Random Baseball Card of the Day - 6/12/13

1983 Fleer #360 Tony Gwynn (Rookie Card), San Diego Padres

(photo cred: comc.com)

Every baseball fan knows the story of Tony Gwynn, former Padre great and current head coach at San Diego State University. He's was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in the Class of 2007.

Batting Title Tony: He was quite possibly the best hitter of his era, winning an unbelievable eight National League batting titles--his first in 1984 and his last in 1997.

No K in Gwynn: In 9288 career at-bats, Gwynn struck out only 434 times, for an average of 29 a season. Some guys strike out 29 times in the first month of the season.

Passing It On: Tony Sr. coached his son, Tony Jr. at SDSU. Junior has a ton of talent but to help put it in perspective, he's struck out 274 times in seven seasons in the majors. He's already on his third team (MIL, SD, LAD) but has yet to crack the Dodgers' big league roster this season though he is hitting .301 with 18 RBI and 4 stolen bases for AAA-affiliate Albuquerque. 

Random Fact: Gywnn's longest hitting streak of his career was a 25-gamer back in the 1983 season, his second year in the big leagues.