Next turn at bat ...

What a nice change of pace it was to move on to a view of the live Splendid Splinter. It appears in our interview with Tony Gwynn later in this issue.

Tony, who currently coaches baseball at his alma mater, San Diego State, could well have been the greatest hitter of his time--the last decade and a half of the 20th Century. He won eight batting titles and had a career batting average of .338.

So when Tony sits down to talk hitting, you have to tip your hat to him. But when Tony sat down in 1995 to talk hitting with Ted Williams, it was Tony who tipped his cap. This is what he had to say about Ted:

"First of all, I was scared to death. Imagine sitting next to the man who had batted .344 lifetime, hit over 500 home runs, won seven batting titles, was the last person to hit .400 (.406 in 1941), and knew more about hitting a baseball than anyone who has ever played the game."

That, friends, is one heck of a tribute from one great hitter to another, and only a very special person could have said it with such respect and humility.

The Williams-Gwynn conversation, by the way, is generally considered to have been the most informative discourse on hitting ever recorded. It will be presented in toto in our December issue.