Jan. 9, 2007
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State head baseball coach and major league standout Tony Gwynn has been voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as announced today by Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey. Gwynn, who enjoyed a 20-year career as a member of the San Diego Padres, received 97.6 percent of the votes cast on 545 ballots.
Gwynn, who is entering his fifth season at the helm of the Aztec baseball program, was a 15-time all-star who had a .338 career batting average, the 20th highest in major league history. With 3,141 base hits, he batted over .300 every season except his rookie year of 1982 when he hit .289.
His .394 average in 1994 is the highest in the majors in the 65 years since Ted Williams was the last player to bat over .400 (.406). In addition to winning eight NL batting crowns, Gwynn had five 200-hit seasons, led the league in hits seven times, batted .371 in his two World Series and earned five Gold Gloves for his defensive work in right field. In addition, he also collected seven Silver Slugger Awards for offensive excellence.
He is still the Padres' all-time leader in batting average, hits, double, triples, RBI, runs scored, at-bats, game played, walks and stolen bases.
Gwynn became just the fourth head coach in San Diego State baseball history when he assumed the position in July 2002. During his first four seasons, he has led the Aztecs to a Mountain West Conference regular-season title and was named the league's coach-of-the-year in 2004.
As a player at San Diego State, Gwynn was a two-time All-America selection, finishing his three seasons as an Aztec with a career batting average of .398, an SDSU school record for the Division I era (since 1968).
In addition to patrolling right field during the baseball season, he was a point guard for the SDSU basketball team for four seasons, earning all-Western Athletic Conference honors twice. He still holds the Aztec record for assists in a game, season and career, and he remains the only athlete in WAC history to be honored as an all-conference performer in two sports.
On June 10, 1981, Gwynn was drafted by both the San Diego Padres (third round) and the NBA's San Diego Clippers (10th round). After short minor league stints at Walla Walla, Amarillo and Honolulu, he was called up to the big league club on July 19, 1982, to begin an illustrious major league career with the Padres.
GWYNN BY THE NUMBERS.338 - Gwynn's career batting average, 20th highest in history.348 - Gwynn's batting average after turning 30.371 - Gwynn's batting average on World Series play (13-for-35) 1 - Three-strikeout games in his career 5 - Stolen bases in a game vs. Houston on Sept. 20, 1986 7 - Silver Slugger awards fro offensive excellence 8 - Career five-hit games, most in Padres history 10 - Round in which he was selected by the Clippers in the 1981 NBA draft 19 - Consecutive seasons with a .300-plus batting average, second only to Ty Cobb's 23 24 - Different players who finished ahead of him in the NL batting race from 1984-98 33 - Hitting streaks of at least 10 games during his career 39 - Base hits off Greg Maddux, most by Gwynn against any pitcher 320 - Base hits against the Astros, his most against any team3,131 - Career hits total, 18th-place all-time