You didn't get Tony Gwynn out, Maddux used to say. He released his first book, Volume I of A Complete History of the Major League Baseball Playoffs, in October of 2021. Tony Gwynn and Greg Maddux. (Some versions say 133 instead of 310 and leave out intentional walks.) I think I know part of the reason for Gwynns low WAR ranking, he ranks 101st among MLB players all time in total runs scored, behind Joe DiMaggio who had a much shorter career. I'd have to do some digging to find the exact players, but assume the best hitters and pitchers among Gwynn's playing cohort. Tony Gwynn: man or machine? In those three seasons, Maddux faced 3,060 batters, and 158 roughly 5.1% saw a 30 count. . Finally, in 1998, the Padres advanced past the Houston Astros in the NLDS (this was the year Houston traded at the deadline for Randy Johnson), then beat the Atlanta Braves and their troika of aces in Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz in the NLCS, before getting swept in the World Series by the New York Yankees; Gwynn only batted .200 . He racked up 39 hits off Maddux (39-for-94, .415), 32 against Smoltz (32-for-72, .444) and 30 against Tom Glavine (30-for-99, .303). Did you know that Greg Maddux is the only pitcher in Major . These miscellaneous characteristics include all counts with a certain number of balls or strikes as well as first pitch, pitcher ahead, count even, and batter ahead. Gwynn faced Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz a combined 323 times. I dont know that much about baseball but I wonder why Tony Gwynns WAR ranking is so low. I read earlier that in 323 combined career PAs against Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, and Pedro Martinez, Gwynn struck out only three times. Gwynn got hits off Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro -- four men who won a combined 1,282 games. He also had the second-most regular-season . Amazing strikeout stat No. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. The latest stats, facts, news and notes on Tony Gwynn of the San Diego San Diego State Aztecs. In 20 seasons he struck out a total of 434 times most hitters today strike out that much in three seasons. We kid you not. Perhaps the greatest pure hitter of his generation, the back of Gwynn's baseball card has enough nuggets and oddities to keep trivia buffs busy for days. Gwynn also had incredible success against many of the best strikeout pitchers. Why? (posted by /u/Gimmie_dat_cookie on r/cubs). They can be viewed by season or over an entire career. That brought up Gwynn, hitting better than .500 lifetime against the Cub ace. Even against hitters who can hurt them, they rarely change much from how they approach every hitter. They were the 307th set of brothers in Major League Baseball history. Same with Joaquin Andujar, Rob Murphy, and Kevin Brown, all of whom battled Gwynn at least 25 times. There are few ballplayers in the history of Major League Baseball that were as skilled in the batters box than Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who passed away on Monday. He thinks he might have an idea of why hes receiving some newfound fan support., An embarrassing graphic involving Russell Westbrook has gone viral. A popular meme says that out of the 20,421 batters Maddux faced in his career, only 310 saw a 30 count and 177 were intentional walks. 19. Anthony Keith Gwynn, 1960 59 - 2014 616 . America's Pastime. fun fact: Mark Reynolds struck out 434 times from 09-10. the same amount as Tony struck out in 20 years. He batted .415/.476/.521 against the four-time Cy Young Award winner and Hall of Famer. Maddux is also one of only ten pitchers who has both 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. Thank you for reading and commenting, Christian. In fact, in 1994, Gwynn batted an absurd .397 in two-strike counts. We will see what makes this claim false, what the true number is, and the mistake made by the original creator of the meme. . Ronald Acuna vs Juan Soto Comparison. Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 107 times in his career more than any other pitcher. The baseball world is mourning the loss of Hall of Famer and "Mr. Padre" Tony Gywnn the best way it knows how: by remembering how incredible a player he was. Gwynn has seven of those seasons, the most of any player in that span. For his career against all pitchers Gwynn hit .302 with two strikes. Five of those seasons belong to Gwynn (1984, '86, '87, '89, '97). On the morning of June 11th his mark was at .409 after another three-hit game against St. Louis at Qualcomm Stadium the night before. In 36 pitcher/batter battles, Pedro Martinez never struck out Gwynn. He won 18 Gold Gloves, the record for any position. Mike Trout In fact, according to the Elias Sports Bureau's Steve Hirdt, no hitter born since 1918 (i.e., since Ted Williams) has even gotten 2,000 hits and had an average this high. Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby and Al Simmons did so before him. If Gwynns 20-year career were split into two careers, 10 seasons apiece, he would rank first and second in franchise history in runs, hits, total bases and doubles. Chris Cwik. The Padres' Hall-of-Fame right fielder faced the Braves' Hall of Famer more than any other pitcher in his career . He faced Greg Maddux 107 times, hit .415, and never struck out. In fact, Maddux saw Gwynn more than anyone. So mind-blowing, in fact, that it seems too good to be true. And one final strikeout-related stat that blows the mind: Tony Gwynn hit .302 with two strikes on him. Maddux and Glavine are the first pair of Hall of Fame classmates both to record voting percentages in the 90th percentile since 2007 with Cal Ripken Jr. (98.5) and Tony Gwynn (97.6). Gwynn hit a blistering .444 off Smoltz and only struck out once against the hard thrower . The stat: Maddux faced 20,421 batters during his time in the league. Well, heres the thing though: runs scored is not factored in WAR. Gwynn has seven of those seasons, the most of any player in that span. He had at least two hits in his first five games and hit safely in his first twelve. In the past 100 years, nobody has more batting titles than Gwynn's eight. "When he strikes out swinging," his old hitting coach, Merv Rettenmund, once told me, "the pitcher's shocked. One split for pitchers is Count/Balls-Strikes. This shows opposing batter stats in situations that can be grouped into three categories: plate appearances that ended on a certain count, plate appearances that go beyond a certain count, and plate appearances with certain miscellaneous characteristics. Myth: Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters during his career. Last season, 129 players had struck out 22 times by the end of April. Ryan faced Gwynn 67 times and fanned Tony nine times (the most by any pitcher), but Gwynn still managed to hit over .300 against The Express. Gooden used his fastball and curveball to keep Gwynn off-balance, actually holding Mr. Padre to a .243 mark in 77 matchups while fanning him six times. If we apply that percentage to the 845 batters he faced in his first two seasons, that makes 43.6, which rounds up to 44. He torched just about every pitcher he faced. Hit .372 at the age of 37 in 1997, and only struck out 28 times in 592 at-bats. His career high in hits (220) came during his age-37 season. He hit .400 or better against eight different Cy Young winners -- Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Bret Saberhagen, Vida Blue, John Denny, Dennis Eckersley, Mark Davis and Doug Drabek -- and batted at least .300 against seven more. Tony Gwynn owned Greg Maddux, and Mad-Dog knew it. Greg Maddux (94 ABs) and Pedro Martinex (135 ABs) never recorded a K against the Padres outfielder. However, since this is speculative, we cannot include that in the verdict. Tony Gwynn had 287 plate appearances against Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz. Gwynn hit .400 for a stretch as long as a season: from July 3, 1993 to May 9, 1995, he batted .403 over a 179-game stretch. John Smoltz sums up Tony Gwynn's dominance with one great stat. Greg Maddux faced Tony Gwynn 107 times, walked him intentionally 7 times, and never once struck him out. NAME AB H HR RBI K AVG; Gwynn: 94: 39: 0: 9: 0.415: Maddux is indisputably one of the top pitchers in MLB history, racking up 355 career victories, four Cy Young Awards . How other hitters have done in the regular season with Maddux, according to STATS, Inc.: * Barry Bonds has hit six home runs, the most against Maddux. A. Aaron Judge; Aaron Nola; Adam Dunn; Adam Wainwright; Adrian Beltre; . Tony Gwynn has the highest career batting average among players whose career started after 1947 (baseball first integrated), no surprises there . In 1995 he went 35 games without striking out. Gregory Alan Maddux (born April 14, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams. Gwynn batted .300 in every season but his rookie year, giving him a record 19 straight seasons above .300. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. Here are nine incredible facts and stats from the career of Tony Gwynn. 7. #Padres Tony Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 107 times in his career, more than any other pitcher; Gwynn batted .415, Maddux never struck him out. So let's talk Gwynn's hitting. And none of these pitchers ever struck him out: Pedro Martinez (35 AB), Hideo Nomo (25 AB), Mike Hampton (33 AB) or, incredibly, Maddux (in 94 AB). That jump-started arguably the hottest 20-game streak of his career. But Gwynn got every one of his hits in the National League. The best memes from Instagram, Facebook, Vine, and Twitter about tony gwynn. Nolan had had the best stats against him and Tony still rocked him. Two vs. Glavine. He hit .303 against fellow lefty Tom Glavine and struck out twice in 105 times at the plate . But this Saturday would have been Gwynn's 60th birthday. In fact, Gwynn owns the top three single-game assist tallies in Aztecs history -- with his 18 dimes against UNLV on Feb. 5, 1980, as the most. That's 49 fewer punchouts than Miguel Cabrera's lowest total in a year. July 12, 2016, 10:48 PM. Order the book at store.bookbaby.com. Log in. Related. Special to ESPN.com. No 3,000-hit man who was born after 1900 had a higher lifetime batting average than Gwynn (.338). We'll be proud to tell our grandchildren we did. Wake up to the day's most important news. Players. See his various events you wish you could of seen. No one else whose career started after World War II has even gotten closer than 10 points of him -- at least no one with 5,000 plate appearances or more. . Get the latest news, stats, videos, highlights and more about starting pitcher Greg Maddux on ESPN. Gwynn hit below .300 just once in his career, his rookie season. Gwynn's .334 career second-half batting average is the third best in the last 50 years. In his entire 20-year career, Gwynn struck out 434 times -- an average of 21.7 K's per season. Tony Gwynn won eight batting titles and hit .300 in 19 of his 20 major league seasons. That six-hit game deserves closer examination. Boggs had a much better batting eye than Tony did, he knew how to work the strike zone better and did a much better job of getting on base. Maddux was one of several pitchers who deftly described the challenge of retiring Gwynn at the plate. Tony Gwynn stroked a run-scoring double for the San Diego Padres against the Chicago Cubs in 1994. . Gwynn, a Hall of Famer and 15-time All Star, is one of the greatest pure hitters to ever play the game. Gwynn finished his career batting .302 with two strikes. Maddux was a tough competitor, earning the nickname Mad Dog for his intense focus. Gwynn played both baseball and basketball at San Diego State, and he still owns several records in basketball for the Aztecs. There are batting, pitching, and fielding stats available for every player on the site. No surprise, six-time NL batting champion Tony Gwynn is among the best against the four-time Cy Young winner. As we outlined in #2 above, Gwynn tore apart Greg Maddux to the tune of a .429 career average and he NEVER struck out against the Hall of Fame hurler. The greatest lineups ever? The game went into extra innings and Gwynn singled in the tenth, but the Pads were unable to score the winning run. And thanks to statistic hubs like Baseball Reference, some unbelievable numbers are being shared from Gwynn's career. He started in 25 games. During his 20-year career, he struck out 434 times, an average of 21.7 K% At the end of April, 129 players had struck out 22 times, a 49% increase from the previous year. Tony Gwynn is my favorite baseball player and he always will be. Draft: Drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 3rd round of the 1981 MLB June Amateur Draft from San Diego State University (San Diego, CA). Tony Gwynn had always had Greg Maddux's number. You can check out the most watched Tony Gwynn cards of all years currently at auction through the live list below. One of the most useful research tools on Baseball Reference is the Splits data. So, as a result, in 287 plate appearances against Hall of Famers Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz, Gwynn only struck out three times while hitting .381. He had a swing that made pitchers cry themselves to sleep. Nobody owned "Tony Gwynn Opening Day" quite like, well, Tony Gwynn. Mike Scott, he of the split-fingered fastball, was one of the best strikeout pitchers of the 1980s, and hes the pitcher that Gwynn faced the most after Maddux and Glavine. Tony Gwynn broke Greg Maddux's spell. Gwynns career worst strikeout rate was 6.9% in 1988 when he struck out 40 times in 578 at bats. In the fifth inning he lined sharply into the glove of first baseman Will Clark. Lets just make sure were using the right number when describing Madduxs stats. From 1993-2001, the last nine years of his career, when he was 33-41 years old, Gwynn hit .349 against left-handed pitching. On June 21, Gwynn started a 19-game hitting streak in which he hit .429 with 36 hits and more power (he hit five homers). Gwynn hit .415 off of him. A year ago he suggested that today's livelier baseball would result in Gwynn hitting significantly more home runs without changing his swing. DarthIntegral JCC FODEUSS Commish VIP - Former Mod/RSA VIP - Game Host. Gwynns four games of five hits or more in 1993 are tied with Ichiro Suzuki (2004) for the most by one player in a season since 1970. Evan Thompson is a member of the Roland Hemond (AZ) Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). On May 10, his batting average was .429, giving him a .400 mark over the last 130 games. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=81411994, Yankees Free Agency Push Needed Post-Lockout, Ten Greatest Comebacks in MLB History: #3 (2), A Complete History of the Major League Baseball Playoffs. Because, thanks to him, you never had to dread that annual spring assignment of picking the batting champ. Only 644 (that we know of; we are missing data for 1,166 batters) saw a 3-0 count and 153 came on intentional walks. Evan Thompson is a member of the Roland Hemond (AZ) Chapter of the Society for American . Bob Gibson et Pedro Martinez et Greg Maddux sont venus vous battre. Many see 30 count and notice that there are 312 plate appearances (PA) something the original meme creator might have rounded down to 310. 25 bids - Price: $170.50 - Watchers: 86. Tony Gwynn hit .415 against Greg Maddux and (expletive) did not strike out even once in 107 plate appearances! From 1991-1999, he struck out more than 20 times once. It means that there are 312 plate appearances that ended on a 30 count. Throughout his 20 years in the league, Gwynn would wield his bat and give opposing pitchers nightmares while putting up astounding numbers on the stat sheet. In the history of baseball, only Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie got there faster -- and when they played, the gloves were made of the same material as those trains they rode on. As Howell broke for second, Gwynn put his picture-perfect swing into a Maddux slider and lifted it into center field . Mr. Padre Captain Video . Could Gwynn have reached .400? They signed Xander Bogaerts, re-signed Manny Machado, and last year they pulled off trades for Juan Soto and, Kyle Busch is in a new car and part of a new racing team this year, and he seems to also have some new fans. Yeah, you read that right. The righthander was discussing how changing speeds and having control are far more important than velocity, because no hitter can tell the exact speed of a pitch. tony gwynn Than Had Was Toni The Todays Greates And Walked Into . Bonds is batting .313 (25-for-80) with 13 walks and 13 strikeouts. My Have List is linked in my signature. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. * Andy Van Slyke, now an ESPN announcer, batted .343 (23-for-67) with four home runs and 11 walks. Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn . Fun/impressive fact: In 107 PAs, Maddux never struck out Tony Gwynn. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Press J to jump to the feed. Find the newest tony gwynn meme. He banged out three hits two nights later against the Dodgers, two more in each of his next two games against the Marlins, and he didnt stop hitting, building a 20-game hitting streak that ran until June 10th. In the third inning, Gwynn singled to right. To commemorate the occasion, we've compiled a list of 19 facts about No. Right-handed batters hit worse against righties and left-handed batters hit worse against lefties. On the mound was the imposing presence of the Astros' right-handed flamethrower 38-year-old future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan - who already had 241 MLB wins . But he was about to really start heating up. Sorry Bronson Arroyo Maddux allowed as many home runs in his first five seasons with the Braves (1156 innings) as Bronson Arroyo did in 2011. On Thursday night, the Clippers blew a halftime lead and lost 115-91 to the Golden State Warriors. Here's Maddux on how he gripped the baseball. Aztec Ticket Exchange. *In 323 AB vs. Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux, Tony Gwynn struck out a total of three times. In his entire 20-year career, Gwynn struck out 434 times -- an average of 21.7 K's per season. The Los Angeles Lakers star James, who is currently sidelined with a foot injury, tweeted, You can unsubscribe anytime. Six times in Padres history has a player recorded 200 hits in a season. April 11, 2020 6:05 AM PT. Gwynn was without question the best pure hitter in the game of baseball in the 1980s and 1990s. But Gwynn played a pivotal role in that game, nonetheless, singling in the eighth, and scoring the tying run in the 10th after reaching on an error. He had 45 games of four or more hits, so it was more likely to see him get four hits than it was to see him strike out more than once. How does this translate to their WAR/WAA? His 6-for-7 performance raised Gwynns average to .357, though he would lose the batting title that season to Andres Galarraga, who batted .370 for Colorado. He faced Greg Maddux more than any other pitcher, 107 . on MLBN. Damn. The pitcher that Gwynn faced most often was Greg Maddux, which makes sense since the two were in the National League together for 15 seasons. During his career, Tony won batting titles by 32 points (1987), 30 points (1984), 28 points (1994), 22 points (1995), and 17 points (1996). Amazing strikeout stat No. He batted .462 with 12 extra-base hits off John Smoltz. This row, however, does not mean that there were 312 plate appearances that saw a 30 count. Free shipping for many products! Martinez is the current leader with four straight .300-plus seasons. It makes sense that great players tend to provide the biggest challenge to other greats. His batting average stood at .394 and unfortunately, a run at .400 was one of the things lost when the season was cancelled. Registered: Jul 13, 2005. Follow on Twitter: @LWOSEvanT Other Colleges and Conferences. Roy Halladay shut down Derek Jeter. Only 133 of them saw a 3-0 count. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Is it wrong that I'm STILL not over letting him go as a free agent? I'm looking for any Tony Gwynn or Greg Maddux cards that I need. So how many batters probably saw a 30 count in 1986 and 1987? He was a great player when Wade was only a good player. But baseball is a funny game, and so sometimes, a superstar finds Greg Maddux debuted on 9/3/1986 and was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 by the BBWAA. Padres fans have called the second game of the season, "Tony Gwynn Opening Day" for years, because of Gwynn's affection for the fans who showed up for Game 2. Defensively Wade was very underrated as a third baseman. Even our favorite pitching robot, Greg Maddux, had this to say about him: Sad about Tony Gwynn's passing. The primary advantage for Gwynn, however, was longevity. 97 players struck out 20 or more times in May of 2014 alone (, If Gwynn went 0 for 4 for the next 295 games he would still have a career average over .300, per. How many times did Tony Gwynn record four hits in a game? In addition to his pitching skills, Maddux was an excellent fielding pitcher. How incredible was Gwynns career batting mark? Tony Gwynn was the only player to have struck out Maddux 107 times. The next day at home against the Dodgers, Gwynn went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles off Ismael Valdez. In 35 games against Maddux, Gwynn hit a Ty Cobb-like .429. With the All-Star game in San Diego this season, it's impossible not to think about San Diego . He struck out 3 times and hit .381. For two decades, Tony Gwynn was also the best friend those of us in the media-genius prediction business ever had. Kinda random it was just these two especially Pedro Martinez since it was probably only the beginning of his career when they were facing eachother. Scott only fanned Tony three times in 95 matchups. That's easily the highest average against Maddux for any player with at least 70 plate appearances. He led the league with 220 hits, becoming the oldest player to do so. Priode. They can identify pitches if there are different release points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitchers hand. "Except," Maddux said, "for that [expletive] Tony Gwynn." Gwynn never struck out against Maddux . Westbrook went 3/12 in the, The Dallas Cowboys surprisingly decided to part ways with Kellen Moore after losing in the playoffs. How about .444 career average with the bases loaded. 3: Gwynn never struck out against arguably the two greatest pitchers of his generation. So maybe we never saw Hornsby or Wagner or Tris Speaker hit a baseball. tony gwynn. Born: May 9, 1960 in Los Angeles, CA us Died: June 16, 2014 in Poway, CA Buried: Dearborn Memorial Park, Poway, CA . He collected 83 hits in the 46 games, and even had a hit in the one game he didnt start, delivering a pinch-hit two-run single against the Astros on June 1st. Maddux is a Hall of Famer and he struck out more than 3,000 batters in his career, but the one batter he faced the most often San Diegos #19 never fanned against him. On May 27th, Tony went 4-for-5 against the Braves and lifted his average over .400. MLB: Tony Gwynn y sus increbles nmeros vs Pedro Martnez y Greg Maddux. Among the 38 pitchers he faced at least 50 times, his lowest average was a .243 mark against Dwight Gooden. So maybe, if someone like Tony Gwynn arrived in the big leagues tomorrow, we wouldn't value him quite the way we appreciated him in his own time. I read earlier that in 323 combined career PAs against Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, and Pedro Martinez, Gwynn struck out only three times. Amazing. Those 13 walks are the most anyone has drawn. * Marquis Grissom, now Madduxs teammate, batted .405 (17-for-42). How great was Gwynns 1994 season? ], Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox. Basically if you're a legendary pitcher, good luck with Tony Gwynn. If Maddux was the robot of pitchers, then Tony Gwynn is the robot of hitters. His streak of 18 consecutive .300 seasons from 1983 until 2000 is only surpassed by Ty Cobb's run of 23 straight years.