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At the 2016 All-Star Game, MLB renamed the AL and NL batting title trophies after Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn, respectively, an apt tribute given each player’s hitting prowess – after all, only six players in baseball history have won seven or more batting titles: Ty Cobb (12x), Honus Wagner (8x), Gwynn (8x), Carew (7x), Stan Musial (7x), and Rogers Hornsby (7x). As baseball has evolved more and more into a game of the “three true outcomes” (home run, walk, or strikeout), Carew and Gwynn were unique in that neither was a power hitter, but instead, consistent .300+ contact hitters who each amassed 3,000+ career hits over nearly two decades. Given their similar games and the fact that they will be forever immortalized together as batting champion namesakes, it is only natural to ask:
Who was better – Rod Carew or Tony Gwynn?
The Beginning
While neither was necessarily a highly-regarded prospect, both Carew and Gwynn made immediate impacts in the major leagues and would soon become consistent .300+ hitters at the big league level.
Carew was born in the Panama Canal Zone and moved to New York City as a teenager, where he played semi-pro baseball for the Bronx Cavaliers. It was here that he was discovered by a Minnesota Twins scout and subsequently signed as an amateur free agent in 1964. Following a couple of seasons in the minors, Carew made his major league debut in 1967 and proceeded to win AL Rookie of the Year honors by hitting .292 with 66 runs scored, 8 home runs, 51 runs batted in, a .341 on-base percentage, and a .409 slugging percentage (good for a 113 OPS+, which measures on-base percentage plus slugging vs. a league-wide average that is set at 100); this would also mark the first of 18 straight All-Star seasons.
Meanwhile, Gwynn was a Southern California native who excelled in high school in both baseball and basketball. However, while he was offered a college basketball scholarship, he did not receive any baseball offers and also was not selected in the 1977 MLB Draft. Thus, Gwynn went on to attend San Diego State University, where he played basketball for four years and baseball for three; in baseball, he was a 2x All-American and was later selected in the third round of the 1981 MLB Draft with the 58th overall pick by his hometown San Diego Padres. After being called up midway through the 1982 season, he ended up hitting .289 with 33 runs scored, a home run, 17 runs batted in, a .337 on-base percentage, and a .389 slugging percentage (107 OPS+) over 54 games played. The following season, Gwynn missed the first two months of the season with an injured wrist and proceeded to hit .309 over 86 games played in 1983.
Career Comparison
Over two decades apiece, Carew and Gwynn were .300+ hitters who challenged year in and year out for batting titles, putting together incredible streaks of consistency on their journeys to Cooperstown.
Carew won his first of seven batting titles in 1969, hitting .332 with 152 hits, 79 runs scored, a .386 on-base percentage, and a .467 slugging percentage (134 OPS+). The following season, he would hit .366, but only played in 51 games due to injury. He would then enter his career peak after another .300+ season (.307) in 1971 – between 1972 and 1975, Carew won four straight batting titles, joining Cobb as the only players in baseball history to lead the league in batting average for three straight years; in fact, Carew won six batting titles in seven years, narrowly missing out on seven straight by hitting .331 in 1976 to finish a close third behind Kansas City Royals teammates George Brett (.333) and Hal McRae (.332). Notably during this span:
- 1972: .318 batting average with 170 hits, but zero home runs, thus becoming the first player to win a batting title with no home runs since Zach Wheat won the 1918 NL batting title; overall, Carew was never a big power hitter, only topping double-digit home runs 2x and driving in 100 or more runs once during his career
- 1973: .350 batting average to record his first 200-hit season (203) with a .411 on-base percentage and a .471 slugging percentage (144 OPS+); also led the league with 11 triples and stole a career-high 41 bases
- 1974: .364 batting average with 218 hits, a league-high .433 on-base percentage, and a .446 slugging percentage (150 OPS+)
- 1975: .359 batting average and again had the league’s highest on-base percentage at .421
- 1977: in the best individual season of his career, Carew won the AL MVP and paced the league with career-highs in numerous offensive categories, including batting average (.388), hits (239), runs scored (128), triples (16), and on-base percentage (.449); moreover, he established additional career-best marks with 14 home runs and drove in 100 runs for a .570 slugging percentage (178 OPS+)
- 1978: final batting title and again led the league with a .411 on-base percentage
Due to overall frustration with the Twins, Carew was traded to the California Angels in 1979. In seven seasons with the Angels, while he never won another batting title, he did hit .300+ for his first five seasons, including bests of .331 in 1980 and .339 in 1983. During his final season with the Angels in 1985, he reached the magical 3,000 career hit mark on August 4, 1985; however, upon becoming a free agent, he was not signed by any other team and thus retired at 39 from baseball.
Similar to his AL counterpart, Gwynn won the first of eight career batting titles in his first full season in 1984, hitting .351 with 213 hits, a .410 on-base percentage, and a .444 slugging percentage, good for a 141 OPS+; in the process, he was named an All-Star for the first of 15 times, won the first of seven Silver Sluggers, and finished third for MVP. In 1986, though he did not win a batting title with a .329 average, Gwynn did lead the league in at-bats, hits (211), and runs scored (107) to win another Silver Slugger and the first of five Gold Gloves in right field. Then, from 1987 to 1989, Gwynn would win three straight batting titles:
- 1987: .370 batting average (the highest since Musial’s .376 in 1948), a league-leading 218 hits, and 56 stolen bases to become the first NL player to hit .370+ and steal 50+ bases; won another Gold Glove and Silver Slugger
- 1988: struck out a career-high 40 times and had the lowest-ever NL batting title average at .313
- 1989: rebounded with another Gold Glove and Silver Slugger season by batting .336 with 203 hits
Between 1990 and 1992, Gwynn experienced a number of issues with teammates, which led to some of his worst seasons by his very high standards, hitting .309, .317, and .317, respectively. However, he rebounded in 1993 to hit .358 before embarking on a remarkable stretch of four straight batting titles from 1994 to 1997 – of particular note were 1994 and 1997:
- 1994: at the time of the strike that ended the season prematurely, Gwynn was hitting a career-high .394 with a league-leading 165 hits, a league-high .454 on-base percentage, and a .568 slugging percentage, good for a 169 OPS+ and another Silver Slugger; this was the highest batting average in the NL since Bill Terry’s .401 in 1930, and he was only three hits shy of becoming the first .400 hitter since Ted Williams in 1941
- 1997: .372 batting average with a career-high 220 hits (which narrowly prevented Larry Walker from winning the Triple Crown that year), a Padres-record 49 doubles, a career-best 17 home runs and 119 runs batted in, a .409 on-base percentage, and a .547 slugging percentage (156 OPS+) to win his final Silver Slugger; like Carew, Gwynn was never a big home run hitter or run producer, only having double-digit home runs 5x and 100+ runs batted in once – in fact, he became the oldest player in baseball history to reach 100 runs batted in for the first time
Even in the twilight of his career, Gwynn remained a .300 hitter every season, including averages of .321 and .338 in his last two full seasons, both of which resulted in All-Star selections; moreover, in August 1999, he achieved the magical career milestone of 3,000 career hits. However, injuries would limit him to only 36 and 71 games, respectively, in his last two seasons and Gwynn would retire after the 2001 season at age 41, his 19th straight year hitting .300+ (the only year he missed the mark was his rookie season).
When you look at their final numbers, it is incredible how closely matched the careers of Carew and Gwynn are – though Gwynn played one additional season, the two legends are separated by fewer than 30 career games (Carew actually played 29 more) and 50 at-bats. Overall, Gwynn has the slight edge in hits, home runs, and runs batted in, while Carew leads in runs scored, walks, and stolen bases; Gwynn has the higher batting average and slugging percentage, but Carew has the better on-base percentage, and their career OPS+ metrics are nearly identical (132 for Gwynn to 131 for Carew). To put their incredible hitting abilities into more context – Carew had 200+ hits in a season 4x and batted .300+ 15x while averaging 200 hits per 162 games for seven batting titles; in comparison, Gwynn had 200+ hits 5x, batted .300 19x, and averaged 209 hits per 162 games to garner eight batting titles. Outside of batting titles, Carew earned more All-Star appearances (18 to 15) and won an MVP, though Gwynn had seven Silver Sluggers and five Gold Gloves in his trophy case. Encapsulating everything into one metric, Carew actually had a higher career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at 81.3 to 69.2 – regardless, both players were first-ballot Hall of Famers, Carew in 1991 and Gwynn in 2007.
Regular Season Statistics
| Rod Carew | Player | Tony Gwynn |
| 19 (1967-1985) | Seasons | 20 (1982-2001) |
| 2,469 | Games Played | 2,440 |
| 9,315 | At-Bats | 9,288 |
| 3,053 | Hits | 3,141 |
| 1,424 | Runs | 1,383 |
| 92 | Home Runs | 135 |
| 1,015 | Runs Batted In | 1,138 |
| 1,018 | Walks | 790 |
| 353 | Stolen Bases | 319 |
| .328 | Batting Average | .338 |
| .393 | On-Base Percentage | .388 |
| .429 | Slugging Percentage | .459 |
| 131 | OPS+ | 132 |
| 81.3 | Wins Above Replacement | 69.2 |
| 18x | All-Star Games | 15x |
| 1x | MVP | – |
| – | World Series Titles | – |
| 7x Batting Title, Rookie of the Year | Other Awards | 8x Batting Title, 7x Silver Slugger, 5x Gold Glove |
| 1991 | Hall of Fame Induction | 2007 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Despite being base hit machines year in and year out during the regular season, neither Carew nor Gwynn were frequent postseason participants and neither came away with a World Series title.
Carew only played in the postseason 4x in his career, twice with the Twins (1969 and 1970) and twice with the Angels (1979 and 1982), and never won a World Series. Overall, his best individual playoff performance came in a four-game loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the 1979 ALCS, batting .412 with 7 hits in 17 at-bats.
Similarly, Gwynn made a total of three playoff appearances, though did advance twice to the World Series, losing both times. In 1984, he batted .368 in the NLCS as San Diego beat the Chicago Cubs, but the Padres then fell in five games to the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, with Gwynn hitting .263. After a dozen years out of the playoffs, San Diego returned to postseason play in 1996, but were swept in the NLDS by the St. Louis Cardinals. Finally, in 1998, the Padres advanced past the Houston Astros in the NLDS (this was the year Houston traded at the deadline for Randy Johnson), then beat the Atlanta Braves and their troika of aces in Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz in the NLCS, before getting swept in the World Series by the New York Yankees; Gwynn only batted .200 and .231 in the NLDS and NLCS, respectively, before hitting .500 (8 for 16) in the World Series with a home run and a trio of runs batted in.
Playoff Statistics
| Rod Carew | Player | Tony Gwynn |
| 14 | Games Played | 27 |
| 50 | At-Bats | 108 |
| 11 | Hits | 33 |
| 6 | Runs | 11 |
| – | Home Runs | 1 |
| 1 | Runs Batted In | 11 |
| 5 | Walks | 6 |
| 2 | Stolen Bases | 2 |
| .220 | Batting Average | .306 |
| .291 | On-Base Percentage | .339 |
| .300 | Slugging Percentage | .398 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; though they did slow down into their late 30s, both Carew and Gwynn remarkably still remained .300 hitters in the twilights of their careers. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Rod Carew | Player | Tony Gwynn |
| 1969, 1971-1978, 1980 | Decade of Dominance | 1984, 1986-1989, 1993-1997 |
| 1,464 | Games Played | 1,398 |
| 5,609 | At-Bats | 5,448 |
| 1,918 | Hits | 1,924 |
| 885 | Runs | 855 |
| 64 | Home Runs | 85 |
| 671 | Runs Batted In | 698 |
| 598 | Walks | 501 |
| 273 | Stolen Bases | 251 |
| .342 | Batting Average | .353 |
| .404 | On-Base Percentage | .406 |
| .456 | Slugging Percentage | .478 |
| 60.6 | Wins Above Replacement | 43.7 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Again, even across their decades of dominance, Carew and Gwynn are extremely evenly matched across nearly every offensive category – interestingly, though Gwynn had a higher batting average and drove in more runs, Carew actually has a sizeable lead in WAR, which perhaps can be attributed to Carew putting up his numbers in a more pitching-dominant, offensively-depressed era.
My Thoughts
MLB has been criticized for many things in recent years, but I think they truly got it right by naming the batting titles after Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn. In a day and age where hitting for power is everything (“chicks dig the long ball”), they were unique in their ability to put the ball in play and get on base consistently. Though I knew the pair were great hitters, it was not until I really delved into their careers and statistics that I realized just how closely matched their career numbers were – across two decades of consistent greatness, it is splitting hairs to determine which one was truly better. Ultimately, it is akin to flipping a coin, but I think Gwynn was a hair better – he played slightly longer, had a slightly better batting average and a few more hits, had a tad more power and run-producing abilities, and was also a little better in the postseason.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Tony Gwynn
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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