Making The Argument That Wade Boggs Was A Better Player Than Tony Gwynn
I've been this thing on TikTok where I open a pack of old baseball cards and then see who in the pack had the best career. It's pretty fun to do. Today, I had a pack with Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn in it. It led to some debate in the comments and I thought it could be a good blog topic. Brandon Walker and I have had this discussion as well (he's also pro-Boggs).
So why Boggs over Gwynn? Don't get me wrong. Tony Gwynn was an awesome baseball player who absolutely should be in Cooperstown. Getting to see his 3000th hit in person is one of my favorite sports memories. Few players in any sport are more linked to a specific franchise. He IS the San Diego Padres. I loved Tony Gwynn and I hope this doesn't come off as anti-Gwynn.
Having said all of that, Wade Boggs was better. If I could draft either of these guys at the start of their careers, I'd take Boggs. Here's why:
Boggs Played Third Base
It's very hard to find great third baseman. It's the position with the least amount of players in the Hall Of Fame. Only 18 have made it to Cooperstown. Every other position has at least 20.
Boggs wasn't a great defensive player to start his career but really worked hard at it and wound up winning two Gold Gloves. The defensive metrics tend to agree. Boggs has a career defensive WAR of 13.9 Gwynn is rated as a pretty terrible right fielder at -7.5 but that's kind of unfair.
Gwynn got heavy into the 1990's and the once speedy guy turned into someone with very little range. He should have been a DH but the NL didn't have it yet.
Boggs Had A Better Batting Eye
Boggs and Gwynn had remarkably similar career batting averages, slugging percentages and even home run totals. But when it came to walks, they were pretty different.
Boggs: .328/.415/.443, 118 HR, 131 OPS+
Gwynn: .338/.388/.459, 135 HR, 132 OPS+
Baseball really is pretty great. These two guys that were constantly compared to each other had such similar career stats. That's hard to do. Both Gwynn and Boggs had over 10,500 plate appearances each.
Boggs had over 90 walks 6 times and twice led the league. Gwynn had over 60 only once. Boggs was so good at working counts and even though pitch count (and On Base Percentage) weren't talked about much in the 1980's, it still helped to wear a starting pitcher down.
In fairness to Gwynn, having to play in Jack Murphy Stadium for his whole career is not easy and that's why despite having the lower OBP, he has the slightly better OPS+
Scott Audette. Shutterstock Images.
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This is admittedly close. It's certainly closer than WAR would lead you to believe. They have Boggs at 91.4 and Gwynn at 69.2. In fairness to Gwynn, we shouldn't forget what a great baserunner he was early in his career. From 1984-89, he stole 206 bases. The Padres have only been to two World Series. Tony Gwynn is the only man to appear in both. That's not an accident.
Despite all of that, Wade Boggs had the better career. Playing third base matters that much more. Having a third baseman hit .328/.415/.443 is just worth more than a right fielder batting .338/.388/.459.
Now, if the question is who is the better contact hitter, then it's Tony Gwynn. It's Tony Gwynn over not just Boggs. I put Gwynn ahead of Boggs, Ichiro, Kirby Puckett or Vladimir Guerrero. He's the best contact hitter I've ever seen.
If you're shitting on me right now and say that I am being weak by saying Boggs is the better player but Gwynn is the better contact hitter, well…