Mr. Consistency Is Back Gwynn Wields Team Leadership With His Bat

Long before the San Diego Padres had Ken Caminiti, Steve Finley and a hot young pitching staff, the team was best known for Tony Gwynn, the greatest hitter of his time.

Gwynn’s career has been defined by N.L. batting titles - seven so far - and the likelihood that he’ll get 3,000 hits.

“He’s the most important player in franchise history,” team owner John Moores said. “He’s a good guy, a great role model. He’s a hell of a package.”

But as he sat at home in a cast for six weeks after surgeons operated on his right heel, all Gwynn thought about was the Padres’ three-and-out performance against St. Louis in their first playoff appearance in 12 seasons.

“That was a lot tougher than I thought it would be, because the only other time I was in, we went to the World Series,” Gwynn said. “It didn’t sit real well with me.”

The Padres have a better chance now to get back to the World Series than anytime since 1984, when they lost to the Detroit Tigers in five games. It was Gwynn’s first full year in the majors, and he won the batting title with a .351 average.

“He’s a guy who’s done it all,” said Moores, who rescued the Padres from tightfisted ownership in December 1994, leading to the club’s resurgence. “There are only a couple of things left for him. One is 3,000 hits, the other is the ultimate prize, both of which I think he’s got a realistic shot at getting.”

Gwynn’s 2,560th hit came Sept. 28 at Dodger Stadium, and the left-hander called it the biggest of his career. His two-run, two-out single to his favorite spot, the “5.5 hole” between third and short, gave the Padres a 4-2 win and secured a playoff spot.

San Diego won the N.L. West title the next afternoon, and Gwynn his seventh batting title - and third straight - despite going 0-for-4. He pulled into a tie with Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial and Rod Carew, and is one behind Honus Wagner, whose eight titles are the most ever in the N.L.

Because he missed nearly 40 games in 1996 with injuries, he fell four plate appearances short of the 502 needed to qualify for the batting title. But a never-used rule allowed him to add four hitless at-bats to qualify. He still won comfortably over Colorado’s Ellis Burks, .353 to .344.

“Out of those seven batting titles, I really feel good about two,” said Gwynn, a lifetime .337 hitter. “And those were the years we won the division. The rest of them, it’s just something that happens.”

During the talent-lean years, the Padres consisted of Gwynn and a lot of rookies. Before Finley and Caminiti came over in a 12-player trade in December 1994, Finley’s impression of the Padres was “good pitching - and Tony Gwynn.”

Now the 36-year-old Gwynn is surrounded by veterans like Caminiti, the N.L. Most Valuable Player, and Finley, who have each had two straight career years and won two straight Gold Glove awards.

“If somebody else steps up and has a year like Cammy or like Fins, it would be real easy for me to go out there and do what I do,” Gwynn said. “I don’t like being the main focus, and I’ve been the focus for a long time.”

What Gwynn does best is put the bat on the ball. With Rickey Henderson on the trading block, Gwynn could end up moving from second in the order to leadoff if Quilvio Veras doesn’t win the job at second base.

Gwynn came into camp 10 pounds lighter, the result of intense rehab following postseason surgery to repair a 30-percent tear in his Achilles tendon, remove an inflamed bursa sac and file off a bone spur.

His weight has been a touchy issue in recent years. He said he tried to avoid high-impact workouts last year because he didn’t want his knees to bother him. But because he was rehabbing an Achilles injury, he had to run and bike.

Regardless of his weight, Gwynn has never lost his consistency. He’s batted at .358 or above the last four seasons, and has been above .300 for 14 straight seasons. He hit a career-high .394 in strike-shortened 1994, and .368 in 1995 despite breaking his right big toe on Aug. 2 when he fouled a ball off it.

Gwynn said weight has never been an issue with him, but he knows it has with others: “People are all over me, ‘Boy, you look great, you worked hard.’ Like I didn’t do it before.”