Tony GwynnHead Coach San Diego State |
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Tony Gwynn is one of the greatest players in major league baseball history. In 2001, he joined 16 players who played at least 20 years and spent their entire careers with one team. Gwynn finished with 3,141 career hits, 16th-most in major league history and within 174 hits of the all-time Top 10. He is the sixth-fastest ever to reach the 3,000 milestone. With a .323 batting average in 2000, Tony hit .300 for the 18th consecutive season, surpassing Honus Wagner's N.L. record set from 1897-1913.
The winner of a National League record-tying eight batting championships (1984, 1987-89, 1994-97), Tony is a 15-time N.L. All-Star and has been voted to start the All-Star Game 11 times, including five consecutive seasons. Gwynn's career batting average is .338 and he has won five Gold Glove Awards, most in Padres history. Starting with the 2002 season, Gwynn will be head baseball coach for San Diego State, where his son Anthony II suits up for the Aztecs. Tony and his wife Alicia also have a daughter, Anisha Nicole. Gwynn graduated from Long Beach Poly High in 1977 and attended San Diego State University, where he played both baseball and basketball. The former point guard holds the all-time Aztecs assist record and was a 10th-round selection of the NBA's San Diego Clippers on the same day he was drafted by the Padres. In 1997, the new state-of-the-art San Diego State baseball stadium, which was built through funding from Padres Chairman John Moores, was dedicated in Gwynn's name. Gwynn has been extremely committed to community service, especially in working with children. He was honored as an Athlete Who Cares by USA Today Weekend magazine, was the Padres' 1997 and 1998 winner of Major League baseball's Roberto Clemente Man of the Year award, and was the 1995 winner of the Branch Rickey Award for outstanding community service by a Major League player. Gwynn received the 1999 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, presented annually by Phi Delta Theta fraternity to the major league player who best exemplifies the character and leadership of the Hall of Fame first baseman. |