SAN DIEGO -- Tony Gwynn could handle a bat like few other major leaguers, whether it was driving the ball through the "5.5 hole" between third base and shortstop or hitting a home run off the facade in Yankee Stadium in the World Series.
He was a craftsman at the plate, whose sweet left-handed swing made him one of baseball's greatest hitters.
Gwynn loved San Diego.
San Diego loved "Mr. Padre" right back.
Gwynn, a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest athletes in San Diego's history, died Monday of oral cancer, a disease he attributed to years of chewing tobacco. He was 54.
Padres Manager Bud Black, a teammate of Gwynn's at San Diego State in the late 1970s, said one thing never changed over the years.
No matter how early Black tried to get to the park for practice or workouts, he could never arrive before Gwynn.
"He was always there. Whenever I was there, he was there," Black said. "He loved the baseball field."
Tim Flannery, who was teammates with Gwynn on the Padres' 1984 World Series team and later was on San Diego's coaching staff, said he'll "remember the cackle to his laugh. He was always laughing, always talking, always happy."
"The baseball world is going to miss one of the greats, and the world itself is going to miss one of the great men of mankind," said Flannery, the San Francisco Giants' third base coach. "He cared so much for other people. He had a work ethic unlike anybody else, and had a childlike demeanor of playing the game just because he loved it so much."
Gwynn's major-league debut came nearly 32 years ago against the Phillies, with his first hit coming on a double off Sid Monge.
The Phillies' first baseman, who trailed the play, shook Gwynn's hand at second.
"Congratulations," said the player, Pete Rose, who went on to become baseball's career hits leader with 4,256. "Don't try to catch me in one night."
Gwynn, who finished with 3,141 hits to rank 18th on baseball's all-time list, got his 3,000th hit on Aug. 9, 1999, a first-inning single to right field at Montreal's Olympic Stadium.
"He probably put more into hitting than anybody I've ever met," Rose said Monday, when told of Gwynn's death.
Gwynn played his entire career with the Padres, and he entered the Hall of Fame in 2007 alongside Baltimore's Cal Ripken, Jr., another who spent his entire career in one city, a rarity in baseball's modern free-agency era.
Obsessed with hitting, Gwynn began to analyze and improve his technique with the help of a new technology -- videotape -- after first using the device on his infant son in the early 1980s.
He developed a favorite swing that allowed him to poke singles through what is called the "5.5 hole" between third base and shortstop, referring to the baseball convention of numbering the third base position as 5 and the shortstop position as 6.
He hit .338 for his career, the best mark -- by 10 points -- of any hitter who made his debut after World War II and had at least 3,000 turns at bat.
He faced Greg Maddux more than any other pitcher, 107 times -- and batted .415 with no strikeouts. Pedro Martinez never struck him out, either, in 36 confrontations. Those two pitchers finished their careers with seven Cy Young Awards between them.
"Tony Gwynn was the best pure hitter I ever faced" Maddux said.
He struck out only 434 times in 9,288 career at-bats. He played in San Diego's only two World Series -- batting a combined .371 -- and was a 15-time All-Star. He had a memorable home run in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series off David Wells, who is also from San Diego, and scored the winning run in the 1994 All-Star Game despite a bum knee.
Gwynn never hit below .309 in a full season. He spread out his batting titles from 1984, when he batted .351, to 1997, when he hit .372.
A players' strike ended the 1994 season with Gwynn sitting at .394, denying him a shot at becoming the first player to hit .400 since San Diego native Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
Gwynn befriended Williams and the two loved to talk about hitting. Gwynn steadied Williams when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the 1999 All-Star Game at Boston's Fenway Park.
Gwynn had been on a medical leave since late March from his job as baseball coach at San Diego State, his alma mater. He died at a hospital in suburban Poway, agent John Boggs said.
"He was in a tough battle and the thing I can critique is he's definitely in a better place," Boggs said. "He suffered a lot. He battled. That's probably the best way I can describe his fight against this illness he had, and he was courageous until the end."
Family members, including his wife Alicia, were at his side when he died, Boggs said.
Gwynn's son, Tony Jr., was with the Philadelphia Phillies, who later placed him on the bereavement list.
"Today I lost my Dad, my best friend and my mentor," Gwynn Jr. tweeted. "I'm gonna miss u so much pops. I'm gonna do everything in my power to continue to ... Make u proud!"
Two operations for cancer in his right cheek between August 2010 and February 2012 took its toll on Gwynn. The second surgery was complicated, with surgeons removing a facial nerve because it was intertwined with a tumor inside his right cheek. They grafted a nerve from Gwynn's neck to help him eventually regain facial movement.
Gwynn had been in and out of the hospital and had spent time in a rehab facility, Boggs said.
"For more than 30 years, Tony Gwynn was a source of universal goodwill in the national pastime, and he will be deeply missed by the many people he touched," Commissioner Bud Selig said.
Fans paid their respects by visiting the statue of Gwynn outside of Petco Park.
Gwynn was last with his San Diego State team on March 25 before beginning a leave of absence. His Aztecs rallied around a Gwynn bobblehead doll they would set near the bat rack during games, winning the Mountain West Conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA regionals.
Last week, SDSU announced it was extending Gwynn's contract one season. The Aztecs play at Tony Gwynn Stadium, which was built in the mid-1990s with a $4 million donation by then-Padres owner John Moores.
Gwynn was born in Los Angeles on May 9, 1960, and attended high school in Long Beach.
He was a two-sport star at San Diego State in the late 1970s and early 1980s, playing point guard for the basketball team -- he still holds the game, season and career record for assists -- and in the outfield on the baseball team.
He was drafted by both the Padres (third round) and San Diego Clippers (10th round) on the same day in 1981.
Gwynn retired after the 2001 season and became a volunteer assistant coach at SDSU in 2002. He took over as head coach after that season.
"I had no idea that all the things in my career were going to happen," Gwynn said before being inducted into the Hall of Fame. "I sure didn't see it. I just know the good Lord blessed me with ability, blessed me with good eyesight and a good pair of hands, and then I worked at the rest."
Gwynn once said his induction into the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot was a "validation" of his ability.
"I wasn't a home-run hitter, an RBI guy, a game-changing player," he said. "But the beauty of the game of baseball is that there is a place for every type of player and I played a certain style for 20 years. It wasn't a style that will get you many fans, but there is a place in the game for it."
Gwynn also is survived by a daughter, Anisha.
Boggs said services were pending.
Information for this article contributed by the Washington Post, New York Times and Newsday
Sports on 06/17/2014