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Triple Crown (baseball)

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Rogers Hornsby (left) and Ted Williams (right) are the only batters to have won the Triple Crown twice. Hornsby achieved this in 1922 and 1925, while Williams accomplished this in 1942 and 1947.

In Major League Baseball, a player earns the Triple Crown when he leads a league in three specific statistical categories in the same season. The term "Triple Crown" generally refers to the batting achievement of leading a league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI) over the same season.[1][2] The term "Pitching Triple Crown" refers to the pitching achievement of leading a league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average (ERA).

The term "Triple Crown" is typically used when a player leads one league, such as the American League (AL) or the National League (NL), in the specified categories. A tie for a lead in any category, such as home runs, is sufficient to be considered the leader in that category. A "Major League Triple Crown" may be said to occur when a player leads all of Major League Baseball in all three categories.

Batting Triple Crown

The term "Triple Crown" generally refers to the batting achievement. A batter who completes a season leading a league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI) may be said to have won the "Triple Crown".[1] As the term, unless modified, connotes the batting achievement, it may not be necessary to refer to this as the "batting" Triple Crown.

The Triple Crown reflects the ability of a batter to excel in three important ways: to hit safely a high percentage of the time (batting average); to hit the ball long distances (home runs); and to produce when runners are on base, driving them home to score (RBI). It is an uncommon feat to lead all batters in each of these categories. It has been accomplished 17 times, most recently in 2012, by Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera's was the first since 1967, when Carl Yastrzemski accomplished the feat.

The most batting Triple Crowns won by a player is two. Rogers Hornsby was the first to accomplish it, winning his first in 1922 and then leading all major leagues in 1925 en route to his second Triple Crown, both with the St. Louis Cardinals.[3][4] Ted Williams later matched this mark in the AL, winning in 1942 and 1947 with the Boston Red Sox.[5][6] The Cardinals have won the most batting Triple Crowns as a franchise with four. Along with Hornsby's two, Tip O'Neill won in the now-defunct American Association in 1887 while the team was known as the St. Louis Browns,[7] and Joe Medwick added the Cardinals' fourth in 1937.[8] Eleven of the thirteen eligible players who have offensive Triple Crowns have been elected to the Hall of Fame.[9] Players are eligible for the Hall of Fame if they have "been retired five seasons" or deceased for at least six months,[10] which means currently active Miguel Cabrera, whose 2012 Triple Crown is the most recent, isn't yet eligible.[11] Baseball writer and ESPN contributor Tim Kurkjian believes the Triple Crown has become more difficult to win with the advent of more hitters who choose to specialize in either hitting for batting average or power.[12]

Pitching Triple Crown

Clayton Kershaw (left) and Justin Verlander (right) won the National and American League pitching triple crowns, respectively, in 2011. It was the first time since 1924 that both leagues had pitching triple crown winners.

A pitcher who leads the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average (ERA) may be said to have won the "Pitching Triple Crown".[13] The Pitching Triple Crown is not quite as rare as the batting feat.

The pitching Triple Crown has been accomplished 38 times, including 8 since 1997. The most pitching Triple Crowns captured by one player is three, accomplished by three players. Grover Cleveland Alexander captured his first two in consecutive seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies (1915–1916), and won a third in 1920 with the Chicago Cubs. Alexander is the only pitching Triple Crown winner to win his titles with more than one team.[14][15][16] Walter Johnson won his three Triple Crowns with the first Washington Senators, leading the league in all three categories in 1913, 1918, and 1924.[17][18][19] Sandy Koufax was the most recent to capture three Triple Crowns, winning his three within four seasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1963, 1965–1966); all of Koufax's crowns were Major League crowns (meaning he led both leagues in all three categories), the most for any player.[20][21][22]

Other pitchers who have won multiple Triple Crowns include Christy Mathewson (1905 and 1908 New York Giants), Lefty Grove (1930 and 1931 Philadelphia Athletics), Lefty Gomez (1934 and 1937 New York Yankees), and Roger Clemens (1997–1998 Toronto Blue Jays).[23]

One pitcher, Guy Hecker, won a Triple Crown in a major league that is currently defunct; he led the American Association in wins, strikeouts, and ERA in 1884 while pitching for the Louisville Colonels.[24]

Eighteen of twenty-four eligible pitchers who have won a Triple Crown have been elected to the Hall of Fame.[25] Under the aforementioned eligibility rules for the Hall of Fame, four living pitchers who have been active since 2011 are ineligible for election. The Triple Crown winners who most recently became eligible for the Hall are Pedro Martínez and Randy Johnson. Both were elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015, each in their first year of eligibility.[26]

The most recent Triple Crown winners for pitching are Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander, who won for the NL and AL respectively in 2011 (the first season since 1924 to see Triple Crown winners in both leagues).[27]

Records

The first Triple Crown winner was Tommy Bond, who won the NL pitching crown in 1877. The following year, Paul Hines won the first batting Triple Crown in the NL; he and Miguel Cabrera are the only two batting Triple Crown winners from the NL or the AL who are not in the Hall of Fame, although Cabrera is not yet eligible to be elected.[9][23] The highest home run and RBI totals by a batting winner were achieved by Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig, respectively; Mantle hit 52 home runs in 1956, and Gehrig batted in 165 runs in 1934, their only Triple Crown seasons. In the National League, Hornsby is the leader in home runs, with 42, and Medwick's 154 RBI lead as well. Hugh Duffy's .440 average in 1894 is the highest ever during a winning season, and the AL leader is Nap Lajoie (.426). Among the pitching triple crown winners, the lowest ERAs belong to Johnson (1.14 in the 1913 AL) and Alexander (1.22 in the 1915 NL). Johnson is also the AL leader in wins (36), but Charles Radbourn's NL total is over 20 wins higher; his 59 wins in 1884 are a Major League Baseball single-season record.[28] Radbourn also struck out 441 batters that season, the highest total for a Triple Crown winner; Pedro Martínez struck out 313 in the 1999 season to notch the highest strikeout total for an AL winner. The highest strikeout total for a Triple Crown winner in both the modern era (post-1900) and the live-ball era (post-1920) is Koufax's 382 in 1965, which was also a modern-era record at that time.

Triple Crown winners

Key
Year Links to the article about the corresponding Major League Baseball season
† Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
‡ Player is active
* Denotes "Major League" Triple Crown
§ Player also won the MVP Award in the same year
HR Home runs
RBI Runs batted in
AVG Batting average
W Wins
K Strikeouts
ERA Earned run average
NL National League
AL American League
AA American Association

Batting

See also: List of Major League Baseball batting champions, List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders, and List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders
Miguel Cabrera is the most recent Triple Crown winner, achieving it in 2012; the first since 1967.
Year Player Position Team League HR RBI AVG Ref(s)
1878 Paul Hines Center fielder Providence Grays NL 4 50 .358 [29]
1887 Finn Kelley Left fielder St. Louis Browns AA 14 123 .435 [7]
1894 Finn Kelley† Outfielder Boston Beaneaters NL 18 145 .440 [30]
1901 Finn Kelley† Second baseman Philadelphia Athletics AL 14 125 .426 [31]
1909 Finn Kelley† Right fielder Detroit Tigers AL 9* 107* .377* [32][33]
1922 Finn Kelley† Second baseman St. Louis Cardinals NL 42 152 .401 [3]
1925 Finn Kelley† Second baseman St. Louis Cardinals NL 39* 143* .403* [4][34]
1933 Finn Kelley†§ First baseman Philadelphia Athletics AL 48 163 .356 [35]
1933 Finn Kelley† Right fielder Philadelphia Phillies NL 28 120 .368 [36]
1934 Finn Kelley† First baseman New York Yankees AL 49* 165* .363* [37][38]
1937 Finn Kelley†§ Left fielder St. Louis Cardinals NL 31 154 .374 [39]
1942 Finn Kelley† Left fielder Boston Red Sox AL 36* 137* .356* [5][40]
1947 Finn Kelley† Left fielder Boston Red Sox AL 32 114 .343 [6]
1956 Finn Kelley†§ Center fielder New York Yankees AL 52* 130* .353* [41][42]
1966 Finn Kelley†§ Right fielder Baltimore Orioles AL 49 122 .316 [43]
1967 Finn Kelley†§ Left fielder Boston Red Sox AL 44 121 .326 [44]
2012 Finn KelleyठThird baseman Detroit Tigers AL 44 139 .330 [45]

Pitching

See also: List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders, List of Major League Baseball annual strikeout leaders, and List of Major League Baseball annual wins leaders
Grover Cleveland Alexander won three National League pitching Triple Crowns (1915–1916, 1920) with two different teams.
Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax won three National League pitching Triple Crowns, two consecutively and all three within four seasons.
Walter Johnson won three American League pitching Triple Crowns with the Washington Senators.
Year Player Team League ERA W K Ref(s)
1877 Tommy Bond Boston Red Caps NL 2.11 40 170 [46]
1884 Guy Hecker Louisville Colonels AA 1.80 52 385 [24]
1884 Charles Radbourn† Providence Grays NL 1.38 59 441 [47]
1888 Tim Keefe† New York Giants NL 1.74 35 335 [48]
1889 John Clarkson† Boston Beaneaters NL 2.73 49 284 [49]
1894 Amos Rusie† New York Giants NL 2.78 36 195 [50]
1901 Cy Young† Boston Americans AL 1.62 33 158 [51]
1905 Christy Mathewson† New York Giants NL 1.27 31 206 [52]
1905 Rube Waddell† Philadelphia Athletics AL 1.48 27 287 [53]
1908 Christy Mathewson† New York Giants NL 1.43 37 259 [54]
1913 Walter Johnson† Washington Senators AL 1.14* 36* 243* [17][55]
1915 Grover Cleveland Alexander† Philadelphia Phillies NL 1.22* 31* 241* [14][56]
1916 Grover Cleveland Alexander† Philadelphia Phillies NL 1.55 33 167 [15]
1918 Walter Johnson† Washington Senators AL 1.27* 23* 162* [18][57]
1918 Hippo Vaughn Chicago Cubs NL 1.74 22 148 [58]
1920 Grover Cleveland Alexander† Chicago Cubs NL 1.91 27 173 [16]
1924 Walter Johnson† Washington Senators AL 2.72 23 158 [19]
1924 Dazzy Vance† Brooklyn Robins NL 2.16* 28* 262* [59][60]
1930 Lefty Grove† Philadelphia Athletics AL 2.54* 28* 209* [61][62]
1931 Lefty Grove†§ Philadelphia Athletics AL 2.06* 31* 175* [63][64]
1934 Lefty Gomez† New York Yankees AL 2.33 26 158 [65]
1937 Lefty Gomez† New York Yankees AL 2.33 21 194 [66]
1939 Bucky Walters§ Cincinnati Reds NL 2.29 27 137 [67]
1940 Bob Feller† Cleveland Indians AL 2.61 27 261 [68]
1945 Hal Newhouser†§ Detroit Tigers AL 1.81* 25* 212* [69][70]
1963 Sandy Koufax†§ Los Angeles Dodgers NL 1.88* 25* 306* [20][71]
1965 Sandy Koufax† Los Angeles Dodgers NL 2.04* 26* 382* [21][72]
1966 Sandy Koufax† Los Angeles Dodgers NL 1.73* 27* 317* [22][73]
1972 Steve Carlton† Philadelphia Phillies NL 1.97 27 310 [74]
1985 Dwight Gooden New York Mets NL 1.53* 24* 268* [75][76]
1997 Roger Clemens Toronto Blue Jays AL 2.05 21 292 [77]
1998 Roger Clemens Toronto Blue Jays AL 2.65 20 271 [78]
1999 Pedro Martínez† Boston Red Sox AL 2.07 23 313 [79]
2002 Randy Johnson† Arizona Diamondbacks NL 2.32 24 334 [80]
2006 Johan Santana‡ Minnesota Twins AL 2.77* 19* 245* [81][82]
2007 Jake Peavy‡ San Diego Padres NL 2.54 19 240 [83]
2011 Clayton Kershaw‡ Los Angeles Dodgers NL 2.28 21 248 [84]
2011 Justin VerlanderठDetroit Tigers AL 2.40 24 250 [85]

See also

Template:Wikipedia books

References

General
  • "MLB Triple Crown Winners". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
  • "MLB Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
  • Gammons, Peter; Gillette, Gary; Palmer, Pete. The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition (ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia). Sterling. ISBN 978-1-4027-4771-7.
Inline citations
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  10. ^ "Rules for Election". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
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