Hall of Famer Auto - Tony Gwynn

Yesterday during the Giants game I decided to organize some of my cards and found myself going through my HOF Baseball Autos.  I have shared a few since I started this blog but most have been new pickups.  I thought it might be fun to start showcasing some of my older HOF autos and this is one of my favorites:

I actually pulled this from a pack of 2008 Sweet Spot - one of my nicer pulls.  From a BV perspective this really isn't that big of a pull ($50) but from a purely awesome card pull perspective this one is great.  I like the two different photos of Tony Gwynn and I love the fact the auto is on a piece of wood - it looks very stylish. The auto is a little smudged but hey it was smudged by one of the best hitters of his generation.

There are tons of impressive stats and feats from Tony's career and here are some of my favorites:

• He only struck out 434 times in his career versus 790 walks.  Mark Reyonlds struck out exactly 434 times over just 2 seasons (2009-2010).
• Most remember Tony for his physique later in his career but he actually swiped 56 bases in 1987 to go with a .370 batting average.
• Gwynn had a stretch of 5 straight years hitting over .350.
• He was actually a really good fielder in the first half of his career earning 4 Gold Gloves over a 6 year span

A very deserving Hall of Famer and a great card to represent Tony in my HOF collection.