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 (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).

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

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.

Hitting Triple Crown

The term "Triple Crown" generally refers to the hitting achievement. A hitter 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] The term, unless modified, connotes the batting achievement; it is not necessary to refer to it as the "hitting" Triple Crown.

The Triple Crown reflects the ability of a hitter 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 hitters 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. Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown the year after Frank Robinson did, the only time back-to-back Triple Crowns occurred in baseball history.

Hiromitsu Ochiai and Oscar Charleston are the only players to have won three batting Triple Crowns in any league. Ochiai won in 1982, 1985, and 1986 while competing in the PL of the NPB; Charleston won in 1921 while playing in the NNL, and again in 1924 and 1925 while playing in the ECL. In the American 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.^[3]^[4] Ted Williams later matched this mark, leading both leagues in 1942 and the American League in 1947 while with the Boston Red Sox.^[5]^[6]

The Cardinals have won the most hitting 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^[9] players who have batting Triple Crowns have been elected to the Hall of Fame.^[10]^[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

A pitcher who leads the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average (ERA) is said to have won the "Pitching Triple Crown".^[13] 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 (ultimately unsuccessful) pursuit of that goal by Johnny Antonelli of the New York Giants in 1954^[14] and also by Sandy Koufax in 1963.^[15] Koufax was first described as having won the Pitching Triple Crown in the current sense after his 1965 season^[16] though the older sense continued to be used.^[17]

In contrast to the respective batting statistics, the Pitching Triple Crown statistics are more or less complementary (for example, a pitcher who is especially proficient at striking out batters is likely to give up fewer earned runs, and consequently more likely to win games); therefore, the accomplishment is not as rare as the batting crown.

Only one pitcher in the history of professional baseball has won three straight pitching Triple Crowns, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, achieving the feat in the NPB from 2021 to 2023.

In the major leagues, the Pitching Triple Crown has been accomplished 39 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 (1915–1916), 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.^[18]^[19]^[20] Walter Johnson won his three Triple Crowns with the original Washington Senators, leading the league in all three categories in 1913, 1918, and 1924.^[21]^[22]^[23] 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 led both major leagues, the most for any player.^[24]^[25]^[26]

Other major league pitchers who have won multiple Pitching 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 and 1998 Toronto Blue Jays).^[27]

One pitcher, Guy Hecker, won a Triple Crown in a defunct 19th century major league; he led the original American Association in wins, strikeouts, and ERA in 1884 while pitching for the Louisville Colonels.^[28]

Eighteen of twenty-four major league pitchers who have won a Triple Crown and are eligible for the Hall of Fame have been inducted.^[29] 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.^[30]

The most recent major league pitcher to achieve the feat is Shane Bieber in 2020.^[31]

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, Heinie Zimmerman, and Miguel Cabrera are the only three players to be AL or NL Triple Crown winners and not reach the Hall of Fame, although Cabrera as of 2023^[update] is still playing so therefore ineligible.^[10]^[27] 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 an NL winner, 42, from his 1922 season. The NL high for RBI is 154, set by Joe Medwick in 1937. Hugh Duffy's .440 average in his 1894 Triple Crown season is the highest batting average by any player in major league 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 (1.14 in 1913 AL) and Grover Alexander (1.22 in 1915 NL). 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.^[32]^[33] 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

Year	Links 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
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
CL	Central League
PL	Pacific League
NNL	Negro National League (1920–1931)
ECL	Eastern Colored League
NAL	Negro American League
NN2	Negro National League (1933–1948)

Major League Baseball

Batting

Research in 2015 restored the Chicago Cubs' Heinie Zimmerman of 1912 to the list.^[34] There is doubt over whether Hugh Duffy's 1894 RBI totals were the highest.^[35]

Year	Player	Position	Team	League	HR	RBI	AVG	Ref(s)
1878	Paul Hines	Center fielder	Providence Grays	NL	4	50	.358	^[36]
1887	Tip O'Neill	Left fielder	St. Louis Browns	AA	14	123	.435	^[7]
1894	Hugh Duffy^†	Outfielder	Boston Beaneaters	NL	18	145	.440	^[37]
1901	Nap Lajoie^†	Second baseman	Philadelphia Athletics	AL	14	125	.426	^[38]
1909	Ty Cobb^†	Right fielder	Detroit Tigers	AL	9*	107*	.377*	^[39]^[40]
1912	Heinie Zimmerman	Third baseman	Chicago Cubs	NL	14	104	.372	^[41]
1922	Rogers Hornsby^†	Second baseman	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	42	152	.401	^[3]
1925	Rogers Hornsby^†	Second baseman	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	39*	143*	.403*	^[4]^[42]
1933	Jimmie Foxx^†^§	First baseman	Philadelphia Athletics	AL	48	163	.356	^[43]
1933	Chuck Klein^†	Right fielder	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	28	120	.368	^[44]
1934	Lou Gehrig^†	First baseman	New York Yankees	AL	49*	165*	.363*	^[45]^[46]
1937	Joe Medwick^†^§	Left fielder	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	31	154	.374	^[47]
1942	Ted Williams^†	Left fielder	Boston Red Sox	AL	36*	137*	.356*	^[5]^[48]
1947	Ted Williams^†	Left fielder	Boston Red Sox	AL	32	114	.343	^[6]
1956	Mickey Mantle^†^§	Center fielder	New York Yankees	AL	52*	130*	.353*	^[49]^[50]
1966	Frank Robinson^†^§	Right fielder	Baltimore Orioles	AL	49	122	.316	^[51]
1967	Carl Yastrzemski^†^§	Left fielder	Boston Red Sox	AL	44	121	.326	^[52]
2012	Miguel Cabrera^‡^§	Third baseman	Detroit Tigers	AL	44	139	.330	^[53]

Pitching

Year	Player	Team	League	ERA	W	K	Ref(s)
1877	Tommy Bond	Boston Red Caps	NL	2.11	40	170	^[54]
1884	Guy Hecker	Louisville Colonels	AA	1.80	52	385	^[28]
1884	Charles Radbourn^†	Providence Grays	NL	1.38	59	441	^[55]
1888	Tim Keefe^†	New York Giants	NL	1.74	35	335	^[56]
1889	John Clarkson^†	Boston Beaneaters	NL	2.73	49	284	^[57]
1894	Amos Rusie^†	New York Giants	NL	2.78	36	195	^[58]
1901	Cy Young^†	Boston Americans	AL	1.62	33	158	^[59]
1905	Christy Mathewson^†	New York Giants	NL	1.27	31	206	^[60]
1905	Rube Waddell^†	Philadelphia Athletics	AL	1.48	27	287	^[61]
1908	Christy Mathewson^†	New York Giants	NL	1.43	37	259	^[62]
1913	Walter Johnson^†	Washington Senators	AL	1.14*	36*	243*	^[21]^[63]
1915	Grover Cleveland Alexander^†	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	1.22*	31*	241*	^[18]^[64]
1916	Grover Cleveland Alexander^†	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	1.55	33	167	^[19]
1918	Walter Johnson^†	Washington Senators	AL	1.27*	23*	162*	^[22]^[65]
1918	Hippo Vaughn	Chicago Cubs	NL	1.74	22	148	^[66]
1920	Grover Cleveland Alexander^†	Chicago Cubs	NL	1.91	27	173	^[20]
1924	Walter Johnson^†	Washington Senators	AL	2.72	23	158	^[23]
1924	Dazzy Vance^†	Brooklyn Robins	NL	2.16*	28*	262*	^[67]^[68]
1930	Lefty Grove^†	Philadelphia Athletics	AL	2.54*	28*	209*	^[69]^[70]
1931	Lefty Grove^†^§	Philadelphia Athletics	AL	2.06*	31*	175*	^[71]^[72]
1934	Lefty Gomez^†	New York Yankees	AL	2.33	26	158	^[73]
1937	Lefty Gomez^†	New York Yankees	AL	2.33	21	194	^[74]
1939	Bucky Walters^§	Cincinnati Reds	NL	2.29	27	137	^[75]
1940	Bob Feller^†	Cleveland Indians	AL	2.61	27	261	^[76]
1945	Hal Newhouser^†^§	Detroit Tigers	AL	1.81*	25*	212*	^[77]^[78]
1963	Sandy Koufax^†^§	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	1.88*	25*	306*	^[24]^[79]
1965	Sandy Koufax^†	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	2.04*	26*	382*	^[25]^[80]
1966	Sandy Koufax^†	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	1.73*	27*	317*	^[26]^[81]
1972	Steve Carlton^†	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	1.97	27	310	^[82]
1985	Dwight Gooden	New York Mets	NL	1.53*	24*	268*	^[83]^[84]
1997	Roger Clemens	Toronto Blue Jays	AL	2.05	21	292	^[85]
1998	Roger Clemens	Toronto Blue Jays	AL	2.65	20	271	^[86]
1999	Pedro Martínez^†	Boston Red Sox	AL	2.07	23	313	^[87]
2002	Randy Johnson^†	Arizona Diamondbacks	NL	2.32	24	334	^[88]
2006	Johan Santana	Minnesota Twins	AL	2.77*	19*	245*	^[89]^[90]
2007	Jake Peavy	San Diego Padres	NL	2.54	19	240	^[91]
2011	Clayton Kershaw^‡	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	2.28	21	248	^[92]
2011	Justin Verlander^‡^§	Detroit Tigers	AL	2.40	24	250	^[93]
2020^[a]	Shane Bieber^‡	Cleveland Indians	AL	1.63*	8*	122*	^[94]^[95]

Negro league baseball

On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball announced that the records of Negro league baseball from 1920 to 1948 would be designated as major league status. As such, seven different leagues that existed in that time period are now recognized as being on the same level as MLB.^[96] Seven batters and three pitchers achieved the Triple Crown in that era.^[97]

Batting

Year	Player	Position	Team	League	HR	RBI	AVG	Ref(s)
1921	Oscar Charleston^†	Center fielder	St. Louis Giants	NNL	15	91	.433	^[98]
1923	Oscar Johnson	Outfielder	Kansas City Monarchs	NNL	20	120	.406	^[99]
1924	Oscar Charleston^†	Center fielder	Harrisburg Giants	ECL	15	63	.405	^[100]
1925	Oscar Charleston^†	Center fielder	Harrisburg Giants	ECL	20	97	.427	^[101]
1926	Mule Suttles^†	First baseman	St. Louis Stars	NNL	32	130	.425	^[102]
1930	Willie Wells^†	Shortstop	St. Louis Stars	NNL	17	114	.411	^[103]
1936	Josh Gibson^†	Catcher	Pittsburgh Crawfords	NNL2	18	66	.389	^[104]
1937	Josh Gibson^†	Catcher	Homestead Grays	NNL2	20	73	.417	^[105]
1942	Ted Strong	Right field	Kansas City Monarchs	NAL	6	32	.364	^[106]
1942	Lennie Pearson	First baseman	Newark Eagles	NNL2	11	56	.347	^[107]

Pitching

Year	Player	Team	League	ERA	W	K	Ref(s)
1934	Slim Jones	Philadelphia Stars	NN2	1.24	20	164	^[108]
1938	Ray Brown^†	Homestead Grays	NN2	1.88	14	70	^[109]
1943	Johnny Wright	Homestead Grays	NN2	2.54	18	94	^[110]

Nippon Professional Baseball

Batting

Year	Player	Position	Team	League	HR	RBI	AVG	Ref(s)
1938 Fall	Haruyasu Nakajima ^† ^§	First Baseman	Tokyo Giants	JPBL	10*	38*	.361*	^{[citation needed]}
1965	Katsuya Nomura ^† ^§	Catcher	Nankai Hawks	PL	42	110	.320	^{[citation needed]}
1973	Sadaharu Oh ^† ^§	First Baseman	Yomiuri Giants	CL	51	114	.355	^{[citation needed]}
1974	Sadaharu Oh ^† ^§	First Baseman	Yomiuri Giants	CL	49	107	.332	^{[citation needed]}
1982	Hiromitsu Ochiai ^† ^§	Third Baseman	Lotte Orions	PL	32	99	.325	^{[citation needed]}
1984	Greg Wells ^§	First baseman	Hankyu Braves	PL	37	130	.355	^{[citation needed]}
1985	Hiromitsu Ochiai ^† ^§	Third Baseman	Lotte Orions	PL	52	146	.367	^{[citation needed]}
1985	Randy Bass ^§	First Baseman	Hanshin Tigers	CL	54	134	.350	^{[citation needed]}
1986	Hiromitsu Ochiai ^†	Third Baseman	Lotte Orions	PL	50	116	.360	^{[citation needed]}
1986	Randy Bass	First Baseman	Hanshin Tigers	CL	47	109	.389	^{[citation needed]}
2004	Nobuhiko Matsunaka ^§	Left Fielder	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	PL	44	120	.358	^{[citation needed]}
2022	Munetaka Murakami ‡^§	Third Baseman	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	CL	56	134	.318	^{[citation needed]}

Pitching

Year	Player	Team	League	ERA	W	K	Ref(s)
1937 Spring	Eiji Sawamura ^† ^§	Tokyo Giants	JPBL	0.81*	24*	196*	^{[citation needed]}
1938 Fall	Victor Starffin ^†	Tokyo Giants	JPBL	1.05*	19*	146*	^{[citation needed]}
1943	Hideo Fujimoto ^†	Tokyo Giants	JPBL	0.73*	34*	253*	^{[citation needed]}
1948	Hiroshi Nakao	Yomiuri Giants	JPBL	1.84*	27*	187*	^{[citation needed]}
1954	Shigeru Sugishita ^† ^§	Chunichi Dragons	CL	1.39	32	273	^{[citation needed]}
1954	Motoji Takuwa	Nankai Hawks	PL	1.58	26	275	^{[citation needed]}
1958	Masaichi Kaneda ^†	Kokutetsu Swallows	CL	1.30	31	311	^{[citation needed]}
1958	Kazuhisa Inao^† ^§	Nishitetsu Lions	PL	1.42	33	334	^{[citation needed]}
1959	Tadashi Sugiura ^†	Nankai Hawks	PL	1.40	38	336	^{[citation needed]}
1961	Hiroshi Gondo ^†	Chunichi Dragons	CL	1.70	35	310	^{[citation needed]}
1961	Kazuhisa Inao ^†	Nishitetsu Lions	PL	1.69	42	353	^{[citation needed]}
1978	Keishi Suzuki^†	Kintetsu Buffaloes	PL	2.02	25	178	^{[citation needed]}
1980	Isamu Kida	Nippon Ham Fighters	PL	2.28	22	225	^{[citation needed]}
1981	Suguru Egawa	Yomiuri Giants	CL	2.29	20	221	^{[citation needed]}
1985	Tatsuo Komatsu	Chunichi Dragons	CL	2.65	17	172	^{[citation needed]}
1990	Hideo Nomo ^†	Kintetsu Buffaloes	PL	2.91	18	287	^{[citation needed]}
1999	Koji Uehara	Yomiuri Giants	CL	2.09	20	179	^{[citation needed]}
2006	Kazumi Saito	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	PL	1.75	18	205	^{[citation needed]}
2010	Kenta Maeda ‡	Hiroshima Carp	CL	2.21	15	174	^{[citation needed]}
2018	Tomoyuki Sugano ‡	Yomiuri Giants	CL	2.14	15	200	^{[citation needed]}
2020	Kodai Senga ‡	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	PL	2.16	11	149	^{[citation needed]}
2021	Yoshinobu Yamamoto ‡^§	Orix Buffaloes	PL	1.39*	18*	206*
2022	Yoshinobu Yamamoto ‡^§	Orix Buffaloes	PL	1.68*	15*	205*
2023	Yoshinobu Yamamoto ‡^§	Orix Buffaloes	PL	1.21	16	169

Notes

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 (2007). The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition (ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia). Sterling. ISBN 978-1-4027-4771-7.

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Search

Triple Crown (baseball)

Contents

Hitting Triple Crown

Pitching Triple Crown

Major league records

Triple Crown winners

Major League Baseball

Batting

Pitching

Negro league baseball

Batting

Pitching

Nippon Professional Baseball

Batting

Pitching

See also

Notes

References