RIP Tony Gwynn

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Tony Gwynn
Baseball Hall of Famer, Tony Gwynn (PeekYou profile here), who made more than 3,100 hits during his Major League career, has died at age 54.

The San Diego Padres — to whose mythos Gwynn was so integral that he’d earned the nickname “Mr. Padre” — announced the great slugger’s death on Monday. Gwynn succumbed to salivary cancer with which he’d been battling for some time.

The official Padres Twitter account tweeted, “We are terribly sad to say goodbye to our teammate, our friend and a legend, Tony Gwynn. Rest in peace, Mr. Padre.”

His mind-blowing career batting average of .338 is the highest since Ted Williams’ lifetime average of .344. He won a record eight National League batting titles and played with the Padres in two World Series. He retired from playing in 2001.

In his post-Major League life, among other things, he coached for San Diego State University; having just signed a one-year extension as the school’s head coach this past week. He took over the program at the school, his own alma mater, in 2002.

A much more thorough obit can be found at the New York Times here. And a visit to Mr. Padre’s PeekYou profile will lead you to many stats, clips, photos, interviews, and memorials, to be found throughout cyberspace.

Here’s Gwynn below, explaining his approach to hitting:

 

 

And here’s his Hall of Fame acceptance speech: