Offered is a game-used Tony Gwynn San Diego Padres batting helmet from the 1998 season. The navy plastic helmet has a white and orange “SD” logo decal on the front and white number “19” decal on the back. The ABC helmet has one ear flap on the right side, a brown padded leather sweatband on the interior, and gray foam padding in the ear flap, the top, and back interior. During the 1998 season, Gwynn batted .321 and helped the Padres win a franchise-record 98 games and their second pennant. He began the year with his first-ever opening-day home run and continued his trend of hitting for more power with 16 homers for the season.

The Padres reached the World Series in 1998 after defeating Houston and Atlanta in the playoffs. However, the Padres lost to the Yankees in World Series, despite Gwynn hitting .500 (8-for-16) in the series. Gwynn played 20 seasons, 1982-2001, for the Padres, primarily as their rightfielder.  The left-handed hitting Gwynn won eight batting titles in his career, tied for the most in National League history. He is considered one of the best and most consistent hitters in baseball history. Gwynn had a .338 career batting average, never hitting below .309 in any full season. He was a 15-time All-Star, recognized for his skills both on offense and defense with seven Silver Slugger Awards and five Gold Glove Awards. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. This helmet comes with a LOA from JT Sports.

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