Tony Gwynn, arguably the best pure hitter of his time, will remain Mr. Padre at least until he's 40.
The seven-time NL batting champion, who's been with the Padres his entire big league career, received a $12.6 million, three-year contract extension through 2000 on Saturday.Gwynn was in the final year of a two-year extension that included a Padres option for 1998. The Padres exercised that option and added two years. He'll earn $4 million in 1998 and $4.3 million in 1999 and 2000.
Gwynn wasn't immediately available for comment, but said through the team, "I love San Diego and I love this organization and this is where I've always wanted to be."
The team called a news conference for 7:30 p.m. EST to announce the deal.
Extending Gwynn's contract was important enough that owner John Moores and president Larry Lucchino assisted general manager Kevin Towers in the negotiations, which began March 24.
"It's important to me personally, it's important to Tony and I think it's important to the baseball fans of San Diego," Moores said.
"I can't think of anybody like Tony in American sports," Moores added. "He's a guy that has been at the pinnacle and has stayed in one city for his own private reasons. He has been incredibly loyal to his fans and I'm terribly pleased that now we have a chance to return that loyalty and guarantee that he's going to be there through the year 2000."
Even though the previous ownership gutted the team for financial reasons in 1993, Gwynn didn't ask to be traded, and suffered through some incredibly poor seasons. He's been with the Padres since the middle of the 1982 season, and is their only holdover from their 1984 World Series team.
Gwynn won his third straight batting title last year, but also missed nearly 50 games with foot and heel injuries that required postseason surgery.
The Padres could have waited until two weeks after the World Series ended to exercise the 1998 option, but began negotiating an extension when Padres' medical personnel were convinced Gwynn was recovered from last year's injuries.
"Everything was a factor, but the biggest factors were his high level of performance and his extraordinary career and loyalty," Lucchino said.
The left-handed Gwynn lost 10 pounds during a vigorous winter rehabilitation and showed he's in shape by slapping three singles to left field on opening day - including the first pitch he saw - and stealing a base. He started this season 6-for-17 (.353) and is 434 hits shy of 3,000.
Gwynn is a lifetime .337 hitter who has batted no worse than .353 the last four seasons. He's hit .300 or better for 14 straight seasons, and his seven batting titles tie him for third on the career list with Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial and Rod Carew. Only Honus Wagner (eight) and Ty Cobb have more.
Gwynn wants to play at least until he's 40, agent John Boggs said. That'll happen on May 9, 2000.