Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 6/16 - Kudos

RIP Tony Gwynn, just 54, who lost his battle with cancer. Here are some incredible facts about No. 19, Mr. Padre, from an article in Yahoo Sports by Jeff Passan:

His rookie season, in which he played 54 games, is the only one he didn't hit .300. He hit .289. His 16 consecutive .300 seasons are second to only Ty Cobb, who had 23.

His career .338 batting average is of a different era. Every other hitter with an average of .338 or above started before 1940.

From 1995, the year he turned 35, to 2001, the final year of his career, he hit .350.

For his career batting average to slip below .300, Gwynn would have needed to add 1,183 hitless at-bats to his total — roughly the equivalent of two full seasons. 

Of the 12 top batting seasons since the expansion era began in 1961, he owns four of them:368 in 1995, .370 in 1987, .372 in 1997 and .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season.

In 1994 Jeff Bagwell hit .368, the 13th best season since 1961, but didn't win the NL batting title because Gwynn was nearly 30 points better. 

Gwynn had nine five-hit games in his career. Only Pete Rose had more, with 10. Gwynn also had 45 games with at least four hits, 10th on the all-time list.

In 2,440 career games, he had only 34 multi-strikeout games. The odds were better he would get four hits than striking out twice.

He struck out only 434 in 10,232 career plate appearances. Paul Waner is the only member of the 3,000 hit club to do better, 376 in 10,766 

In 1995 Gwynn struck out only 15 times in 535 at-bats. 27 current MLB players have already struck out than more than 15 times in June.

Eleven times in his career he managed to not strikeout in 20 straight games, his longest streak 34 games.

Only once in his career did he have a three-stikeout game. It came against Bob Welch, who died last week at 57.

Neither Pedro Martinez nor Greg Maddux ever struck him out. Maddux faced Gwynn 107 times, hitting .407.

He had 323 career at-bats against Maddux, Martinez, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz and struck out only three times! Glavine got him twice. Curt Schilling managed to strike out Gwynn twice in 43 at-bats.

Gwynn never hit .400. In the strike-shortened 1994 season, he finished at .394 through 110 games. He was hitting .423 in the second half.

He topped .400 for a 179-game span between July 3, 1993 and May 9, 1995, hitting .403 in 600+ at bats.

In two-strike counts, he hit .302, a stat measured only since 1988. Wade Boggs is next on the list at .260.

Kudos, sir.

 

 Two of this year’s golf majors are in the books and the high drama that usually characterizes the biggest tournaments has been absent. Germany’s Martin Kaymer has established himself as one of the world’s best players, going wire to wire to win the U.S. Open, never less than four shots ahead in the final two rounds. It is an extraordinary accomplishment, but a bore for those who like nail biting tension, rapid swings of joy and despair. A couple of pundits attribute the lack of pizzazz to the absence of Tiger Woods. While the ratings validate what a powerful draw Woods is, it means nothing in potential drama. The poor play of Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy had more to do with the lack of excitement than Woods’ absence. Kudos, Herr Kaymer.

Congrats to the aging San Antonio Spurs, who dispatched the great Miami Heat with extreme prejudice, its four wins coming in routs. The opposite of what I anticipated occurred. I thought the Heat might sweep. I’m glad I was wrong. The Spurs seem like a classy bunch. This, their fifth championship in the Tim Duncan era, may have been their last hurrah. And the Heat may be broken up by free agency next season, opening the door for other franchises. Unfortunately, the Knicks are again rebuilding and the Nets need better, younger, more durable players. Kudos to coach Popovich and his crew, who suffered that gut-wrenching defeat in last year's showcase.

My thanks to the young man who purchased Not Another Feckin' Book about the Irish by Colin Murphy Donal O'Dea, my lone sale today in Park Slope, the fourth straight putrid session for the floating shop.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx