Who are Your Favorites?

[Mike]

Oh, I agree. Easily one of the best batters to ever play the game. Here are a few stats of his career...please note the article this was pulled from was written a few years ago so some things mentioning modern day players could have changed, but I wouldn't imagine they've changed much.

Including postseason play, Gwynn faced 18 Hall of Fame pitchers for a total of 541 plate appearances. That’s essentially a full season’s worth of plate appearances exclusively against Hall of Famers. Gwynn batted .331/.371/.426.

In his entire 20-year career, Gwynn struck out 434 times -- an average of 21.7 K's per season. Last season, 129 players had struck out 22 times by the end of April.

Since Gwynn debuted in 1982, a hitter has finished a season with a batting average above .350 only 46 times. Gwynn has seven of those seasons, the most of any player in that span.

Gwynn batted .300 in every season but his rookie year, giving him a record 19 straight seasons above .300. J.D. Martinez is the current leader with four straight .300-plus seasons.

Gwynn finished his career batting .302 with two strikes. That's easily the best mark for any player since numbers were first tracked by count in the mid-1970s. Wade Boggs comes in second at .262. In fact, in 1994, Gwynn batted an absurd .397 in two-strike counts.

On 45 separate occasions, Gwynn recorded four hits in a game -- 11 more times than he recorded a multi-strikeout game.

Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 107 times in his career -- more than any other pitcher. He batted .415/.476/.521 against the four-time Cy Young Award winner and Hall of Famer. That's easily the highest average against Maddux for any player with at least 70 plate appearances.

Of course, it's not like Gwynn's numbers against Maddux were an anomaly. He torched just about every pitcher he faced. Among the 38 pitchers he faced at least 50 times, his lowest average was a .243 mark against Dwight Gooden. He batted at least .300 against 32 of those 38 pitchers, including Tom Glavine, Nolan Ryan, John Smoltz and Orel Hershiser.

Gwynn's .338 career batting average is the highest in the expansion era -- and it's not even that close, as Gwynn sits 10 points ahead of Boggs, in second. The last player to finish his career with a higher average was Ted Williams' .344 mark.

Gwynn owns all-time Padres records for batting average, runs, hits, total bases, doubles, triples, RBIs, walks, stolen bases and games played.

and finally, I thought was a great stat for Tony Gwynn fans...no so much if you're a Padres fan...

If Gwynn’s 20-year career were split into two careers, 10 seasons apiece, he would rank first and second in franchise history in runs, hits, total bases and doubles.

 

[kclj520]

Those are some monster stats, the most amazing being the last, in my opinion! The fact that in his least productive 10 years, he was almost as productive as in his most productive 10 years!! That is the mark of a great player, the fact that they are just consistently great across the board!!

 

[grapler135s]

Great thread to read through.

My favorite of all time is one not many people have, or even like, Carmelo Anthony. I was starting to play around Syracuse title run and watched a ton of college ball that year, always have loved a pure scorer. Thought that Lebron guy was stealing a lot of hype from this amazing player who led one of the best runs in NCAA history (imo) and drew the line in the sand… Carmelo is it.

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Followed him and the Nuggets/Knicks religiously. Many highs and lows, still think the Nuggets were a few bone headed plays away from having a real chance vs the Lakers in the WCF.

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Was pretty tough seeing the years he wasn’t in the league but have been thrilled watching him play well for Portland and the Lakers.

Baseball, diehard Padres fan. Painful fandom. Went to the World Series (losing) parade lol Steve Finley was always my favorite player growing up. Obviously loved Tony Gwynn as well. Nowadays just very happy to watch a competitive team and a fun one. Love Machado, Wil Myers, Grisham, Abrams and Tatis (duh.)

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Football don’t really have a favorite, just enjoy fantasy football. Hockey I’m a huge Teemu Selanne fan.

Cool cards!

Steve Finley…the sledgehammer…loved that dude! Was at the game where he hit the game winning division clinching grand slam for the Dodgers against the Giants in 2004.

 

[RockysCardboard]

@RockysCardboard, thanks for sharing! Carmelo is definitely an all-time great scorer.

I've, honestly, never even heard the name Steve Finley before. Embarrassing to say considering he is a 5 time gold glove winner. That was around the time I was in high school, though, and I cared a lot more about girls and high school sports than the guys on TV back then. I probably only would have ever seen the Padres play when/if they played the Rangers too, so there's that. It's hard to argue with Tony Gwynn, though. I think all fans of baseball have to be a fan of his unless they have some kind of deep-seated hatred for the Padres. I have another friend who is a lifelong Padres fan too. Things are definitely looking up for y'all these days...he's not shy about letting folks know about it on Facebook either! Ha!

I feel Finley is one of those players who was good but never great, had some amazing plays and was on many great teams. He was on every NL West team at some point in his career too lol

 

[kclj520]

You always wonder when someone has had their breakout moment, and why some guys never ascended to greatness like others did. Some guys have all the tools, but just dont get to that next level due to injury or just bad timing.

Blessings,

Kevin

 

[kclj520]

Bumping this back up after about 7 weeks! Any new stories or favorites??

I have an item I'd like to share today, from my first ever baseball game on August 23rd, 1988: Cubs vs. Astros at Wrigley Field. My beloved Grandparents took me, and as a 7 year old, it was literally the most exciting thing ever! I remember taking the El, the elevated train in Chicago to the station and walking across to the ballpark, and it was just the biggest thing I had ever seen, and the largest crowd I had ever been around!

Jamie Moyer pitched a 9 strikeout complete game, and we sat in the section right below the announcers' booth, so we saw Harry Caray multiple times, waving to him after the game as he left the booth too. I still remember "Cubs Win! Cubs Win!" like it was yesterday, and the experience of being able to go with my Grandparents was so special to me. They went frequently since Gramps was a news editor for the Chicago Tribune, and often ended up with free tickets since the Tribune Corporation, WGN, and the Cubs were all business partners (and getting along well!) at that time.

Years later, Jamie Moyer was so kind as to sign my game ticket stub, which I made into a custom. These are in the "Cubs Corner" of my display at home!

 

[grapler135s]

Bumping this back up after about 7 weeks! Any new stories or favorites??

I have an item I'd like to share today, from my first ever baseball game on August 23rd, 1988: Cubs vs. Astros at Wrigley Field. My beloved Grandparents took me, and as a 7 year old, it was literally the most exciting thing ever! I remember taking the El, the elevated train in Chicago to the station and walking across to the ballpark, and it was just the biggest thing I had ever seen, and the largest crowd I had ever been around!

Jamie Moyer pitched a 9 strikeout complete game, and we sat in the section right below the announcers' booth, so we saw Harry Caray multiple times, waving to him after the game as he left the booth too. I still remember "Cubs Win! Cubs Win!" like it was yesterday, and the experience of being able to go with my Grandparents was so special to me. They went frequently since Gramps was a news editor for the Chicago Tribune, and often ended up with free tickets since the Tribune Corporation, WGN, and the Cubs were all business partners (and getting along well!) at that time.

Years later, Jamie Moyer was so kind as to sign my game ticket stub, which I made into a custom. These are in the "Cubs Corner" of my display at home!

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That is really awesome Kevin! Such a great story and memory! Thanks for sharing!

 

[kclj520]

That is really awesome Kevin! Such a great story and memory! Thanks for sharing!

@grapler135s

Thank you my friend! Very special memories, which is why I am excited to bring my sons to the ballgame next month, to build those same sorts of special memories!!

 

[kclj520]

Bumping this back up, I gotta give some mad respect to these two, definitely all time greats, and STL legends:



And, no conversation about Albert and Yadier would be complete without a mention of Adam Wainwright, who may not ever been in Cooperstown, but will definitely be a Cardinals Hall of Famer here in STL!

 

[kclj520]

I made some new custom designs of a few childhood favorites, what does everyone think??

 

[kclj520]

Another custom from a childhood favorite!