19: The Life and Career of Tony Gwynn

here's perhaps the most popular Padre of all time tony gwynn stepping in Tony running off to an excellent start hitting 367 but then what else is new they've already reserved his spot in Cooperstown [Music] [Music] he is the best ever 20 grams of as pure a hitter is ever played in my era Tony could do almost anything with the bat that was unhuman guys never stop courting no passion would be the great hitters of all time man who studies films tossed away to me right right Jenna field base hit in their head doctor you can hang a star on that Katie a star for the ages for Tony Gwynn number 3000 [Music] everyone has someone they idolize it can be someone from the movie industry a musician an internet personality or just someone in your personal life many people including myself have looked to sports for inspiration Tony Gwynn has idolized throughout the city of San Diego as well as in the baseball world I would be a liar if I said that I had watched Gwynn play I was only one years old when he played his final season that doesn't mean I can't recognize his greatness in baseball and his impact for the San Diego community with that being said let's dive into how Tony Gwynn became mr. Padre Anthony Keith Gwynn was born on May 9th 1960 he had two siblings Charles and Chris as these three grew up their father urged them to try baseball in a makeshift field in the family backyard Tony's favorite sport was basketball but that didn't stop him from watching baseball his favorite player was Dodgers outfielder Willie Davis when tony checked the box scores of games in the newspaper he wouldn't look at the homeruns he would look at batting averages specifically players like Pete Rose Rod Carew and George Brett Gwynn attended Long Beach Polytechnic high school through high school Gwynn was a multi-sport athlete playing both basketball and baseball in his final two years in high school the records of the school's baseball and basketball teams heavily contrasted which nearly caused Gwynn to quit baseball to focus solely on basketball his mother would talk him out of it saying that there may be an opportunity down the road during his senior season Gwynn was highly sought after by colleges he received multiple basketball scholarship offers but no baseball scholarships this wasn't necessarily an issue for Gwynn as he had thought of baseball as just something to do in the spring and summer again his parents urged him to continue playing both sports he would end up choosing to attend San Diego State University he was a star point guard for the Aztecs in fact he still holds season and career assists records for SDSU he played four years of basketball and only three years of baseball in fact there was a slight chance that he wouldn't have had the opportunity to play on the team if it weren't for some unfortunate circumstances two outfielders were riding bikes when they were struck by a car causing injuries to both players Gwynn got his chance and he ran with it he is the only athlete in Western athletics conference history to be honored as an all-conference player in two sports in 1981 Gwynn would be drafted in the third round and 58th overall by the San Diego Padres while attending college Gwynn would attend Padres games and think that they had the ugliest uniforms I've ever seen in my life which is just wrong but I digress he would be drafted in the ten around by the San Diego Clippers in the NBA in the end Gwen would choose baseball like many players he was initially worried about the transition from an aluminum bat to a wooden bat well let's just say that worry didn't last very long he spent only one full season in the minor leagues by the end of 1981 he was hitting 462 in double-a in 1982 Gwynn had stints in both triple-a and the MLB he made his debut for the Padres on July 19th 1982 and yes he did get his first major league base hit in his debut game in a 54 game stint with the big-league club Gwenn notably finished with a 289 average why is this notable Tony Gwynn rookie season was the only season throughout his career where he finished the season with less than a 300 batting average in 1983 Gwynn once again had a stint in triple-a although it was short lived before the 1983 season Gwynn injured his wrist and this hindered the first half 2 Gwynn season his average fell as low as 229 by July 29th which is just something you wouldn't associate with Gwynn so he had an idea he asked his wife Alicia to record his at-bat so he can look at them later this allowed him to fix his swing and end the season with a 309 batting average as well as having a padres record 25 game hitting streak Gwen would become an avid believer in video no studies films constantly to make that swing even better in addition to his hard work on the field Gwynn revolutionized the way players prepared off the field this was the first guy that really kind of instituted video my first came up they were calling me captain video solid front leg is down on the ball perfect we're now heading into the beginning of Gwynn's Prime in 1984 Gwen would make his first all-star game and playing his first of two World Series I could explain everything he did in this super long time period or I can try to show you in a more fun way [Music] [Applause] [Applause] whenever you hear Tony Quinn the first thing you hear is hit hitting hitting hitting and I just want to be remembered as a complete ballplayer there's a looping flyball shallow right Tony Gwynn is there Rena ki is going to try it here's the throw [Applause] [Music] [Applause] while on delivery Brenda left-center field coming off the master centerfield [Applause] well the first thing I like to do before I even get into the box is I want to get in the right frame of mind okay I want to believe that I'm gonna be successful when I do step in that box and that starts with you if you don't believe in yourself if you don't believe in yourself as a hitter chances are you're not gonna be successful when you do get in a box little investment advice BIP Roberts 1986 rookie car worth about 275 bucks 20 years from now who knows 1000 mm mighty good man you were looking at Robin Roberts says here your cars work for cents [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we'll be right back to our regularly scheduled programming after these messages [Music] all of these facts are courtesy of AJ Casa vel of mlb.com back to number one apart from his rookie season Gwynn batted a 300 average in every season of his career for a total of 18 straight seasons in today's MLB the current leader is JD Martinez with only four straight 300 average seasons fact number two on 45 separate occasions Guin recorded four hits in a game this is 11 more times than he recorded a multi strikeout game fact number three in his entire 20-year career when struck out only 434 times for an average of 21 points seven strikeouts per season in 2019 129 players had struck out 22 times by the end of April fact number 4 if Quinn's 20-year career were split into two careers ten seasons apiece he would rank 1st and 2nd in Padres history in runs hits total bases and doubles remember if you have your own Tony Gwynn fax to send in leave them down in the comments below now back to our regularly scheduled programming so we have gone through 1993 and you have seen some pretty great numbers but we actually haven't even hit the most impressive stretch of Gwynn's career it's time to talk about 1994 throughout Gwen's career he was compared to Ted Williams the ultimate goal for every great hitter is to somehow reach a 400 batting average in a season something Ted Williams accomplished in 1941 that leads us to 1994 by the all-star break Gwynn had batted 383 by that point there was talk that a strike by the Players Union was coming in the final 28 games before the strike started Gwynn batted 423 while many people wanted to see the season restart in the end Gwynn had finished the season with a 394 average I like to say that he would have hit the magical 400 number but I wasn't alive during that season so I can ever say that with certainty all I know is that for a portion of that 1994 season many people honestly believed they were gonna witness history they wanted to see Gwynn hit that magic number I don't think many people will deny the fact that if anyone could have hit that number it would have been Tony Gwynn now let's watch the second half of his career I don't like to sit back and brag on my son but he's starting to make strides of being the kind of player I think he wants to be little Gwynn you know [Applause] in lines at the left-field grandmother [Applause] heading home here [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] bang [Music] Herbie I as he was two or three last night and he swings and drives Lavin's first pitch deep to right centerfield Andruw Jones the to to a line drive into left [Applause] he's going to try to score you by the end of his career Gwen had quite the trophy cabinet eight batting titles seven silver sluggers five Gold Gloves and a 15-time all-star all of that while playing at only one city he may not have brought a championship to San Diego but he did pay a lot of generosity forward through his work in the community in the city of San Diego mr. Padre is more than just a baseball player yes he was a fantastic hitter one of the best ever and certainly the greatest in Padres history but he represented more to the community as a whole throughout his career he was loved by the fans he made it a point to interact with them when possible during the public memorial after Gwen's death fans had some stories about his generosity Ric signs was a baseball coach for a team of underprivileged children he'll never forget when he asked win for one signed ball he signed for the whole team Tony stood there graciously and signed every ball and told me make a lot of money for those kids Tony Castro was just 10 when he begged his mom to take him to a store where Gwynn was signing autographs Castro was in a wheelchair with two broken legs his limo parked next to us and he's like what are you doing here and I'm like I'm here to see you and he just got behind me pushed my sister away and took my wheelchair and pushed me all over the store after his time with the Padres Gwynn became the head coach for the SDSU baseball team he was the head coach for 12 seasons leading the team to three Mountain West Conference championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances his impact on these college players was immense but there is one particular player that flourished that man is Stephen Strasburg listen to how the former number one overall pick talks about his former mentor as a young kid I wanted to be just like Tony Gwynn I wanted to be a professional baseball player I wanted to play for the Padres the ball right girls out front Tony always made an extra effort to be a role model right does practice practice I remember this birthday specifically because that was the big highlight for that birthday was getting the Tony Gwynn poster and the Tony Wynn wristbands with his face on there and I was decked out you know the impact they had on me is priceless Gwen was a role model for many people during his final tenure at SDSU and the community recognized that in 1997 SDSU built a new baseball stadium with the donated funds from former Padres owner John Moores and his wife Becky the stadium was named and is still named Tony Gwynn Stadium a decade later Gwen would receive further acknowledgment for his work in 2007 Tony Gwynn was elected into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot receiving ninety seven point six percent of the votes casted if there is any clip I think personifies Gwynn it's this one just sitting there hoping and my agent is talking in the background I can hear him saying something it's gonna rain you know I'm better faculty not even though it's gonna rain don't even worry about it so at 9:05 it rains and I see two one two and for the first time that morning I thought I might make the Hall of Fame he was a humble man sure during his playing career he may have had some cocky moments but he was a guy playing pure baseball during an era of roided-out baseball players I think he gets a pass but most importantly he was a family man first former teammate Greg Vaughn recounted a story from the Padres 1998 championship run his family meant everything to him I still remember winning the pennant in 98 we were going to the World Series and everyone was going crazy and spraying champagne and drinking champagne and beer I vividly remember looking over the champagne is stinging in my eyes and there's Tony with Alicia and the kids by the trainer's room Tony wanted to spend that moment with his family enjoying it with them I'll never forget that as long as I live he did everything for his family but he also did everything with a smile his infectious smile along with his laugh was notorious around the baseball world Tony's life is a perfect lesson on how to live it one of the most signature things about Tony that everybody understood is that laughs I can't we gotta get that hoarseness of the throat it started way down deep in his gut and it worked its way up yeah I can't I can't attract you cannot replicate it he may have always had a smile on his face but unfortunately he also had his fair share of hardships throughout his life during his chase for history in 1994 Gwen's father Charles passed away Tony almost quit baseball because of this but his father always told him to never be a quitter and to always work hard since Tony's minor-league days in 1981 he had used chewing tobacco Quinn's friend Mike outer who helped Gwynn with his studying of video throughout his career said that Gwynn chewed one-and-a-half tins of chewing tobacco a day powder was also addicted to nicotine but was able to quit he tried to get Tony to quit but he couldn't powder said in his mind he knew he couldn't quit he was so about routine and chewing tobacco was too about this routine we both pretty much knew that with the baseball schedule we weren't going to quit in 2010 when was diagnosed with salivary gland cancer the operation left his face partially paralyzed on the right side leaving him unable to smile here is Gwen talking about his diagnosis where toward a girl there other than the fact that yeah I just shoot serve a CO and put it on the right side they can't tell me for sure but that's how I'm gonna approach it the tumor was wrapped around a nerve and after surgery the right side of his face was partially paralyzed so Tony Gwynn could no longer smile I didn't have the control of my face that I the way I'd like to I couldn't control my I couldn't control my mouth you know I'm gonna be able to smile again during the same year Gwen had a slipped disc in his back causing him to have the discs removed in April 2014 Gwynn had experienced complications from his cancer treatments in his final two months Gwen never made his pain known to his family he just wanted them to be okay he would get updates from his players at SDSU on the phone and they would call whenever they won Gwen's wife Alicia said that you couldn't separate Tony from his players at SDSU he loved them too much On June 16 2014 Tony Gwynn passed away at the early age of 54 ten days later a public memorial service was held at Petco Park where over 23,000 people attended ask one favor of you let me impose on you I hope I've been here long enough to impose on you I know I've aggravated you a time so certainly I could impose on you because in all of those events that we had after 3,000 hits and after his induction in Cooperstown after his induction into the Padre Hall of Fame and all the others that I was privileged to have this microphone and I'm honored that the Padres would asked me again to do this here today I would like one more time one fine standing ovations before the anthem for that magnificent Padre number 19 Tony Gwynn two years later Quinn's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several tobacco companies claiming that Tony's tobacco addiction was what led to his cancer and his death while Tony himself did believe his addiction is what caused his cancer it's worth noting that studies have not definitively shown any links between the cancer and chewing tobacco although in 2018 the Gwynn family and the tobacco companies would reach a settlement that's all right but in hearing let him hear it you tony gwynn will always be a prominent figure in baseball history despite being stuck in an era filled with steroid abuse Gwen emerged as quite possibly the greatest hitter of the 1980s and 90s his skills on the diamond are what won him awards but his personality is what brought him admiration from fans I want to end this video with some words from legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully who on the day of Gwen's death I think fully encapsulated who Tony Gwynn was as a person thank you for watching tony gwynn the heart and soul of the San Diego Padres and for that matter the city of San Diego passed away today at the early age of 54 he chewed tobacco and they say that was a prime reason for the cancer that settled in his cheek you could say a lot of things about Tony Gwynn all the numbers you know a time batting champion best year he had 394 that's when people were comparing him to Ted Williams 16 times in his 20 years he was an all-star and it goes on and on and on but more than that he was a sweetheart of the guy he was also family I mean after all his brother Chris played for the Dodgers and his son Tony jr. played for the Dodgers but with all the numbers and all the plaudits given to Tony Gwynn the thing I would remember the most his smile there are those who smile and get rid of it right away there are those who smile and then it kind of drips off their face and then there are those rare ones who will smile and it will just stay in the air and make you feel better and that was Tony Glen I used to love to tease him we knew he was a brilliant hitter but I would say to him you know Tony I've been giving it a lot of thought you want to learn to bunt and he would start laughing and his whole body would shake tears would fill his eyes and I would always leave him feeling a lot better than before I had met him that night Tony Gwynn one of the really special people great player but more than that a wonderful human being may he rest in peace [Music] you you

Channel: SportStorm

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Keywords: tony gwynn, 19, 19 tony gwynn, the life of tony gwynn, the career of tony gwynn, tony gwynn career, the life and career of tony gwynn, 19 padres, san diego padres, san diego padres 19, tony gwynn padres, sportstorm, mlb, baseball, baseball documentary, sports documentary, tony gwynn documentary, tony gwynn story, mlb story, baseball story, mlb best hitter

Id: qfCvmAVmdXM

Length: 26min 31sec (1591 seconds)

Published: Sat May 16 2020