debut, he went 2 for 4, of course.

How good was Tony Gwynn?

• He won the National League Batting Title 8 times
• He led the National League in hits 7 times
• He made 15 All Star Games
• He won 5 Gold Gloves

He was a Hitter’s Hitter, a Pro’s Pro. He was the kind of hitting machine we do not see much in today’s game. The closest player to Gwynn in today’s game is a fellow Padre, Luis Arraez.

I am not a George Wills fan, but he did write a pretty good book about baseball. Gwynn was his case study for The Art of Hitting. Gwynn was the obvious choice.

Since Gwynn played in the National League in the days before Inter-League play, I did not get to see him play in-person very many times. I did get to see him a few times at Wrigley and at the Astrodome when the San Deigo Padres were in town to play the Cubs or Astros.

Gwynn, like George Brett and Kirby Puckett and Joe Mauer, played his entire career for San Diego. In his 20-year career he only got to the post-season three times. Two of those years to the World Series. The Padres never managed to win the World Series, but it wasn’t because of Gwynn. In fact, in the 1998 series when the Padres were swept 4-0 by the Yankees, Gwynn batted .500!

Gwynn was born on May 9th, 1960, in Southern California. That was two days after yours-truly was born in Northen California. Unfortunately Tony Gwynn died way too young, at age 54 (in 2014).

Gwynn finished his career with 3141 hits. And remains the model for hitting genius.