GWYNN, Anthony Keith ("Tony")

(b. 9 May 1960 in Los Angeles, California), baseball player who won eight National League batting titles as an outfielder with the San Diego Padres.

Gwynn, the second of three sons of Charles A. Gwynn, a warehouse manager, and Vandella Douglas Gwynn, a postal worker, grew up in Long Beach, California. His brothers Charles Gwynn, Jr., and Chris Gwynn played professional baseball also. Gwynn graduated in 1977 from Polytechnic High School in Long Beach and entered San Diego State University on a basketball scholarship. He starred as a point guard in basketball and set the Aztecs' career assist record. He also hit over .400 in baseball during his junior and senior seasons and became the first Western Athletic Conference athlete to make all-conference in both sports. In June 1981, though Gwynn had not graduated from San Diego State, the San Diego Clippers of the National Basketball Association selected him in the tenth round of its amateur draft, and the San Diego Padres baseball club drafted him in the third round. Gwynn married Alicea Cureton in 1981. They had two children and made their home in Poway, California.

Gwynn's professional baseball career began in 1981 at Walla Walla, Washington, where he led the Northwest League with a .331 batting average. Gwynn finished 1981 with Amarillo, Texas, of the Texas League and began 1982 with Hawaii of the Pacific Coast League. He spent parts of 1982 and 1983 with the San Diego Padres, quickly blossoming into a National League star. The 5-foot, 11-inch, 200-pound Gwynn, batting and throwing left-handed, led the senior circuit with a .351 batting average and 213 hits in 1984. He batted .368 to help San Diego defeat the Chicago Cubs in the 1984 National League Championship Series but only hit .263 against the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, as the Padres lost, 4 games to 1.

Gwynn continually ranked among National League batting leaders. In 1986 he paced the senior circuit with 218 hits and 107 runs scored. His .370 batting average led the major leagues in 1987, while his 218 hits topped the National League. Gwynn repeated as National League batting champion with a .313 mark in 1988 and with .336 in 1989, when he led the senior circuit with 203 hits. After batting .309 with 177 hits in 1990, he in 1991 ranked third with a .317 batting average and again hit .317 in 1992. Gwynn won four Gold Glove awards for defensive excellence in 1986, 1987, 1989, and 1990.

In 1993 Gwynn's superb .358 batting average trailed only Andres Galarraga in the National League. On 4 August Gwynn collected six hits in a game against the San Francisco Giants. In the strike-shortened 1994 season Gwynn set a club record batting a National League best and a career high .394 with 165 hits and 64 runs batted in (RBI). His batting average marked the highest in the senior circuit since Bill Terry hit .401 in 1930 and the best in the major leagues since Ted Williams attained .406 in 1941. Gwynn won another National League batting title in 1995 with a major league best at .368, becoming the first player to hit over .350 in three consecutive seasons since Joe Med-wick in the 1930s. He shared the National League lead with 197 hits.

Gwynn batted .353 in 1996 to become only the seventh major leaguer to win three straight hitting crowns and joined Ty Cobb as the only players to compile two separate streaks of three consecutive batting titles. He hit .308 against the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series after playing 1,648 regular season games between the two postseason appearances. Gwynn in 1997 enjoyed the most spectacular season of his illustrious career, winning his eighth batting title with a major league best .372 to tie Honus Wagner for the most National League batting crowns in a career to that date. Cobb earned twelve in the American League. The only major leaguer to win four batting titles in two separate decades, Gwynn joined Wagner, Rod Carew, and Wade Boggs with four consecutive batting titles. He also established career highs with 17 home runs and 119 RBI, shattered club records with 220 hits and 49 doubles, posted personal bests with 68 extra-base hits and 324 total bases, and paced the National League with 67 multi-hit games.

Gwynn helped San Diego post its best record in franchise history in 1998 with a .321 batting average, 16 home runs, and 69 RBI, and he hit a team best .500 with 8 hits, a home run, and 3 RBI in the World Series sweep by the New York Yankees. In 1999 he batted .338 and on 6 August became the twenty-second major leaguer to reach the 3,000-hit pinnacle with a first-inning single off Dan Smith of the Montreal Expos. Gwynn hit .323 in limited 2000 action, surpassing .300 for the eighteenth consecutive season to break Wagner's National League record. Cobb topped .300 for 23 straight American League campaigns. In 2001 Gwynn became the seventeenth major leaguer to play at least twenty major league seasons and spend his entire career with one team. Gwynn announced he would retire at the conclusion of the 2001 season and, along with the retiring Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken, Jr., was honored with the Commissioner's Award at the All-Star Game in Seattle.

Using an unusually small bat, Gwynn led the Padres in career batting average (.338), runs scored (1,383), hits (3,141), doubles (543), triples (85), RBI (1,138), stolen bases (319), walks (790), and games played (2,440). He stood second in on-base percentage (.388) and ranked third in home runs (135) and slugging percentage (.459). Besides pacing all active players in batting average and hits, Gwynn ranked second in doubles, fourth in total bases, and fifth in runs. Gwynn led the National League a record 7 times in singles and shared the record with Pete Rose for pacing the senior circuit 7 times in hits. In 9,288 career at bats, he struck out only 434 times. The likable Gwynn, admired for his work ethic, combined video technology with hours of extra drill to augment his natural batting talent.

Gwynn was named to the National League All-Star team fifteen times and started eleven times. He made the Sporting News Silver Slugger team seven times (1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1997) and the Sporting News All-Star team five times (1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1994). He earned Padres Most Valuable Player honors seven times (1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1997), won Rawlings Gold Glove awards five times (1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991), and garnered National League Player of the Month accolades five times. In 1995 he won the Branch Rickey Award for outstanding community service and the inaugural Chairman's Award for best exemplifying the community spirit of the family of the Padres owner John Moore. In 1999 Gwynn received the Roberto Clemente Man of the Year award for best combining sportsmanship and community involvement with excellence on the field and was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. The Tony and Alicia Gwynn Foundation funds many organizations supporting needy children. In 2001, Gwynn decided to serve as volunteer hitting and outfield coach at San Diego State University in 2002 and succeed Jim Dietz as head baseball coach.

Gwynn's file is at the National Baseball Library in Coopers-town, New York. For his early career see Tony Gwynn and Jim Geschke, Tony! (1986), and Gwynn and Jim Rosenthal, Total Baseball Player (1992). His hitting philosophy is in Gwynn and Roger Vaughan, The Art of Hitting (1998). The San Diego Padres 2001 Media Guide outlines his personal and career baseball highlights and records. See also Current Biography (1996) and Contemporary Black Biography, vol. 18 (1998). Pertinent articles include Ivan Maisel, "He's a Hefty Problem for Pitchers," Sports Illustrated (14 May 1984); Ron Fimrite, "Small Stick, Tall Stats," Sports Illustrated (14 Apr. 1986); Danny Knobler, "Psst … Heard About Tony Gwynn," Newsweek (Aug. 1989); Cary S. Miller, "Tony Has Swung a Hot Bat Throughout His Entire Career," Sports Collectors Digest (3 Nov. 1989); Tim Kurkjian, "Beginning Again," Sports Illustrated (11 Mar. 1991); Kevin Kernan, "The Sport Q & A: Tony Gwynn," Sport (July 1991); Barry Bloom, "Tony Gwynn," Sport (Sept. 1994); and Richard Hoffer, "Fear of Failure," Sports Illustrated (18 Sept. 1995).

David L. Porter