But there is still a half of a season remaining. I can watch Gwynn, and his .338 career average re-direct a few more pitches in between third and short. That is what I will miss most about Gwynn. He probably had the power to hit some more homers throughout his career, but he never wanted to take away from his average. This was not a case of sports selfishness. He knew that his job was to get hits, not to ooh and aah the crowd by trying to pull everything into the right field seats. Not to diminish the feats and efforts of today’s sluggers, but it is nice to see someone sticking to his principles. I heard a story about Ty Cobb, he of the .367 lifetime average, telling some sluggers that he could hit more home runs if he wanted to. So that day, he went to a more conventional, power-conducive stance, and hit three long balls. The next day, he returned to the pesky singles hitter that he always was. His feeling was that he would rather bat .367 with 118 home runs than .315 with 500. So would Gwynn.
Gwynn won eight N.L. batting titles. When I say he always hit .300, I am not exaggerating. He did it every year, and he’s doing it again in his last year. He played on two World Series teams that came up short, but performed admirably in the post-season. He wore that ugly Padres uniform (sure, it’s gotten nicer now) and always ran out grounders. He could steal some bases early in his career, and played a solid right field. But it all comes back to one thing; He was a pure hitter.
A pure hitter knows when to inside out an inner-half fastball. He recognizes the mistake pitch, and can turn on it if necessary. His goal in the perfect world is to hit a line drive right back up the middle, every time. He spoils countless 3-2 pitches so that the on-deck batter can see the pitcher’s entire repertoire. The pure hitter never approaches triple digit strikeouts in a season. I can’t think of any more that exist, besides Tony Gwynn. The closest thing, Todd Helton of Colorado, does not fit the mold entirely. He pulls the ball a little bit more, not that I can blame him playing at Coors. Mark Grace is close to being a pure hitter, but he was never as spectacular as Gwynn, or his contemporaries. Since 1985, I can think of a handful of pure hitters. George Brett, Don Mattingly, Paul Molitor, Wade Boggs, and Gwynn. I’ve seen them all retire, and now the last one is about to leave. So when he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame, it may not be just him being enshrined. It could be the torch that burned out when he dropped his bat for the final time. And I’m willing to bet he drops the bat as he grounds one in between third and short.
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