Number of times Pedro Martinez faced Tony Gwynn: 36 – Number of times Pedro Martinez struck Tony Gwynn out: ZERO / Number of times Greg Maddux faced Tony Gwynn: 107 – Number of times Greg Maddux struck Tony Gwynn out: ZERO.

36 comments
  1. Absolute legend.

    And think: Today Gwynn would be an also-ran in terms of star power and perceived value to his team. Look at how few teams are willing to pay Arraez.

  2. Tony Gwynn never struck out Greg Maddux either so it’s pretty even as far as I’m concerned

  3. I remember Tony Gwynn in an interview once saying how he views hitting a baseball like playing pool. Like high inside place line drive down the RF line. Breaking ball low lift it over shortstops head. Thats how he approached it. 8 ball corner pocket. Everything was in slow motion to him.

  4. The man only struck out 434 times in his 19 year career.

    The best hitter in base right now (Judge) has struck out 461 times in the past 3 seasons alone.

  5. Some other crazy Mr. Padre facts:

    – Batted .302 with 2 strikes in his career and an insane .397 in 1994.

    – 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.

  6. All these stats are crazy, but what I find equally is crazy is the success Randy Johnson had against him.

    Gwynn was 1-12, 1 single, 4 K’s against Johnson

  7. I never understood the insane amount of Gwynn glazing. His obp is criminally low for how high his avg was. He never worked a count, never took a walk, and would rather GIDP than look at a pitch. He was the exact opposite of what you learn a sound hitting approach is, a d people laid him as some sort of God. Sure he didn’t strike out much, but he’s still an out more often than just about every other HOFer with a similar batting average, or his hits are worth less TOB.

  8. Pedro did, however, limit Gwynn to a .676 OPS, though (Gwynn has a career .847 OPS). So both gave a little in their matchups.

  9. That’s wild that I look at Gwynn hitting .302 off Nolan Ryan and I’m kind of like “wow, Ryan really owned him…”

  10. The absolute greatest contact hitter to ever play the game. This man went up against one of the greatest eras of pitchers and excelled. He was a routine, fundamental ball player with a spectacular eye for the ball. It’s like he knew what pitches were coming before the catcher gave a signal.

  11. 1988 would have been the season to get him. He had his career high of 40 strike outs that season.

  12. Gwynn striking out was like Aaron Rodgers throwing an interception – fans were left thinking, “Wait – what just happened?”

  13. Maddux also did have his favorite umpire in those games. Hard to strike people out when you have an honest strike zone.

  14. Amazing player. He really studied the pitchers and was a great role model, in any other market he would have been a superstar

  15. Funny this popped up. I’m in Southern California and 394 Pale Ale is everywhere and I’ve been having it and exploring his BR page as tribute. What a talent. 

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