(Boston, August 6, 1999) Tony Gwynn singled up the middle in the top of the first for hit number 3,000. He is the 22nd player to reach this milestone, and did it in grand style, collecting another 3 hits tonight in the Padres' 12-10 win over the Expos. A bloated crowd of 13,540 turned out for this moment in history in Montreal, baseball's premier city. Wade Boggs remains 3 hits away. Mark McGwire hit homerun #500 and 501 last night when the Cardinals lost to the Padres. He became the 16th player to accomplish this. He now has 44 blasts in 2/3 of the '99 season, two ahead of Sammy Sosa. Same as it ever was...

(Boston, August 9, 1999) The day after Gwynn got his, Wade Boggs homered in his hometown of Tampa for hit #3000. He went 3 for 4 with a walk and 4 RBI, and kissed home plate on the clincher. There was never any doubt about his ability to hit. Boggsy could flat-out work magic with the bat. But he seemed to alienate many teammates and fans in Boston. Many of us (as meaningless as it may seem) were pulling for Gwynn to get there first. Perhaps this statement from Win Boggs, Wade's dad, might give us some insight into the Chicken Man's makeup: "This Gwynn guy snuck right up on him and 3,000. It's New York's fault. Joe Torre could have played Wade every day. Wade says it don't matter to him, but I don't need no Tony Gwynn getting there first. We worked too hard to get there."

As a fan, I sure would have liked to hear that old cliche ...'what a shame it was we lost the game'... (Tampa Bay got spanked by the Indians 15-10) but I suppose that's the nature of baseball - individual performances within a team concept. I have no doubt that Boggs was burning to win ballgames and many a game was won in Boston by this man. He captured 5 batting crowns here, stands as one of the game's finest hitters, .328 lifetime, and will enter the Hall of Fame 5 years after his retirement. Not quite Tony Gwynn, but that's nothing to be ashamed of...

Tony Gwynn

Ht: 5-11 Wt: 220
Throws: Left
Bats: Left
Plays: RF
Born: May 9, 1960, Los Angeles, CA

Wade Boggs

Ht: 6-2 Wt: 197
Throws: Right
Bats: Left
Plays: 3B, DH, P
Born: June 15, 1958, Omaha, NE

YR 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

TM Bos Bos Bos Bos Bos Bos Bos Bos Bos Bos Bos Nya Nya Nya Nya Nya Tam Tam

G 104 153 158 161 149 147 155 156 155 144 143 143 97 126 132 103 123 82

AB 338 582 625 653 580 551 584 621 619 546 514 560 366 460 501 353 435 265

R 51 100 109 107 107 108 128 113 89 93 62 83 61 76 80 55 51 38

H 118 210 203 240 207 200 214 205 187 181 133 169 125 149 156 103 122 79

2B 14 44 31 42 47 40 45 51 44 42 22 26 19 22 29 23 23 12

3B 1 7 4 3 2 6 6 7 5 2 4 1 1 4 2 1 4 1

HR 5 5 6 8 8 24 5 3 6 8 7 2 11 5 2 4 7 2

RBI 44 74 55 78 71 89 58 54 63 51 50 59 55 63 41 28 52 26

BB 35 92 89 96 105 105 125 107 87 89 74 74 61 74 67 48 46 35

SO 21 36 44 61 44 48 34 51 68 32 31 49 29 50 32 38 54 22

SB 1 3 3 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 3 1

CS 0 3 2 1 4 3 3 6 0 2 3 1 1 1 2 1 2 0

OBP .406 .444 .407 .450 .453 .461 .476 .430 .386 .421 .353 .378 .433 .412 .389 .373 .348 .376

SLG .441 .486 .416 .478 .486 .588 .490 .449 .418 .460 .358 .363 .489 .422 .389 .397 .400 .374

AVG .349 .361 .325 .368 .357 .363 .366 .330 .302 .332 .259 .302 .342 .324 .311 .292 .280 .298

Totals

G 2431

AB 9153

R 1511

H 3001

2B 576

3B 61

HR 118

RBI 1011

BB 1409

SO 744

SB 24

CS 35

OBP .415

SLG .443

AVG .328

Three Year Averages (1996, 1997, 1998)

G 119

AB 430

R 62

H 127

2B 25

3B 2

HR 4

RBI 40

BB 54

SO 41

SB 1

CS 2

OBP .371

SLG .395

AVG .296

Seasonal Averages (per 162 games played)

YEARS 15.01

G 162

AB 610

R 101

H 200

2B 38

3B 4

HR 8

RBI 67

BB 94

SO 50

SB 2

CS 2

OBP .415

SLG .443

AVG .328