Gwynn's .338 career average is the highest of any player who began his career after World War II, and ranks 17th all-time; he and Williams are the only ones of the top-17 to play after 1938. Gwynn had the fourth-highest career average of any player with 3,000 hits, and the highest of anyone who was born after 1900. Playing in an era when around 75 batters struck out 100 times in a season, Gwynn never struck out more than 40 times a year. He had eight seasons, including six consecutive, when he had fewer than 20 strikeouts. Ten times in his career he finished the season as the hardest player in the NL to strike out. Since 1975, Gwynn is one of only two players that batted .300 in a season while striking out at most once every 25 at-bats. He struck out only 434 times in his whole career, which averaged out to just once every 21 at-bats, or 29 times per 162 games. He became more difficult to strike out later in his career, even as pitchers were growing bigger and stronger and throwing harder. He struck out three times in a game just once in his career, compared to his 297 career three-hit games. Gwynn is one of five players with more than 500 doubles and fewer than 500 strikeouts in their career and the only Hall of Famer since 1965 to finish his career with more doubles than strikeouts. He did not draw many walks, but drew more walks than strikeouts in every season but his rookie year. Though he was not considered a power hitter, opposing managers chose to intentionally walk him nonetheless. He drew 203 intentional passes during his career, which was 50 percent more than his career home run total.