‘Freaky hitters’ also make runs at hitting .400, as Gwynn did in 1994. He was only six points shy of that hallowed mark when the strike hit on Aug. 12th — and the question of could he do it will forever remain unanswered.

“Deprived? I don’t feel that way,’’ Gwynn said. “We (players) all were in the same boat. But in my mind, I thought I could. I sure wanted the chance. I was squaring the ball up nicely, hitting lefties, righties. I would have given it a run. I’m not sure how I would have handled it in September. But I think I had the type of personality to handle it. We’ll never know, but I have no regrets.’’

Given that Gwynn was a pioneer in film study — on top of his meticulous work with the batting tee and keeping a book on pitchers — and given all the information on pitchers that is at hitters’ disposal now, could he hit .400 if he was in his prime in today’s game?

“I don’t know,’’ Gwynn said. “There is a lot (of information) out there now. But the game has changed a lot since I played. There are many more hard throwers than in my day. I don’t know.
“Information was good for me. I tried to suck up every bit of it I could get. Other guys, like Cal (Ripken), went by feel. But I was the other way. I was the complete opposite. I watched pitchers warm up, their velocity, everything. The key for me was that I was a counter-puncher. I’d take what the pitcher would give me.’’

And usually line it for a base hit.

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Ask Gwynn what the Hall of Fame means to him, and his response is “instant respect. Hall of Fame status to me means you were a success at the game. You did things the right way. You were a master of the game.

“I felt my job as a player was when any (Hall of Famers) came in our locker room, I should go up and say ‘hi’. One day, Frank Robinson was doing a game for Fox, and he came around, and one of the (younger players) said, ‘who’s that?’

“And I said, ‘that’s Frank Robinson. Who’s that?’ I had to school him right there. ‘That’s 586-home-runs, the-only-MVP-in-both-leagues-Frank Robinson’. We need to know who these guys are. These guys paved the way for guys like us. You get in their presence, you should say hello. ‘Hello, Mr. Robinson.’ They’re the royalty of our game, and should be treated as such.’’

And Gwynn is about to become one of them.

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