Triple Crown (baseball)


In baseball, a player earns a 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 over the same season. The term "Pitching Triple Crown" refers to the pitching achievement of leading a league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average.
The term "Triple Crown" is typically used when a player leads one league, such as the American League or the National League, 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

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 may be said to have won the "Triple Crown". The term, unless modified, connotes the batting achievement; it is not necessary to refer to it 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 ; to hit the ball long distances ; and to produce when runners are on base, driving them home to score. It is an uncommon feat to lead all batters in each of these categories. It has been accomplished 17 times in a major league season, most recently in 2012, by Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera's was the first since 1967, when Carl Yastrzemski accomplished the feat in back-to-back years with Frank Robinson, the only time this has occurred in baseball history. As such, this helps create enormous offense for a team throughout the season, to the point where the last four times a player won the Triple Crown, his team went to the World Series.
In the major leagues, 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 both major leagues in 1925 en route to his second Triple Crown, both with the St. Louis Cardinals. Ted Williams later matched this mark in the AL, winning in 1942 and 1947 with the Boston Red Sox. 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, and Joe Medwick added the Cardinals' fourth in 1937. Eleven of the thirteen eligible players who have batting Triple Crowns have been elected to the Hall of Fame. 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.

Batting Quadruple Crown

Even more rare than the Triple Crown is the Quadruple Crown in which a batter leads the league in hits as well as the Triple Crown categories of batting average, home runs, and runs batted in over the same season. Not officially recognized by the MLB, Carl Yazstremski achieved this feat during the 1967 season, with 189 hits, 44 home runs, and 121 RBI, and a batting average of.326. It was also accomplished by Taiwanese player Wang Po-Jung when he led the Chinese Professional Baseball League or CPBL with a batting average of.407, 31 home runs, 101 RBIs, and 178 hits.

Pitching Triple Crown

A pitcher who leads the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average is said to have won the "Pitching Triple Crown". The term was previously defined as leading the league in wins, ERA, and winning percentage. It was used in that older sense to describe the pursuit of that goal by Johnny Antonelli of the New York Giants in 1954 and also by Sandy Koufax in 1963. Koufax was first described as having won the Pitching Triple Crown in the current sense after his 1965 season though the older sense continued to be used.
In contrast to the respective batting statistics, the Pitching Triple Crown statistics are more or less complementary ; therefore, the accomplishment is not as rare as the batting crown.
In the major leagues, the Pitching Triple Crown has been accomplished 38 times. The most by one player is three, accomplished by three players. Grover Cleveland Alexander captured his first two in consecutive seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, and won a third in 1920 with the Chicago Cubs. Alexander is the only pitcher to win a Pitching Triple Crown with more than one major league team. Walter Johnson won his three Triple Crowns with the original Washington Senators, leading the league in all three categories in 1913, 1918, and 1924. Sandy Koufax was the most recent to capture three Triple Crowns, winning his three within four seasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers ; all of Koufax's crowns led both major leagues, the most for any player.
Other major league pitchers who have won multiple Pitching Triple Crowns include Christy Mathewson, Lefty Grove, Lefty Gomez, and Roger Clemens.
One pitcher, Guy Hecker, won a Triple Crown in a defunct 19th century major league; he led the American Association in wins, strikeouts, and ERA in 1884 while pitching for the Louisville Colonels.
Eighteen of twenty-four major league pitchers who have won a Triple Crown and are eligible for the Hall of Fame have been elected to the Hall of Fame. 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.
The most recent major league pitchers to achieve the feat are Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander, who won for the NL and AL, respectively, in 2011.

Major League Records

The first major league pitcher to achieve the pitching Triple Crown was Tommy Bond, in the NL in 1877. The following year, Paul Hines became the first major leaguer to lead the NL in the three batting categories; he and Miguel Cabrera are the only two players to be AL or NL Triple Crown winners and not reach the Hall of Fame, although Cabrera is still playing so ineligible. The highest home run total reached by a Crown winner was Mickey Mantle, with 52 in 1956. The highest RBI total belongs to Lou Gehrig, with 165 in 1934. Rogers Hornsby has the highest home run total by a NL winner, 42, from his 1922 campaign. The NL high for RBI is 154, made by Joe Medwick in 1937. Hugh Duffy's.440 average in 1894 is the highest batting average by any player in NL history. Nap Lajoie, in 1901, set the all-time AL single-season high in batting average with.426. Among the major leaguers who earned the pitching Triple Crown, the lowest ERAs belong to Walter Johnson and Grover Alexander. The highest win total belongs to Charles Radbourn, amassed in 1884, who in that year set a major league single-season record with at least 59 wins. Radbourn struck out 441 batters that season, the highest total for a Triple Crown winner. Walter Johnson holds the highest win total by an AL pitching Triple Crown winner, with 36, attained in 1913. Among AL pitching Triple Crown winners, Pedro Martínez registered the highest season strikeout total, with 313 in 1999. Since 1901, the major league pitcher with the highest season strikeout total in the course of a Triple Crown season is Sandy Koufax, striking out 382 in 1965.

Triple Crown winners

;Key
YearLinks to the article about the corresponding Professional Baseball season
Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum or Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
Player is active
*Denotes "Major League" Triple Crown
§Player also won the MVP Award in the same year
HRHome runs
RBIRuns batted in
AVGBatting average
WWins
KStrikeouts
ERAEarned run average
NLNational League
ALAmerican League
AAAmerican Association
CLCentral League
PLPacific League

Major League Baseball

Batting

Research in 2015 restored the Chicago Cubs' of 1912 to the list. There is doubt over whether 's 1894 RBI totals were the highest.
is the most recent batting Triple Crown winner, achieving it in 2012; the first since 1967.
YearPlayerPositionTeamLeagueHRRBIAVGRef
Center fielderProvidence GraysNL450.358
Left fielderSt. Louis BrownsAA14123.435
OutfielderBoston BeaneatersNL18145.440
Second basemanPhiladelphia AthleticsAL14125.426
Right fielderDetroit TigersAL9*107*.377*
Third basemanChicago CubsNL14104.372
Second basemanSt. Louis CardinalsNL42152.401
Second basemanSt. Louis CardinalsNL39*143*.403*
First basemanPhiladelphia AthleticsAL48163.356
Right fielderPhiladelphia PhilliesNL28120.368
First basemanNew York YankeesAL49*165*.363*
Left fielderSt. Louis CardinalsNL31154.374
Left fielderBoston Red SoxAL36*137*.356*
Left fielderBoston Red SoxAL32114.343
Center fielderNew York YankeesAL52*130*.353*
Right fielderBaltimore OriolesAL49122.316
Left fielderBoston Red SoxAL44121.326
First BasemanDetroit TigersAL44139.330

Pitching

YearPlayerTeamLeagueERAWKRef
Boston Red CapsNL2.1140170
Louisville ColonelsAA1.8052385
Providence GraysNL1.3859441
New York GiantsNL1.7435335
Boston BeaneatersNL2.7349284
New York GiantsNL2.7836195
Boston AmericansAL1.6233158
New York GiantsNL1.2731206
Philadelphia AthleticsAL1.4827287
New York GiantsNL1.4337259
Washington SenatorsAL1.14*36*243*
Philadelphia PhilliesNL1.22*31*241*
Philadelphia PhilliesNL1.5533167
Washington SenatorsAL1.27*23*162*
Chicago CubsNL1.7422148
Chicago CubsNL1.9127173
Washington SenatorsAL2.7223158
Brooklyn RobinsNL2.16*28*262*
Philadelphia AthleticsAL2.54*28*209*
Philadelphia AthleticsAL2.06*31*175*
New York YankeesAL2.3326158
New York YankeesAL2.3321194
Cincinnati RedsNL2.2927137
Cleveland IndiansAL2.6127261
Detroit TigersAL1.81*25*212*
Los Angeles DodgersNL1.88*25*306*
Los Angeles DodgersNL2.04*26*382*
Los Angeles DodgersNL1.73*27*317*
Philadelphia PhilliesNL1.9727310
New York MetsNL1.53*24*268*
Toronto Blue JaysAL2.0521292
Toronto Blue JaysAL2.6520271
Boston Red SoxAL2.0723313
Arizona DiamondbacksNL2.3224334
Minnesota TwinsAL2.77*19*245*
San Diego PadresNL2.5419240
Los Angeles DodgersNL2.2821248
Detroit TigersAL2.4024250

Nippon Professional Baseball

Batting

YearPlayerPositionTeamLeagueHRRBIAVGRef
First BasemanTokyo GiantsJPBL10*38*.361*
CatcherNankai HawksPL42110.320
First BasemanYomiuri GiantsCL51114.355
First BasemanYomiuri GiantsCL49107.332
Third BasemanLotte OrionsPL3299.325
First basemanHankyu BravesPL37130.355
Third BasemanLotte OrionsPL52146.367
First BasemanHanshin TigersCL54134.350
Third BasemanLotte OrionsPL50116.360
First BasemanHanshin TigersCL47109.389
Left FielderFukuoka Daiei HawksCL44120.358

Pitching

YearPlayerTeamLeagueERAWKRef
Tokyo GiantsJPBL0.81*24*196*
Tokyo GiantsJPBL1.05*19*146*
Tokyo GiantsJPBL0.73*34*253*
Yomiuri GiantsJPBL1.84*27*187*
Chunichi DragonsCL1.3932273
Nankai HawksPL1.5826275
Kokutetsu SwallowsCL1.3031311
Nishitetsu LionsPL1.4233334
Nankai HawksPL1.4038336
Chunichi DragonsCL1.7035310
Nishitetsu LionsPL1.6942353
Kintetsu BuffaloesPL2.0225178
Nippon Ham FightersPL2.2822225
Yomiuri GiantsCL2.2920221
Chunichi DragonsCL2.6517172
Kintetsu BuffaloesPL2.9118287
Yomiuri GiantsCL2.0920179
Seibu LionsPL1.7518205
Hiroshima CarpCL2.2115174
Yomiuri GiantsCL2.1415200