Tony Gwynn collected his 3,000th hit on this date — Aug. 6 — in 1999 and collected three more after Expos rookie Dan Smith’s 1-2 curveball broke the future Hall of Famer’s 33-inch, 30.5-ounce Louisville Slugger bat.
“It went down in a blaze of glory, as only a 3,000th hit can,” Gwynn told the Union-Tribune after the game. “What a feeling.”
Gwynn’s first-inning line drive was part of a four-run first in Montreal, which did all it could to make Gwynn feel at home for the momentous occasion at Olympic Stadium.