Ripken Jr. & Gwynn elected to HOF, McGwire left out

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Gander

Tony Gwynn is sick.

19 straight seasons of batting .300 or higher
7 seasons during that time batting .350 or higher
Lifetime batting average of .338
3,141 hits
5 times a gold glove winner

I sat very close to him the one time I visited San Diego (old stadium) and he is a lot bigger a guy than you would ever think. What a great player.

Ichiro already has 6 Gold Gloves and can do anything Gwynn could do. Too bad he didn't start here from the beginiing. He still has a shot to match Gwynn's hit totals despite not playing here until he was 27.

[Gander]

Ichiro is pretty amazing, no doubt. Sweetest swing in baseball. The huge advantage for Ichiro is his speed. He gets a ton of infield singles (some may call cheap hits), something that Gwynn got hardly any of.

Both great talents and great people.

Originally Posted by Gander

Ichiro is pretty amazing, no doubt. Sweetest swing in baseball. The huge advantage for Ichiro is his speed. He gets a ton of infield singles (some may call cheap hits), something that Gwynn got hardly any of.

Both great talents and great people.

Ichiro is awesome. A rare breed in todays game. The best thing about Gwynn was the length of time he performed at the top. I want to see how Ichiro does once he loses his speed. No doubt that Ichiro is the better outfielder, but I want to see how he does in year 14 and beyond.

[Gander]

I dont think Ichiro will lose his speed until he hits 45 and by then he will be retired. The guy is in great shape and trains very hard in the off season. He will always be fast as long as he is a player.

45--whoa, that is saying something right there. You can stay in shape all you want but when you get older you lose a couple of steps. The hands get slower through the box and your feet dont move as fast.

[Gander]

Not when you train as hard as he does and eat rice paddies. The guy is a machine. Hes a professional and loves his work. Trust me, this guy may lose a step or two, but he will be beating out ground balls until he is 45.