Tony Gwynn & Cal Ripken Jr. Join Hall of Fame

Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame today during a ceremony in Cooperstown, New York.

Both players spent their baseball careers with a single team, Cal playing for the Baltimore Orioles for 21 years and Tony spending 20 years with the San Diego Padres. They are two of only 16 players to have played professionally for two decades with one team.

Cal Ripken Jr. was the American League MVP in 1983 and 1991 and is a two-time winner of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. Cal's most notable accomplishment during his career was set over a span of 16 years; from May 30, 1982 to September 20, 1998, he played in 2,632 consecutive games, breaking Lou Gehrig's previous record of 2, 130 games.

Here are some other notable accomplishments by the Baltimore shortstop/third baseman.

- Played in 16 consecutive All-Star Games (record holder)
- 127 sacrifice flies (ranked second all-time)
- 11,551 at-bats (ranked fourth all-time)
- 3,001 games played (ranked eighth all-time)
- 3, 184 hits (ranked 14th all-time)

Tony Gwynn played in 15 All-Star games as an outfielder during his 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres. He batted over .300 every season of his career except for his rookie year in 1982, surpassing Honus Wagner's National League record set from 1897-1913. He also won the Rawlings Gold Glove award five times.

His other notable accomplishments include:

- single-season batting average of .394 (ranked second all-time)
- won eight league batting titles (ranked second all-time)
- hit .350 or better in five consecutive seasons, the fourth player in history to do so
- 3, 141 hits (ranked 17th all-time).
- 543 doubles (ranked 17th all-time)
- lifetime batting average of .338 (ranked 20th all-time)

Tony finished his major league career on September 30th, 2001 and is currently the head coach for San Diego State University.

Although we haven't followed MLB in a long time, we grew up watching these two players make their mark in baseball history, and it gives us a warm and fuzzy to see them inducted into Cooperstown. Bravo, gentlemen. Bravo.