The Big Unit vs. Tony Gwynn: Unstoppable force vs. Immoveable Object

the big unit was undoubtedly one of the most feared pitchers of all time he struck out nearly 5 000 hitters in his career and put fear in the hearts of every left-handed hitter to face him everyone knows about this legendary at-bat by jon kruck against randy johnson in the all-star game as well as hall of famer larry walker switching sides of the plate in the middle of the bat in the all-star game to avoid facing randy johnson as a lefty of course the big unit was tough on right-handed hitters too cal lighter talked to me about the sheer terror of facing after and checked my drawers it was like not fun so i stood in the box so when i got in there and i just and i promise you i can't see it on here but i was so far back in the box and randy's like snarling and like scary-looking and he looks and he looks up and he looks at me like i could see him look like what are you doing like i literally was like go ahead i'm gonna take three and i'm gonna go sit down i was so far off the plate of course as a hitter tony gwynn struck fear in the hearts of pitchers tony gwynne was a legendary hit machine who is one of the great contact hitters of all time rarely struck out the first ballot hall of famer in a 15-time all-star in fact greg maddox had this legendary quote about facing tony gwynn talking about how hitters were helpless if a pitcher changed speeds well other than tony gwynn so when tony guinn faced the big unit in the 1998 nlds it was an unstoppable force against an immovable object in the first at-bat the big unit got the better of tony gwynn thanks to a 97 mile an hour fastball just off the outside corner here's that first at-bat this guy's nuts he looks forward to the challenge consecutive year this year hitting over 300 and he relishes the opportunity to go up against randy johnson on the inside corner one ball at two strikes he will go for four against johnson in the game that johnson pissed a two-nothing shutout there you see the consecutive 300 seasons but in the sixth inning tony quinn got his revenge in this legendary at-bat a great dominant picture and the great hitter tony 16 consecutive years over 300 perennial batting champion he said that was a spike the first time up [Music] strike two three inches further out one and two slider look at that off the glove the bill spires and down the left-hand line quinn's gonna test it a loose throw he's over the head of veggie look at this ridiculous piece of hitting by tony gwynn on a one-two nasty slider tony gwynn somehow got that ridiculous double and then ended up scoring on a sac fly just incredible hitting years later eduardo perez pointed out that randy johnson tipped his slider his entire career which makes you wonder if that had anything to do with it and i run into randy johnson and randy's with his son and he goes he goes hey come over here real quick why did you want to tell us something goes hey this guy hit four home runs off me and i said yeah you're in the hall of fame and i'm not and he goes how did you do it and i said well i'll tell you now that you're retired really excited we're back yeah this is live tv right so i said randy show me your fastball he goes this is my fastball i said okay show me your slider and he goes this is my slide and i said ring so i took a selfie with randy myself showing back he goes are you serious i said you still threw 99 miles per hour i still had to hit it little lesson right here there's the heater oh can i see the slider there it is i love me some randy love you randy either way this is one of the most impressive doubles you'll ever see legend verse legend hey guys before you leave remember hit subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss any pitching ninja content [Music] you

Channel: Pitching Ninja

Views: 327,195

Keywords: randy johnson, tony gwynn, slider, padres, san diego, houston astros, big unit, facing, hit, hitting, pitch, pitching, nlds, 1998, pitchingninja, pitching ninja

Id: CTa9sqEIV7E

Length: 4min 18sec (258 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 29 2021