Ol' #19 aims for the 5.5 hole
courtesy ESPN Sports

Here's a lovely article by Tim Kurkjian of ESPN on one of my baseball heroes, Mr. Tony Gwynn:

Gwynn is the best hitter since Ted Williams. His .338 average is the 17th best all-time; he and Williams are the only ones of that 17 to play after 1938. Gwynn batted .394 in 1994, but he didn't get the chance to hit .400 because the season ended in August with a players' strike. During 1993-1997, Gwynn hit .368 — not even Williams hit that high for any five-year period. Gwynn won eight batting titles; only Ty Cobb won more. Gwynn hit .300 for 19 consecutive years; only Cobb had a longer streak.

Gwynn could place the ball because he had such great control of his bat, which was as small as anyone used during his 20-year career. For first 12 years of his career, he used a 32½-inch, 31-ounce bat. For the final eight years, he used a 33-inch, 30½-ounce bat.

Because of his small bat, his great hands and his sharp eye, Gwynn rarely struck out. In this era in which 75 batters strike out 100 times in a season, Gwynn never struck out more than 40 times in any season — Preston Wilson once struck out that many times in a single April. "The year I struck out 40 times, I hated it," Gwynn said. "There were years I struck out 15 or 19 times."

Gwynn struck out only 434 times in 20 years...

You should check out his "swing and miss" percentages, i.e., the percentage of time that Gwynn would choose to swing at a pitch and miss. It's a thing of beauty.

If you don't "get" this post, don't worry — we'll be posting on something else tomorrow. But trust me: this is important and beautiful stuff!