Tony Gwynn dead at age 54

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Hall of Famer and San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn dies at age 54

By Jeff Passan18 minutes agoYahoo Sports

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Tony Gwynn, the greatest pure hitter of his generation whose perfect left-handed swing won him eight batting titles and a litany of admirers across baseball, died Monday after years of battling cancer. He was 54.

Gwynn, who spent his entire 20-year career with the San Diego Padres, underwent multiple surgeries over the past four years to remove cancerous tumors from his mouth, blaming a smokeless tobacco habit. He took a leave of absence from his job as San Diego State baseball coach in March to undergo further treatment.

Gwynn finished his major league career with 3,141 hits and a .338 batting average, the highest mark for a hitter since Ted Williams' career started in 1939. Gwynn arrived in the major leagues in 1982, a year after the Padres drafted him out of San Diego State, and never stopped hitting, spraying singles throughout stadiums across baseball, adding power as he grew into a 15-time All-Star and striking out at an almost inconceivable rate today, just 434 for his career over 9,288 at-bats.

[Kosar_For_President]

Best hitter since Ted. RIP

[The Gipper]

Too damn bad. He and Kirby Puckett I thought were similar.....and now they are in another way, Both died too young.

[Browns149]

The guy could hit the ball anywhere he wanted. I saw a stat on ESPN that he struck out 3 times in a single game only ONCE in a 20 year career. That is amazing.

RIP Tony

[The Cysko Kid]

Weak. Cancer's a bitch

[Kosar_For_President]

In 1994 Tony Gwynn hit .394 and stuck out 19 flipping times, that's it. WOW.

In two years 2010 and 2012 Adam Dunn struck out 421 times, lol. Gwynn had 9288 career at bats, 434 strike outs, amazing.

[miktoxic]

watched the tribute the other night on tv. what a class act.