Goodnight, sweet prince!

6/16/2014 11:21:58 AM

gnsp

6/16/2014 11:24:52 AM

Damn, best pure hitter since probably Ted Williams or Pete Rose

6/16/2014 11:29:13 AM

um. frank thomas didn't die.

6/16/2014 11:32:50 AM

holy shit

i was hoping this was a joke

6/16/2014 11:34:13 AM

Damn Glaucoma!

(just a joke about the puckett reference. seriously, gnsp)

6/16/2014 11:48:56 AM

my baseball cards still won't be worth jack

6/16/2014 2:16:29 PM

his 1983 O-Pee-Chee rookie card is worth $17.83 and the Donruss is $11.30

6/16/2014 2:18:36 PM

^^^^^What about Ken Griffey Jr, and Mike Schmidt?

6/16/2014 2:24:12 PM

Or Wade Boggs? Or Yastrzemski?

6/16/2014 2:26:14 PM

goodnight, sweet prince...

6/16/2014 3:45:00 PM

Saw on twitter where Gwynn struck out a combined 3 times vs Glavine, Smoltz, Maddux, and Pedro Martinez.

Holy fucking shit.

Gwynn is easily one of the greatest hitters of all time

OF ALL TIME

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/6/16/5815134/tony-gwynn-clutch-memories/in/5578747

Quote :

"It could still be a statistical fluke, sure. I'll allow that. But down the line, with every possible split, Gwynn graded out as one of baseball's best hitters in the clutch. He was a .328/.370/.443 hitter with the bases empty and a .352/.411/.480 hitter with runners on base. He was a .444/.433/.594 hitter with the bases loaded over his career -- the OBP coming in lower than the average because of 15 sacrifice flies. Gwynn had 566 plate appearances with runners on third and fewer than two outs, almost a full season's worth. He hit .428/.441/.606, striking out just 28 times. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Gwynn's average fell a couple points -- but that's because pitchers were scared of him. His career OBP with two outs and RISP was .446, and he accumulated more than a fifth of his career walks in those situations. Gwynn hit .319/.360/.437 in the first three innings of the game, then .352/.399/.474 in innings 4-6, and .345/.407/.466, preying on tiring starters and jittery relievers alike. Really, just visit his splits page and pick out the clutch nuggets. It's a carnival. Gwynn was the most annoying hitter on the planet, even as no one was ever annoyed enough to dislike him."

Jesus

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/6/16/5815206/tony-gwynn-career-style-accomplishments-death/in/5578747

Quote :

"He faced Greg Maddux 107 times, hit .415, and never struck out. "

[Edited on June 16, 2014 at 4:15 PM. Reason : christ]

6/16/2014 3:59:54 PM

Good night...sweet prince

6/16/2014 4:13:15 PM

career OPS (all time rank)

Thomas .9740 (14th)
Schmidt .9075 (56th)
Griffey Jr .9073 (57th)
Boggs .8577 (143rd)
Gwynn .8648 (187th)
Yaz .8415 (203rd)

I'm not even bothering to put Rose up there. Yes he's the all time hits leader, but he's not a "pure" hitter. He's like a volume shooter in basketball. Had a lot of hits, but not one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. (and I'm saying this as a Reds fan AND as someone who believes he should be in the HOF)

I realize OPS isn't perfect, but it takes into account everything that a great hitter should be able to do - Get hits, get extra base hits, get walks. The Big Hurt was great at doing all three of those things. He had the best eye of any hitter I've ever seen.

Here, I will give my opinion on why Thomas is better than each player you listed.

Tony Gwynn - Did not hit for power whatsoever. Never hit 20 HR in a season. Yes, Gwynn rarely struck out, but he also has less than half the career walks of Thomas (even though TG actually was intentionally walked more times)

Ken Griffey, Jr. - Struck out more, walked less. Similar power, but not nearly as good at hitting for average.

Mike Schmidt - Dude was a career .267 hitter. With 500 more strikeouts than Thomas. Really bro?

Wade Boggs - LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL you can't be a great hitter if you can't hit the ball more than 200 ft. Seriously though, a great eye (not as great as Thomas, but probably the second best of any hitter I've ever seen play) just had absolutely no power. Also I will bring up walks again. Walked less times than Thomas despite being intentionally walked more.

Carl Yastrzemski - This is the toughest one for me. Thomas has the edge on power and average, but Yaz walked more and struck out less. He did only hit >.300 6 times though, topping out at .326 his triple crown year, while Thomas did it 10 times including 4 times over .340. Also, I never saw him play. Mainly because I wasn't alive.

I realize this is all subjective, but Thomas gets shit on because he was a poor first basemen and got overshadowed by roided up freaks and had the bad luck of having the greatest offensive season in modern baseball during the strike shortened season.

[Edited on June 16, 2014 at 4:32 PM. Reason : the only guys who should really be in this discussion are ol' flaxseed oil and albert pujols.]

6/16/2014 4:30:40 PM

When a lot of people say "pure hitter" they're not talking about power at all. I could say Ichiro is the best pure hitter of the last decade, but I'd say Pujols if you factored in power.

6/16/2014 4:34:30 PM

as the resident expert on all things White Sox, I feel required to chime in here

Gwynn > Thomas



[/discussion]

6/16/2014 5:32:14 PM

rule of three

Casey Kasem
Tony Gwynn
...

6/16/2014 6:16:00 PM

goodnight, sweet prince...

6/16/2014 7:55:50 PM

^ this is why chicks should not post in Sports Talk

6/16/2014 11:01:24 PM

did someone really try and downplay Tony Gwynn itt? wow

6/17/2014 4:58:29 AM

baseball

6/17/2014 9:39:49 AM

life

6/17/2014 9:45:01 AM

chewing tobacco

6/17/2014 9:46:28 AM

6/17/2014 2:18:02 PM

It's disappointing to hear that tobacco was the root cause of his death.

Gone too soon.

6/17/2014 4:05:33 PM