The San Diego Padres arrived at Wrigley Field with a major-league leading 14 victories, and Tony Gwynn, the National League’s perennial batting champion, is grateful. For the first time, baseball writers aren’t hounding him. Instead, they are focusing on how and why the Padres are off to such a sensational start.
“I love that part of it,” he said before Tuesday night’s game. “It should be to my advantage but it hasn’t worked that way. I just haven’t been hitting.
Gwynn arrived in a rare slump–a .233 average for his previous nine games. Overall, he’s hitting .297, not a bad number for most. But he’s a lifetime .340 hitter. Last year, which he says was his best, he hit .372 in winning his eighth NL batting title. One more and he will pass Honus Wagner’s league record.
He’ll likely finish at .350 or higher, but he insists an eighth title isn’t first on his agenda.
“Honestly, whether I win another one isn’t important to me. My place in history is set. I’ve had some nice honors and I’ve enjoyed them. But from my standpoint, I’d trade them all if we could win the World Series. Winning it all, that’s the goal.”
This season, Gwynn said, has been his most enjoyable–so far–because the Padres have played so well.
“Everybody has been involved,” Gwynn said. “We’ve had outstanding pitching, we’ve been playing good defense and we’ve had good hitting.”
Gwynn paused for emphasis. “Everybody except me,” he said.
“Nobody’s worried about Tony,” said Merv Rettenmund, the Padres’ veteran batting coach.
Rettenmund, who has been around the big leagues since 1968, never has seen anyone as adept as Gwynn in seeing the pitch the moment it’s released. “I don’t know how he does it. I wish you’d ask him.”
Gwynn says it’s something he learned more than 15 years ago from Bobby Tolan, a former San Diego hitting instructor.
“He told me to watch the release point,” he said. “It took me a while. A lot of practice.”
As a result, he can see the ball as it’s coming out of the pitcher’s hand. “If his fingers are much on the top (of the ball), it’s usually a fastball. If they are at an angle, one way or the other, if you see a lot of white, it’s usually a breaking ball.
“If it’s a fastball, generally, it’s going to be coming straight at you. If it’s a breaking ball, it’s going to have some kind of movement. Once you determine what it is, it’s easier to figure out where it’s going.”
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But there is more to it than that. Intense concentration is necessary because he then must follow the ball almost all the way into the catcher’s glove. He never takes his eye off the ball.
He admits he is puzzled because younger players, with the notable exception of Sammy Sosa of the Cubs, haven’t asked him this essential secret: how to pick up the ball.
“When I came up, I asked a lot of questions,” Gwynn said. “It’s different today. Maybe it’s because they look at me as a hard-nosed guy and they don’t want to bother me.”
Sosa isn’t bashful and constantly is seeking batting tips.
“Every time I see him, here or in San Diego, he says, `Hey, Tony, what can I do to improve? Why do you do that? Why do you do this?’ I enjoy that. I always like to talk about hitting. That’s how players get better–by asking.”
Gwynn still is asking and often talks to Ted Williams, the last of the .400 hitters. “He told me to be more aggressive on the ball inside,” Gwynn said. “For years, I’d fight off the inside pitch and hit it to left field. It took me a long time to figure out what he meant, but it finally came to me last season. He was right. When you can handle the inside pitch, it’s a whole different ballgame.”
For the first time, Gwynn began hitting with power: 17 homers, 119 RBIs, both career highs.
Wherever he goes, he gets the same question. Does he think he can hit .400, and if he doesn’t, who will? “I don’t know if I’ll be the guy. But there will be another .400 hitter,” he said. “It’s inevitable. It will be somebody who’s going to walk a lot and puts the ball in play. Maybe Edgar Martinez or Frank Thomas.”