Class of: 2007 (BBWAA, 97.3%)
Team: Padres
Key Stats: 65.0 WAR, .338 AVG, 3141 Hits
It’s hard to think of the Padres and not immediately jump to Tony Gwynn, isn’t it? Gwynn’s nickname of Mr. Padre is certainly apt as the two are linked forever in the popular consciousness. Even before he passed away at the too young age of 54 from cancer due to chewing tobacco, Gwynn was sanctified in the hearts and minds of all Padres fans when Petco Park opened up in 2009 and the stadium’s address was dubbed “19 Tony Gwynn Drive”. Even as you get to the park, the first thing you’ll see is a 10-foot statue of Gwynn in his picture-perfect batting stance with his poetic swing and you can just hear the crack of the bat and see the ball travel through the “5.5 hole” for another hit. Because that’s who Tony Gwynn was.
Gwynn didn’t become the greatest Padre of all-time overnight, of course. His rookie campaign in 1982 was only a decent showing for him, with a .289 average and a wRC+ of only 110. His second season saw his average jump above .300 for the first time (of many) but his power dipped ever so slightly so he only had a wRC+ of 104. And then Gwynn became the man we all remember. From 1984-2001, Gwynn never hit below .309, nor did he ever collect fewer than 139 hits in a full season, and only dipped below a wRC+ of 120 three times. And, early on in his career, Gwynn could steal some bases as well as hit the ball with four 30-steal seasons including one year of 56 swipes. Gwynn could even field his position well, with five seasons of double-digit fielding runs as a right fielder. And, despite not being a power hitter by any stretch of the imagination, Gwynn had a slugging percentage above .450 nine times in his career. Gwynn was born to hit, and he did that with aplomb.
Gwynn’s greatest season, or at least his most famous, came in the strike-shortened year of 1994. That year, amidst labor strife and gloom, Gwynn made a run at a mark that hadn’t been approached since 1941—he chased a .400 batting average. By the All-Star break of that season, Gwynn was hitting “only” .383 on the year but caught fire in the second half by hitting .423. Had the strike not intervened, it’s possible that Gwynn does the nearly impossible and top the illustrious mark, but life doesn’t always work out nicely. Gwynn ended the year with 4.0 WAR in only 110 games with a wRC+ of 166. It was truly a remarkable season, and one that sometimes worked against him as he didn’t really approach those numbers in the latter part of his career.
Gwynn was miraculously still hitting as the years went on. Age catches up with everyone, but it never affected Gwynn’s ability to hit. His defense and baserunning abilities were decreased over the last few years of his career, but his ability to just hit the ball never left him. Even as he chased 3,000 hits, Gwynn always had an above-average wRC+ despite not being an everyday player for the last two years of his career. That’s an incredible feat for another reason. As Gwynn kept hitting for an excellent batting average (one of the few post-1920 players that had that ability), the game was quickly changing around him due to guys like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds taking power levels to new (albeit steroid-enhanced) heights. The singles-hitting Tony Gwynn was still an incredibly valuable bat while everyone else in the league was hitting 30 homers a year. To me, that’s just amazing, and speaks volumes to how great of a hitter Gwynn really was.
Not hitting for power from a traditional power position like right field hurts Gwynn’s ranking somewhat, as does his time in the steroid era as he wasn’t able to produce the homerun power that other players could. Nevertheless, Gwynn’s career .338 average ranked first among all hitters during his career and his 132 wRC+ was the same as Wade Boggs’ wRC+ (not too surprising as both were similar hitters) and better than power hitters like Juan Gonzales and Jose Canseco. He ranked 8th in WAR among all players during his career, and the only one without power above him was Boggs (who had a much better OBP and was better defensively). Historically, Gwynn’s average ranked 17th when he retired, with the only player ahead of him that played after the 1930’s being Ted Williams. Gwynn was truly a special hitter.
When he first came on the ballot, I think most people knew that he was going to gain induction easily. The only question was going to be how many people willingly chose to not check the box next to Gwynn’s name when they were looking at their ballots. Shockingly, seventeen supposedly sentient human beings looked at their Hall of Fame ballots, saw the name “Tony Gwynn” and then decided to not place a checkmark next to it. And, really, there was no legitimate reason to do so. Gwynn was an excellent hitter; an excellent teammate and a phenomenal representative of what baseball is and should be. If Tony Gwynn isn’t a Hall of Famer, then we may as well all pack up and go home because no one would deserve it. A great player, person and icon, the great Tony Gwynn was a great selection for the Hall of Fame.
Baseball From the Outside 