Tony Gwynn’s skill was evident from the start. He lined a pair of hits for the Padres in his 1982 big-league debut. The opposing first baseman was Pete Rose of the Phillies.
“I thought, boy, wouldn’t it be great to have a career like his, to be able to do some of the things that he was able to do,” Gwynn recalled.
That, of course, is exactly what he did. Gwynn couldn’t match Rose’s 4,256 hits — nobody ever has — but he did qualify for the elite 3,000-hit club (with 141 to spare) while batting .338, the best career average in the Modern Era (1961 to the present).
“There isn’t a pitcher in the league who wants Tony Gwynn up with a runner on third base,” said one of his hitting coaches, Deacon Jones. “You know he’ll make contact.”
He was right about that. Gwynn whiffed just 434 times in 20 years. His worst single-season strikeout total was 40 in 1988. That’s a normal month for some present-day sluggers.
The result was an astronomically high contact rate (CT) of .953 for Gwynn’s career, reflecting the percentage of his at-bats that did not end in strikeouts. Nobody in the Modern Era was better in putting the bat on the ball.
Scroll below to see a rundown of the era’s 25 best contact hitters. My list is confined to players who made at least 8,000 plate appearances, and it excludes any action prior to 1961. (The latter rule eliminates the first portions of the careers of Luis Aparicio and Brooks Robinson.)
I’ve included detailed summaries for the top 10 contact hitters, including their ratios of strikeouts to at-bats, as well as their numbers of plate appearances and hits, and their career batting averages. They’re followed by a quick glance at the CTs for the next 15 players.
These 25 contact artists, taken as a group, were three and a half times more likely to produce a base hit than to take a third strike. Their collective totals: 62,358 hits against just 18,078 strikeouts.
Compare their exalted CTs to the single-year figures in 2021’s free-swinging atmosphere. Two batters — only two! — posted contact rates higher than .900 in more than 500 plate appearances last season: Kevin Newman of the Pirates (.921) and David Fletcher of the Angels (.904). Newman’s rate, impressive though it was, still trailed Gwynn’s 20-year CT by the sizable margin of 32 percentage points.
How times have changed.
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1. Tony Gwynn
Contact rate: .953 CT
Contact stats: 434 SO in 9,288 AB
Other stats: 10,232 PA, 3,141 H, .338 BA
Span: 1982-2001
Club: Padres
2. Bill Buckner
Contact rate: .952 CT
Contact stats: 453 SO in 9,397 AB
Other stats: 10,037 PA, 2,715 H, .289 BA
Span: 1969-1990
Clubs: Dodgers, Cubs, Red Sox, Angels, Royals
3. Ozzie Smith
Contact rate: .937 CT
Contact stats: 589 SO in 9,396 AB
Other stats: 10,778 PA, 2,460 H, .262 BA
Span: 1978-1996
Clubs: Padres, Cardinals
4. Juan Pierre
Contact rate: .936 CT
Contact stats: 479 SO in 7,525 AB
Other stats: 8,280 PA, 2,217 H, .295 BA
Span: 2000-2013
Clubs: Rockies, Marlins, Cubs, Dodgers, White Sox, Phillies
5. Larry Bowa
Contact rate: .932 CT
Contact stats: 569 SO in 8,418 AB
Other stats: 9,109 PA, 2,191 H, .260 BA
Span: 1970-1985
Clubs: Phillies, Cubs, Mets
6. Luis Aparicio
Contact rate: .931 CT
Contact stats: 507 SO in 7,353 AB
Other stats: 8,048 PA, 1,916 H, .261 BA
Span: 1961-1973
Clubs: White Sox, Orioles, Red Sox
7. (tie) Mark Grace
Contact rate: .920 CT
Contact stats: 642 SO in 8,065 AB
Other stats: 9,290 PA, 2,445 H, .303 BA
Span: 1988-2003
Clubs: Cubs, Diamondbacks
7. (tie) Ted Simmons
Contact rate: .920 CT
Contact stats: 694 SO in 8,680 AB
Other stats: 9,685 PA, 2,472 H, .285 BA
Span: 1968-1988
Clubs: Cardinals, Brewers, Braves
9. (tie) Wade Boggs
Contact rate: .919 CT
Contact stats: 745 SO in 9,180 AB
Other stats: 10,740 PA, 3,010 H, .328 BA
Span: 1982-1999
Clubs: Red Sox, Yankees, Devil Rays
9. (tie) Pete Rose
Contact rate: .919 CT
Contact stats: 1,143 SO in 14,053 AB
Other stats: 15,890 PA, 4,256 H, .303 BA
Span: 1963-1986
Clubs: Reds, Phillies, Expos
Next 15
11. (tie) Bob Boone (1972-1990), .916 CT
11. (tie) Al Oliver (1968-1985), .916 CT
11. (tie) Willie Randolph (1975-1992), .916 CT
14. Buddy Bell (1972-1989), .914 CT
15. George Brett (1973-1993), .912 CT
16. Jason Kendall (1996-2010), .910 CT
17. (tie) Brooks Robinson (1961-1977), .909 CT
17. (tie) Bill Russell (1969-1986), .909 CT
17. (tie) Rusty Staub (1963-1985), .909 CT
20. (tie) Orlando Cabrera (1997-2011), .901 CT
20. (tie) Tony Fernandez (1983-2001), .901 CT
20. (tie) Don Kessinger (1964-1979), .901 CT
23. B.J. Surhoff (1987-2005), .898 CT
24. (tie) Barry Larkin (1986-2004), .897 CT
24. (tie) Omar Vizquel (1989-2012), .897 CT