What Tony Gwynn’s 3,141 Hits Taught Me About Achieving Success in Business

4 lessons on personal development and systems thinking from a baseball Hall of Famer

The son of two civil worker parents, Tony Gwynn grew up in a small home in Long Beach, California. He played baseball with his brother on a narrow strip of yard in his backyard almost every day. When the Gwynn brothers lost their their supply of Wiffle balls by hitting them over the neighbor’s fence, or destroying them by hitting them so hard, they replaced them with sock balls, wads of tape, or figs picked from neighbor’s trees.

Tony’s father, Charles, saw potential in his son from an early age. Charles helped inspire Tony to pursue a career in baseball.

In high school, Tony almost quit baseball to play basketball, even though his hands were so small that he could never palm the ball. But after sticking with baseball, gaining some mentorship from Ted Williams, one of the best hitters of all-time, and a 20 season career, he was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame.

He is considered one of the greatest and most consistent hitters in baseball history. He had a .338 career batting average, accumulated 3,141 hits and was a 15-time All-Star.