The San Diego Padres began their present career with the Major Leagues when in the season of 1969 they were among four new teams accepted into the league. Their first six years with the league were marked by setbacks; they consistently placed last in the National League West. This served to dampen the enthusiasm attending their debut into the big league and for four more years their record continued to be unremarkable. However, the turnaround in their fortunes that their fans had long awaited began in the mid 1980s when Anthony Gwynn began playing with team as a very gifted right fielder, prodding them on to victories which eventually culminated in two National League Pennants, one in 1984 and followed after fourteen years by the second.

Power in Consistent Accuracy

Major League Baseball has produced a lot of powerful sluggers in both its dead-ball and live-ball periods. The current game play shows a great preference for the long ball and a player’s prowess is gauged by his home runs. In this regard, someone like Gwynn would have had a more spectacular career in the dead-ball era which was notable for fewer home runs. His swings were never specially powerful and he was never a record-breaker as far as home runs are concerned. However, with a batting average never below .309, his bat hardly ever missed the ball; in the entire 9,000 times he stood at the plate he only had 434 strike outs.

A Never Ending Process of Learning

Never one to rest on his laurels, Gwynn never seemed to think of himself as an accomplished baseball professional. He was always eager to learn from his betters, frequently seeking their advice and tips on how to improve his swing, in which regard he was a perfectionist. His preference for bats was clearly the lighter Louisville Sluggers, which felt much like the bats he used during college, rather than the heavier ones which majority of his team mates used. This predisposition may have diminished his ability to score home runs but it certainly made the characteristic precision of his swing, which seldom failed to deliver the ball into the game, even more accurate.

Hall of Fame statistics

Throughout his playing career, Gwynn batted on the upwards of 3,000 hits. His record for home runs, at 135, is not negligible either, 3 of them being with loaded bases, 19 with two players on base, 39 of them resulting in 2 home runs and finally, 74 of them with empty bases. By current standards, the number of his home runs is not remarkable, the majority of those home runs saved the day for the team. Specifically 99 out of the 135 were taken when the team was trailing behind or in an awkward tie; they seemed to have been purposely driven to give the team the winning edge in a doubtful situation. Apparently Gwynn has mastered his swing to the extent that he could, in fact, deliver a home run on purpose and with the will to win.

Author Bio: Ivan Jamison is a big sports fan. You can check out his San Deigo Padres Watch or his St. Louis Cardinals Watch or his New York Mets Watch

Category: Sports
Keywords: Pittsburgh Pirates