Quiz – Tony Gwynn (solved)

As we remember Tony, here’s a quiz that highlights his remarkable talents, sharing with only these elite players a certain batting feat. What is this most unusual career accomplishment?

  1. Barry Bonds
  2. Jose Canseco
  3. Will Clark
  4. Tony Gwynn
  5. Chipper Jones
  6. Mickey Mantle
  7. Johnny Mize
  8. Stan Musial
  9. Frank Robinson
  10. Ted Williams

Congratulations to BryanM (mostly) and to RJ! They teamed up to identify that only these players have never had a season with OPS+ below 100 in a 15 year or longer career. Thanks also to Richard Chester for the idea for this quiz. More on 100 OPS+ seasons after the jump.

Unlike the other players on the list, Gwynn relied on his BA for 40% of his career OPS; nobody else on the list had even 35% of his OPS coming from his BA.

Here is an expanded list for everyone with only 100 OPS+ seasons in a 10+ year career.

Barry Bonds 22
Stan Musial 22
Frank Robinson 21
Tony Gwynn 20
Chipper Jones 19
Ted Williams 19
Mickey Mantle 18
Jose Canseco 17
Will Clark 15
Johnny Mize 15
Albert Pujols 14
Bobby Veach 14
Joe DiMaggio 13
Bob Johnson 13
Babe Herman 13
Miguel Cabrera 12
Bob Nieman 12
Matt Holliday 11
Tommy Henrich 11
Wally Berger 11
John Kruk 10
Bob Horner 10
Ralph Kiner 10
Joe Harris 10
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MikeD
MikeD
10 years ago

The immediate thing that leaps out at me is he is the only one of that group who wasn’t a power hitter, at least as measured by HRs. Have no idea, however, if that will help me find the answer!

Josh
Josh
10 years ago

From my first look, they all won batting titles except for Canseco, and a few of them did so late in their careers, so I am guessing it has something to do with age.

mosc
mosc
10 years ago

Is it related to a subset of their career’s batting average?

John Autin
Editor
10 years ago

I’m wondering if calling Canseco “elite” could be a subtle clue. I’m not buying it as a straight description. 🙂

I see that Canseco and Gwynn both had a 132 OPS+, the lowest of the group. But I still got nothin’.

BryanM
BryanM
10 years ago

Never had a season with ops+ less than 100? got tp bemore to it…

koma
koma
10 years ago
Reply to  BryanM

Joe DiMaggio never had a sub 100 OPS+ season too

RJ
RJ
10 years ago
Reply to  Doug

At least 15 seasons played?

RJ
RJ
10 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Once again I get the game winning hit by pitch after my teammates have loaded the bases for me.

MikeD
MikeD
10 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Somebody has to drive home the runs, RJ!