It took Tony Gwynn 15 rounds of voting and more total appearances on voter ballots than any other player so far (he never appeared on fewer than 20% of the ballots in any round and topped 40% five times), but he has finally made it, as the 23rd player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on Tony, and on the latest voting results, after the jump.
Batting average (BA) was one of the first, biggest and well-deserved statistical targets for criticism when sabermetrics first came to significant public attention thirty-plus years ago.  BA is far-surpassed by other ratios as a measure of overall run-scoring value.  But used purely as a way of characterizing the special traits of individual players, it still has its usefulness.  For example, no career begun and completed since, say, the attack on Pearl Harbor has been nearly as successful as Tony Gwynn’s in terms of base hit frequency.

Top 5 Career Batting Averages (min. 3,000 PAs), Players With Careers Falling Entirely within 1942-2012 Period:
1. Tony Gwynn .338
2. Wade Boggs .3279
3. Rod Carew .3278
4. Kirby Puckett .3181
5. Vladimir Guerrero .3176

Note the substantial gap between the best and second-best numbers on this list.

Gwynn is even a bigger outlier in the category of batting average hitters in modern baeball if you take into account home-field environment.  Since Lou Gehrig retired, there has been no player in the majors — not Ted Williams, not Stan Musial, not Joe DiMaggio, not anyone — with a full career batting average in road games (min. 200 career road PAs) higher than Tony Gwynn’s.

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Most Career WAR While Playing For Southern California-Based Teams (pitching WAR for pitchers, total WAR for non-pitchers)
1. Tony Gwynn, Padres 68.9
2. Willie Davis, Dodgers/Padres/Angels 55.9
3. Don Sutton, Dodgers/Angels 55.5
4. Don Drysdale, Dodgers 53.3
5. Chuck Finley, Angels 52.2
6. Sandy Koufax, Dodgers 51.3

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Another unusual aspect of Tony Gwynn’s career has been his ability to be a highly productive modern-era hitter while striking out relatively infrequently.  Here is a list of the top 10 career AB per Strikeout ratios by hitters whose careers fall entirely in the 1933-2012 period and who achieved a career OPS+ of at least 120 (min. 1000 PAs):

1. Tommy Holmes 40.9 ABs per K (122 career OPS+)
2. Tony Gwynn 21.4 AB/K (132 OPS+)
3. Zeke Bonura 19.9 AB/K (122 OPS+)
4. Lou Boudreau 19.5 AB/K (120 OPS+)
5. Joe DiMaggio 18.5 AB/K (155 OPS+)
6. Yogi Berra 18.2 AB/K (125 OPS+)
7. Jackie Robinson 16.8 AB/K (132 OPS+)
8. Nick Etten 16.7 AB/K (126 OPS+)
9. Ted Kluszewski 16.2 AB/K (123 OPS+)
10. Don Mattingly 15.8 AB/K (127 OPS+)

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–After finishing second in the voting four times in a row, Gwynn won this round rather easily, appearing on ten more ballots than anyone else.
–Nevertheless, in his first round on the ballot, Bobby Grich proved quite popular, fininishing second in the voting to Gwynn and appearing on a strong 35% of ballots cast.
–In his redemption-earned returns to the ballot, Edgar Martinez didn’t merely survive, he received enough support to earn an extra round of eligibility and thus avoid the bubble next round. Kenny Lofton, the other redemption-based returner, also garnered significant support and will be back again.
–On the other side of the scale, Dwight Evans, who just barely survived on the ballot last round, found little support this time, and drops off the ballot. So we began this round with 12 holdovers, Gwynn earns induction, Evans drops off, and Grich joins the holdovers, which will thus be an 11-man group for the next round.

As usual, you can check out the complete voting record for this past round at Google Docs.  The link is here: COG 1949 Part 1 Vote Tally

If you would like to review the history of the COG voting, a spreadsheet summary of the voting is here: COG Vote Summary , with a summary of the raw vote totals on Sheet 1 and a summary of the percentage totals on Sheet 2.

The Circle of Greats membership thus far:
Jeff Bagwell
Bert Blyleven
Wade Boggs
Barry Bonds
George Brett
Gary Carter
Roger Clemens
Tom Glavine
Tony Gwynn
Rickey Henderson
Randy Johnson
Barry Larkin
Greg Maddux
Paul Molitor
Mike Mussina
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Curt Schilling
Ozzie Smith
Frank Thomas
Larry Walker
Robin Yount