2001 Tony Gwynn San Diego Padres Home Jersey - Final Season

Sold For:

$1,058

Year:

2002

Auction:

2008 Spring

Lot #:

1418

Category:

Post-1900 Baseball Memorabilia

Tony Gwynn San Diego Padres home jersey dating from his final season in 2001. The white knit jersey is lettered "Padres" across the front and features the number "19" on the left breast and reverse. "Gwynn" is lettered above the number on the reverse. All front letters and reverse numerals are appliquéd in navy on white tackle twill. All front numerals and reverse letters are appliquéd in black tackle twill. A San Diego Padres team patch appears on the left sleeve. Both a "Russell Athletic" label and adjacent "50" size tag are located on the left front tail. Original and unaltered, the jersey displays minimal wear. Despite the absence of a year tag, the jersey can be dated to the 2001 season based upon the manufacturer's tag, which was only used by Russell between the years 2001-2003, and the fact that Gwynn retired after the 2001 season. Gwynn was forty-two years old in 2001, but no one would have guessed it after observing him at the plate. Displaying the same keen eye and sweet swing that made him an eight-time batting champion, Gwynn closed out his career by batting .324 in seventy-one games. Gwynn batted over .300 in nineteen of his twenty seasons, including a career-high .394 in 1994. That mark remains the highest single-season batting average since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. One of the greatest hitters in baseball history, Gwynn's lifetime average of .338 ranks twentieth on the all-time list. Graded A5 by MEARS (no post-1987 jersey can achieve a higher grade than A5 without additional provenance). This is one of eleven Tony Gwynn jerseys listed in the MEARS census. LOA from Dave Bushing & Troy Kinunen/MEARS. Reserve $300. Estimate $500/$1,000. SOLD FOR $1,057.50