Winter Auction 2016 Closing January 30th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/31/2016
They called him "Mr. Padre", but the way Gwynn played the game you could have just called him "Mr. Baseball". Throughout the 80's and 90's Tony Gwynn dominated National League pitching and 1999 found him closing in on the 3,000 career hit milestone. In a rare tribute to his talent fans on the road began to cheer the Padres slugger as he neared the magic number. On August 2 the Padres were in St. Louis. After going hitless in four tries Gwynn Gwynn hit a Ricky Bottalico fastball down the left field line scoring two and recording career hit 2,995. This is the bat he used. The Louisville Slugger B267 model bat is un-cracked and exhibits outstanding use. Many ball and stitch impressions can be seen on the barrel along with black ink transfers and cleat imprints. The impression of a weighted batting donut is visible and the handle has been taped with a combination of red and white adhesive to enhance the grip. There is a moderate coat of pine tar on the center brand. The model number "B267" and his number "19" are hand written on the barrel end in black marker and the same numbers are repeated on the knob with the specs "33-30.5" added. Tony Gwynn has signed the barrel in black Sharpie adding "#2995". Letter of Authenticity (1B09653) from PSA/DNA who graded this bat a perfect GU 10.