tony gwynn vs greg maddux tony gwynn vs greg maddux

Gwynn was on several mediocre teams and he often hit ahead of guys who did not make good contact. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Tony Gwynn hit .415 against Greg Maddux and (expletive) did not strike out even once in 107 plate appearances! Think about that: for five years from July of 1991 to April 1996, Gwynn never had an 0-for-12 at any time. On 45 separate occasions, Gwynn recorded four hits in a game -- 11 more times than he recorded a multi-strikeout game. Even in his era, Gwynns contact rate was far and away the best of the great hitters. I've updated those numbers now, in the wake of the awful news of Tony Gwynn's death. He hit .400 or better against eight different Cy Young winners -- Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Bret Saberhagen, Vida Blue, John Denny, Dennis Eckersley, Mark Davis and Doug Drabek -- and batted at . He hit .395 in April, .392 in May, .387 in June, and .370 in July. Maddux was one of several pitchers who deftly described the challenge of retiring Gwynn at the plate. Evan lives in Mesa, Arizona and loves history, especially of sports. Greg Maddux Stats by Baseball Almanac. I was actually kind of shocked when I looked up this statistic on the web. Maddux was a tough competitor, earning the nickname Mad Dog for his intense focus. In fact, Maddux saw Gwynn more than anyone. So mind-blowing, in fact, that it seems too good to be true. On Monday, ESPNs Ethan Strauss reminded us about a fantastic quote that Maddux once had about Gwynn that summed up his sensational career. In this installment of Baseball Mythbusters, we will look at Greg Maddux and the 30 count. My Have List is linked in my signature. Rather famously, Gwynn struck out three times in a game only once -- against Bob Welch and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1986. 429 career average and he NEVER struck out against the Hall of Fame hurler. Despite the respect shown in the above comment, Tony Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 103 times in regular-season games - and never struck out (and another four times in the post-season without a whiff. Greg Maddux could put a baseball through a Life Saver if you asked him. There are so many great stretches, but amazingly in 1997, he got maybe as hot as hes ever been with the stick for a long stretch of time, and he did it twice. In fact, in 1994, Gwynn batted an absurd .397 in two-strike counts. Para muchos Tony Gwynn es uno de los mejores bateadores en la historia del beisbol de la MLB, razn por la que el premio al champion bat de la Liga Nacional lleva su nombre, pero cmo le fue este grande con el madero contra otras dos leyendas en Pedro Martnez y . When it comes to choosing between two of the greatest pitchers of all time, Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez, there are a number of factors to consider. Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 107 times in his career more than any other pitcher. He played in an era when it was big news if anyone even got within 50 points of that. He was 39-for-91 off the right-hander, with eight doubles and a triple. Find the newest tony gwynn meme. In the other 19, the batter put the ball in play. Tony Gwynn: Maddux's Greatest Challenger. Gwynn has seven of those seasons . About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Neither Pedro Martinez nor Greg Maddux ever struck him out.Maddux faced Gwynn 107 times and Gwynn hit .415 off Maddux. Gwynn had six straight seasons (and eight altogether) in which he struck out fewer than 20 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. Wow. He told The Washington Post that if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision. Last Saturday, Gwynn faced a pitcher, Livan Hernandez, who was born 31 years after Jenkins and who was pitching for a franchise and a wild-card spot that did not exist when . Finally, in 1998, the Padres advanced past the Houston Astros in the NLDS (this was the year Houston traded at the deadline for Randy Johnson), then beat the Atlanta Braves and their troika of aces in Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz in the NLCS, before getting swept in the World Series by the New York Yankees; Gwynn only batted .200 . Tony Gwynn has the highest career batting average among players whose career started after 1947 (baseball first integrated), no surprises there . He didn't play baseball in an age when men routinely hit .424 or .404. Tony Gwynn had always had Greg Maddux's number. This row, however, does not mean that there were 312 plate appearances that saw a 30 count. Gwynn struck out 434 times in 10,232 plate appearances. Eric Karros, though, hasnt been so fortunate. In addition to his pitching skills, Maddux was an excellent fielding pitcher. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Only Ty Cobb, who won 12, all before 1920, had more. Myth: Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters during his career. Runs scored is an opportunity stat, and it really has little to do with how good a player is. Reality: Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters during his career. Other College Sports (Non-MWC Topics) San Diego Sports. If you were going to do it you had to get him the first time you saw him (through lack of unfamiliarity) or by having a trick pitch of some sort. He had a swing that made pitchers cry themselves to sleep. Right-handed batters hit worse against righties and left-handed batters hit worse against lefties. Sadly, we lost Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn this week to cancer. As we outlined in #2 above, Gwynn tore apart Greg Maddux to the tune of a .429 career average and he NEVER struck out against the Hall of Fame hurler. In the seventh, Gwynn got his third hit, a double to left field off Dave Righetti. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Two vs. Glavine. Who did Tony Gwynn never strike out against? He struck out 15 times during the entire 1995 season a year in which he batted .368. These miscellaneous characteristics include all counts with a certain number of balls or strikes as well as first pitch, pitcher ahead, count even, and batter ahead. Because, thanks to him, you never had to dread that annual spring assignment of picking the batting champ. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. **, Press J to jump to the feed. With Maddux it always seemed that batters were either being fooled as they watched a pitch nip the corner of the plate, or they were getting a bad swing on a pitch that dove away from their bat at the last second. In those 20,421 at-bats, only 310 hitters saw a 3-0 count. Hall of Famer Greg Maddux is one of the greatest pitchers of the Live Ball Era. The primary advantage for Gwynn, however, was longevity. He struck out only three times (two to Glavine, two to Smoltz and NEVER against Maddux or Pedro), per Eric Edholm of Yahoo! In other words, the last pitch of the plate appearance came on a 30 count. America's Pastime. The righthander was discussing how changing speeds and having control are far more important than velocity, because no hitter can tell the exact speed of a pitch. Among the 38 pitchers he faced at least 50 times, his lowest average was a .243 mark against Dwight Gooden. Gooden used his fastball and curveball to keep Gwynn off-balance, actually holding Mr. Padre to a .243 mark in 77 matchups while fanning him six times. I had the chance to meet him once in San Diego. Priode. Draft: Drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 3rd round of the 1981 MLB June Amateur Draft from San Diego State University (San Diego, CA). In the twelfth, San Diego put together a rally, Gwynn lining a single to center for his sixth hit of the game to send the winning run to third base. In his entire 20-year career, Gwynn struck out 434 times -- an average of 21.7 K's per season. More consistently than most major-league . Mike Trout Is it wrong that I'm STILL not over letting him go as a free agent? We all know that batting average is not the only way (or even the best way) to measure a hitters effectiveness. Greg Maddux got to see that firsthand. In 1997 he was 37 years old but his bat hadnt slowed down. For his career against all pitchers Gwynn hit .302 with two strikes. He faced Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, and Pedro Martinez a combined 323 times, and only struck out in 3 of those plate appearances. In fact, according to the Elias Sports Bureau's Steve Hirdt, no hitter born since 1918 (i.e., since Ted Williams) has even gotten 2,000 hits and had an average this high. Here are seven (and trust us, there are plenty more) ridiculous stats from San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn's incredible 20-year career: [Special shout out to Fox Sports'Erik Malinowski and ESPN's Jayson Stark who dug up most of these incredible statistics. *Gwynn never struck out more than 40 times in a season. . More on Gwynn's lack of strikeouts: He faced some great pitchers, but even the cream of the crop had trouble getting him out. While others hit (and will continue to hit) for more power, no other hitter in my lifetime has been better at using his bat to get on April 11, 2020 6:05 AM PT. In the fifth inning he lined sharply into the glove of first baseman Will Clark. We kid you not. He could have stuck around the big leagues and gone 0-for-1172 and still had a .300 career batting average. He faced Greg Maddux 107 times, hit .415, and never struck out. Winner of eight batting titles, Gwynn finished in the top five for the league's best average 13 times from 1984 through 1997. Registered: Jul 13, 2005. To commemorate the occasion, we've compiled a list of 19 facts about No. I think I know part of the reason for Gwynns low WAR ranking, he ranks 101st among MLB players all time in total runs scored, behind Joe DiMaggio who had a much shorter career. If thats not respect, I dont know what is. Tony Gwynn is the greatest pure hitter I have ever witnessed. Gwynn batted .331/.371/.426. Here comes more. Gwynn's .334 career second-half batting average is the third best in the last 50 years. In fact, Gwynn has often been referred to as the greatest hitter since Williams. Maddux was one of the best pitchers who pitched exclusively in the Live Ball Era. During his 20-year career, he struck out 434 times, an average of 21.7 K% At the end of April, 129 players had struck out 22 times, a 49% increase from the previous year. Maddux is best known for his accomplishments while playing for the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs.With the Braves, he won the 1995 World Series over the Cleveland Indians.The first to achieve a number of feats and records, he . Even against hitters who can hurt them, they rarely change much from how they approach every hitter. He's the best hitter I've seen in 35 years.". In the history of baseball, only Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie got there faster -- and when they played, the gloves were made of the same material as those trains they rode on. Only 310 saw a 3-0 count, and 177 of those were intentional walks. Gwynn hit .400 for a stretch as long as a season: from July 3, 1993 to May 9, 1995, he batted .403 over a 179-game stretch. *Gwynn hit over .350 five times after the age of 33. With the specter of a strike hanging over the game, he ramped it up in August, hitting .475 in the 10 games before the game was stopped due to the labor strife. Gregory Alan Maddux was a Major League Baseball player who pitched for the Chicago Cubs (1986-1998), Atlanta Braves (1993-2003), Chicago Cubs (2004-2006), Los Angeles Dodgers (2006), San Diego Padres (2007-2008), and Los Angeles Dodgers (2008). chaque match, chaque manche, chaque frappeur pendant 25 saisons, Ryan a opt pour le retrait au bton. And here's Ryan on the same thing. Gwynn also had incredible success against many of the best strikeout pitchers. Only 310 saw a 30 count, and 177 of those were intentional walks. That season came in the middle of a five-year stretch where he batted .369. 7. Maddux is also one of only ten pitchers who has both 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. He faced Greg Maddux more than any other pitcher, 107 . I'm looking for any Tony Gwynn or Greg Maddux cards that I need. We cant know for sure how many of the 1986-87 hitters faced a 30 count, but chances are good that the percentage is greater than or equal to his subsequent seasons in Chicago. Its mind-blowing. OK, got all that digested. Everybody in the stadium is shocked. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. In that game, Gwynn lined a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth off Dennis Eckersley to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Fun/impressive fact: In 107 PAs, Maddux never struck out Tony Gwynn. Sucks so much he isn't around for this all-star stuff in San Diego John Smoltz just gave a ridiculous stat of the great GwynnGwynn had a combined 265 career AB vs Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. He racked up 39 hits off Maddux (39-for-94, .415), 32 against Smoltz (32-for-72, .444) and 30 against Tom Glavine (30-for-99, .303). Well, heres the thing though: runs scored is not factored in WAR. A few moments later, Pedro Martinez (not THAT Pedro, the other Pedro Martinez), laid down a suicide squeeze that scored Ricky Gutierrez with the winning run from third. In the past 100 years, nobody has more batting titles than Gwynn's eight. Greg Maddux vs. Tony Gwynn. Five of those seasons belong to Gwynn (1984, '86, '87, '89, '97). No surprise, six-time NL batting champion Tony Gwynn is among the best against the four-time Cy Young winner. Well, except one. Tony Gwynn had 287 plate appearances against Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz. In 2007, Gwynn was inducted into the Hall of Fame after receiving 532 of 545 votes -- the 10th-highest total in MLB history. On May 27th, Tony went 4-for-5 against the Braves and lifted his average over .400. Roy Halladay shut down Derek Jeter. How We Ranked Baseballs Greatest Players, Best Current and Former MLB Players from New Zealand, A Few of the Greatest Players Who Arent in the Hall of Fame, Wee Willie Keeler: The Best Bunter in Baseball History. As if to show everyone what theyd missed in the summer of 94, Gwynn came out swinging a red-hot bat. They can identify pitches if there are different release points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitchers hand. Most players have a disadvantage when they are facing pitchers of the same stripe as them. The last player to finish his career with a higher average was Ted Williams' .344 mark. Last season, 129 players had struck out 22 times by the end of April. Gwynn got hits off Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro -- four men who won a combined 1,282 games. Throughout his 20 years in the league, Gwynn would wield his bat and give opposing pitchers nightmares while putting up astounding numbers on the stat sheet. "Except," Maddux said, "for that [expletive] Tony Gwynn." Gwynn never struck out against Maddux . From 1991-1999, he struck out more than 20 times once. The former Atlanta Braves hurler faced Gwynn 107 times during their overlapping Hall-of-Fame careers. Scherzer tries to test pitch clock limits, gets balk, 7 Cubs combine for 1st spring no-no since 2017, Jays 'playing it safe' after Guerrero tweaks knee, PitchCom-tipping: Loud device leaks Twins calls, Eflin's first start after $40M deal impresses Rays, Rangers' Leclerc to miss WBC with neck injury, Rockies' Rodgers may need surgery, '23 at risk. Maddux was also a good hitting pitcher, with a career . So maybe we never saw Hornsby or Wagner or Tris Speaker hit a baseball. Here are nine incredible facts and stats from the career of Tony Gwynn. Mike Hampton, a hard-throwing lefty who finished second in Cy Young voting one season, faced Gwynn 38 times and never struck him out. Of course, it's not like Gwynn's numbers against Maddux were an anomaly. ], Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox. Only 644 (that we know of; we are missing data for 1,166 batters) saw a 3-0 count and 153 came on intentional walks. This statement further cements his reputation as a control artist. THREE 72 AB vs Smoltz he hit .444 with a .697 slug% and 1 strikeout 99 AB vs Maddux and hit .415 and never struck out. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. He is ranked 74th on the Baseball Reference website on position players, he also had a relatively long career. Greg Maddux; H. Hack Wilson; Hank Aaron; Hank Greenberg; Hanley Ramrez; Harmon Killebrew; Harold Baines; Honus Wagner; * Andres Galarraga (61 at-bats) and Howard Johnson (74 at-bats, five home runs) have struck out the most, 18 times each. I did a cursory study of different good hitters vs. good pitchers on several dimensions. Against Randy Johnson, however, Gwynn slashed .111/.111/.167 for a .278 OPS with no walks and five strikeouts . Maddux and Glavine are the first pair of Hall of Fame classmates both to record voting percentages in the 90th percentile since 2007 with Cal Ripken Jr. (98.5) and Tony Gwynn (97.6). Gwynn owns all-time Padres records for batting average, runs, hits, total bases, doubles, triples, RBIs, walks, stolen bases and games played. Chipper Jones pummeled Randy Johnson. Scott only fanned Tony three times in 95 matchups. If Gwynns 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. During his career, Tony won batting titles by 32 points (1987), 30 points (1984), 28 points (1994), 22 points (1995), and 17 points (1996). The closest anyone has come after World War II are Wade Boggs and Rod Carew at .328, a full 10 points behind Gwynn. July 12, 2016, 10:48 PM. Special to ESPN.com. In a high-scoring game, he was back up in the eighth, lining a single to right off Jeff Brantley. Greg Maddux has made a habit of handling hitters and even breaking their bats, as he did to five Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series. He batted at least .300 against 32 of those 38 pitchers, including Tom Glavine, Nolan Ryan, John Smoltz and Orel Hershiser. Against the Braves' Hall of Fame trio, Gwynn fared pretty well. That's 49 fewer punchouts than Miguel Cabrera's lowest total in a year. Madduxs walk rate during those two seasons was 10.1%, more than twice as high as the rest of his career. There are few ballplayers in the history of Major League Baseball that were as skilled in the batters box than Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who passed away on Monday. A popular meme says that out of the 20,421 batters Maddux faced in his career, only 310 saw a 30 count and 177 were intentional walks. You gotta figure, to load up the bases the pitcher has already got to be fucking up. Born: May 9, 1960 in Los Angeles, CA us Died: June 16, 2014 in Poway, CA Buried: Dearborn Memorial Park, Poway, CA . Sa fortune s lve 2 000,00 euros mensuels It was very, very hard to fool Tony Gwynn. The baseball world was mourning the passing of one of its most beloved players on Monday, as San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn lost his battle with cancer at the age of 54. 25 bids - Price: $170.50 - Watchers: 86. Finally, what does it mean to have piled up a .338 batting average over a 20-year career, over 9,288 at-bats? His 6-for-7 performance raised Gwynns average to .357, though he would lose the batting title that season to Andres Galarraga, who batted .370 for Colorado. And thanks to statistic hubs like Baseball Reference, some unbelievable numbers are being shared from Gwynn's career. If Maddux was the robot of pitchers, then Tony Gwynn is the robot of hitters. That's easily the best mark for any player since numbers were first tracked by count in the mid-1970s. A 76 Pitch . Nolan Ryan struck out Tony Gwynn more than any other pitcher with 9. No one else whose career started after World War II has even gotten closer than 10 points of him -- at least no one with 5,000 plate appearances or more. Boggs had a much better batting eye than Tony did, he knew how to work the strike zone better and did a much better job of getting on base. Greg Maddux debuted on 9/3/1986 and was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 by the BBWAA. What's the Dodgers' plan at shortstop? Wake up to the day's most important news. Why was Greg Maddux good? It can be no coincidence that Gwynn developed a strong friendship with another one of the all-time great hitters, Ted Williams. Only 644 (that we know of; we are missing data for 1,166 batters) saw a 30 count and 153 came on intentional walks. on MLBN. Dodgers' Friedman hopes to retain Urias: 'We love having Jul Report: Padres expected to approach Soto, Hader about extens Maeda throws 2 scoreless innings despite Rays hearing PitchC Tatis: 'No wrong answers' for how Padres construct lineup, Report: Britton, Hand among relievers Cubs considering, Yankees' Boone: Stanton can have 'massive season' if healthy, Royals sign Jackie Bradley Jr. to minor-league contract. Tony Gwynn: man or machine? on MLBN. Thats how you maintain an astronomical batting average year after year. His streak of 18 consecutive .300 seasons from 1983 until 2000 is only surpassed by Ty Cobb's run of 23 straight years. Share. He also is a credentialed member of the Diamondbacks press corps for Last Word on Baseball. Aztec Sports and Conference Discussions. Free shipping for many products! Only once. Gwynn faced Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz a combined 323 times. He is the treasurer for the Hemond-Delhi Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and also is a USSF and AIA soccer referee. I read earlier that in 323 combined career PAs against Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, and Pedro Martinez, Gwynn struck out only three times. Against Randy Johnson, however, Gwynn slashed .111/.111/.167 for a .278 OPS with no walks and five strikeouts in 18 PAs. The former Atlanta Braves hurler faced Gwynn 107 times during their overlapping Hall-of-Fame careers. . Players. Do not let the reality fool you this is still nothing short of amazing. Pro Sports. "Tony Gwynn would hit .338 in 2021, '31, '41 In fact, Maddux saw Gwynn more than anyone. Jeff Bagwell hit .368 that year the 13th highest batting average since 1961 but he still finished 30 points behind Gwynn in the batting race! Tony Gwynn vs. Pitchers Event data is only available for the American League and National League. Aztec Game Videos. Gwynns career batting mark was .338, the highest mark by any player who started his career after 1939. While most left-handed batters are declining and being rested against southpaws in their twilight years, Gwynn was punishing them. Could Gwynn have reached .400? He also had the second-most regular-season . That was hit #4 and it helped spark a three-run rally that helped the Padres tie the score 10-10. Heck, we knew, he knew and everyone else knew who was going to win that NL batting title before anyone even threw a pitch. The first problem with the 310 batters faced a 30 count claim is this: pitch count data is not available until 1988. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Thank you for reading and commenting, Christian. No 3,000-hit man who was born after 1900 had a higher lifetime batting average than Gwynn (.338). Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 107 times in his career -- more than any other pitcher. No hitter who has played his entire career since the invention of the designated hitter has accumulated as many hits as Gwynn (3,141) without spending a large portion of his career in the American League. And in the only season he didn't -- in 1990 -- he missed by one hit. He hit .400 or better against eight different Cy Young winners -- Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Bret Saberhagen, Vida Blue, John Denny, Dennis Eckersley, Mark Davis and Doug Drabek -- and batted . . On the day he retired 13 years ago, I took a look at his incredible hitting genius, measured through the columns on the stat sheet he owned like no one else -- the batting average column, the hits column and the strikeouts (or lack thereof) column. Caught that special the other night and enjoyed it. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, The subreddit for the bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players. What Rogers Hornsby and Honus Wagner were to their generation, that's what the late, great Tony Gwynn was to his generation. He collected 83 hits in the 46 games, and even had a hit in the one game he didnt start, delivering a pinch-hit two-run single against the Astros on June 1st. Why? Greg Maddux has made a habit of handling hitters and even breaking their bats, as he did to five Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series. That's easily the highest average against Maddux for any player with at least 70 plate appearances. Maddux didnt strike Gwynn out a single time NOT ONCE. As mentioned earlier, it is impossible to know. The baseball world is mourning the loss of Hall of Famer and "Mr. Padre" Tony Gywnn the best way it knows how: by remembering how incredible a player he was. Even our favorite pitching robot, Greg Maddux, had this to say about him: Sad about Tony Gwynn's passing. SAN DIEGO -- There's never a bad time to rehash the insane numbers Tony Gwynn put up during his 20 Hall of Fame seasons in San Diego.