RIP Tony Gwynn

[tjung0831]

Tony Gwynn dead at 54. Amazing player and even better person.

[vinny-b]

thank you TJ. 100%


my fave non-Milwaukee Brewer and non-Yankee player, of all-time. Tony Gwynn is/was a phenomenal human being. And one of the greatest players in history of MLB. Thankful to have met you, and got your autograph, when i was a young batboy for the Brewers. I love you Tony

[Pete1210]

All time great and a class act. RIP.

[vinny-b]

in 129 career ABs versus Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez: Gwynn had 0 strikeouts

[JackB1]

in 129 career ABs versus Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez: Gwynn had 0 strikeouts

yes I saw on sportscenter that he batted over .400 against Maddux. That's just incredible.
He was the ulimate line drive through the holes in the infield hitter. Dude used his bat
like a scalpel.

BTW...what was his cause of death? 54 is too young!

[pk500]

BTW...what was his cause of death? 54 is too young!

Oral cancer, contracted from what he believed was chewing tobacco use while playing baseball.

[RobVarak]

Tim Kurkjian did a great piece on ESPN today. Deadspin also has a great obit, which expands on the idea of how much he owned good pitchers:

http://deadspin.com/how-tony-gwynn-crac ... socialflow

It's easy to look at all of those batting titles, or his incredible averages against some of the most cerebral pitchers of his time—.444 against John Smoltz, .415 against Greg Maddux, .390 against Curt Schilling, .333 against Pedro Martinez, .303 against Tom Glavine—and assume that he was just outthinking them at the plate. (Unbelievable fact: in 366 plate appearances against those five, he struck out five times. Five.)

[Diablo25]

Only 54. Sad news. I remember a AAA spring training game against the Padres where Tony walked over from the big league field to get some extra ABs against us. He came up to the plate late in the game when I was catching. I thought to myself, "this guy is the greatest hitter of the past 50 years, what pitch do I call?" I called a fastball away and he effortlessly lined it up the middle for a single. I remember thinking to myself, I just witnessed Tony Gwynn get a base hit from so close that I literally could reach out and touch him. Playing against him was one of my greatest thrills as a pro ball player. RIP to a great player and man.

[XXXIV]

FAR too young.

R.I.P. Tony.

[Danimal]

http://deadspin.com/i-was-tony-gwynns-b ... 123043/all

[JackB1]

BTW...what was his cause of death? 54 is too young!

Oral cancer, contracted from what he believed was chewing tobacco use while playing baseball.

such a shame and so preventable. Chewing tobacco has got to be one of the most disgusting habits around, but I understand it was ingrained in the baseball culture. Tony G was a pure student of the game and was the first gut to study video tape and he got his entire team to do it.

[Diablo25]

http://deadspin.com/i-was-tony-gwynns-b ... 123043/all

Just read that after a friend of mine shared it on Facebook. Great read.

[Brando70]

He was awesome. One of the few sports figures who I would say deserved to be a role model. Really sad to hear he passed.

[Inuyasha]

RIP. He was a class act. Always was one of the nicer visiting players at Wrigley.