Aired on Classic Sports in 1997-1998 or so, features Bob Costas interviewing Ted Williams and Tony Gwynn. Literally classic stuff. Short interview with Jerry Coleman and Al Trautwig about halfway in.
Rest In Peace to two of the greatest hitters in MLB history. Tony was a sincerely humble man who I was blessed to meet several times. I miss his laugh.
I've always had this image in my head that all these legends have a place in heaven where they are playing baseball as we speak kinda shorta like angels in the outfield meets field of dreams wrapped into one
I moved to San Diego in 1996 and had the privilege of going to a ton of Padres games between ‘96 and ‘98. Watching Tony hit - and actually play outfield as well - was such literally a privilege. He was not only a great player but he was a genuinely nice guy. Very smart, humble, incredible at his craft. People in San Diego absolutely loved him and Junior Seau at that time. We don’t have a lot of hero’s like that anymore. I grew up in NY as a Yankee fan and am still a Yankee fan to this day. But, I always thought of Ted Williams as the greatest living hitter - and possibly the greatest hitter - of all time. I’d take him over DiMaggio any day of the week. It’s funny to watch Tony, who at this stage of his career was already considered one of the greatest all-time hitters, to be in awe of Ted. Very cool. RIP both of you.
This video brings two things to mind. First, how awesome it was to listen to two legendary masters of the game talk about the art and science of hitting a baseball. Second, is how much I miss the original, pre-ESPN, Classic Sports Network. It's still unbelievable that ESPN succeeded in doing the impossible - they took one of the greatest cable networks ever created and made it completely unwatchable.
You are right about that. I seem to remember that there was always something interesting on ESPN. Now they have 87 channels and it's pretty much crap. Now, with COVID-19 and no games, they are scrambling for content. Perfect for airing some of these old shows and creating new ones. How they still manage to have Sports Center 24 hours a day is beyond me.
Also think Tony was a better hitter than Boggs. And by no means do I mean to denigrate Wade. He and Tony were both great hitters. Just thought Gwynn was better.
Two of the greatest hitters of all time. Tony and Ted would be disgusted with the state of baseball today! Especially with every player 1-9 swinging for homeruns even on an 0-2 count. Players earning millions with a 183 batting average. Lineups all over the league with players striking out over 200 times in a season!! It would take Gwynn and Williams 10 seasons combined to reach 200 strikeouts!! From 1989-1999 Gwynn had a 330 batting avg during those 11 seasons and he struck out 207 times.. can you imagine??207 times in 11 seasons!!!Analytics my ass! Its the worst crap to ever happen to baseball!! Its ruined the game. You now have GMs and the analytics department telling managers who to put in lineups and what slot to place them in!! Give me Billy Martin,Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson ,Bobby Cox and Joe Torre any day. Its a shame that these pencil pushers and mathematicians have influenced the game so badly! I dont need analytics to tell me baseball stinks today!! RIP Tony G. And Teddy W. Its a shame what happened to Tony,dying so young. He was a remarkable player and man.
Pitchers and Batters have notoriously said the same thing about each other. Its about a natural rivalry because one is trying to get one out, the other is trying to hit the ball out of the park.
@@nathanielengel5218 oh, I know. I'm from San Diego and was a junior Padre back in the day at Jack Murphy stadium. Tony Gwynn has always been my hero. He never seems to get the credit he deserves.
"Baseball history is made from the middle in." Spoken like a true pull hitter. Ted indeed wrote the book. 16:02 The basic tenants are all in his 1970 classic 'The Science of Hitting.' It has never, and will never, be improved upon. The parlance has changed but the core concepts in the book are identical to today. Today's 'plate discipline,' not chasing after pitches outside the strike zone, was Ted talking about 'getting a good pitch to hit.' He insisted the perfect swing had a 'slight uppercut,' today it's called a 'launch angle.' On and on.
3-29-2020 ESPN, FSN and every body else is looking for sport content. A show like this would be perfect. Thanks to that great base stealer, Max Carey, for posting this. Edit - And the great Jerry Coleman! Just a tremendous video.
I believe Ted didn't like idiots it's not that he didn't like anyone it's that people in sports always bothered people like ted on why this and why that and not giving him credit and appreciation of what he did on and off the field .. like people would ask him why the redsox not a team like the Yankees and get a ring for the world series I mean what kind of question is that ? Or why Ted went to fought at the war and not choose to stay to play ball and not beat Ruth's records I mean I've heard soo many stories of crappy questions on Mr Williams that you would be soo surprised and angry at the same time ..
Boy was Ted Willoams right on Tony Gwynn hitting more homeruns. He went on to hit more Homer's during the single season after this interview than he ever had before.
What a gem, you don't see content like this today which is a shame. Back then it was so common for these interactions between superstars. One of my favorite shows of all time even to this day was Homerun Derby from the 60s. Watching the greats Mantle, Mays,, Hank, Kaline, Matthew's, Robinson, Duke & some other great sluggers together playing Homerun Derby on a TV show was incredible.
You can tell that while ted had tremendous respect for Tony , he rightly was probably a bit disappointed in him too , because he felt he should have hit more homers , and personally I wish he wouldn’t have let himself go physically the way he did because at one point he was a gold glover and bonafide base stealer
Sleep in peace to both Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn and to Ted "Teddy Ballgame" Williams. Possibly the two greatest hitters to ever lace up their cleats and step onto the diamond. It's truly a shame that Barry Bonds used steroids because with the insane plate discipline he had - especially as he got older - his numbers STILL would have been eerily similar to Teddy, minus ten or fifteen homers a season. Neither guy would swing at a pitch that was even a hair outside of the strike zone. What's awesome is that you can see on his face what great fun Teddy is having just sitting next to Tony and discussing the science of hitting. And being able to impart a bit of his own wisdom to Tony who was already in Teddy's league as a hitter - which was so rare for Ted. And Tony himself had the look of a guy who's just met one of his heroes - expecting to be disappointed - and he WASN'T - at all. Such an awesome piece of baseball history right here. Imagine what these two guys would have been doing in TODAY'S game, where each plate appearance is thoroughly analyzed from every angle and every piece of information and each specific metric is relevant in some way to be used to one's advantage - especially if you have the type of talent and rare baseball intellect that these two men possessed. Sleep in peace to both these absolute LEGENDS.
