Baseball's Batting Triple Crown
The Major League's Group of Winners of the Top 3 Batting Categories
It's tough to win a batting title, a home run crown, or an RBI championship, but it's much harder to win all three in one season. Here are the 12 players who've done it.
How to Win Baseball's Triple Crown
Over the years there have been hundreds of batting champions, home run kings and RBI winners. But when it comes to winning Baseball's Triple Crown, which requires a player to lead his league in all three of those categories in one season, that is a completely different story. In major league history, there have been only twelve players to win Baseball's Triple Crown. Here is their story.
The First National League Winners
Although two National Leaguers won the title in the 1800s, Heine Zimmerman of the Chicago Cubs was the first NL player to capture the Triple Crown in modern baseball history, a feat that he accomplished in 1912. In addition to winning the Triple Crown, Zimmerman also led in slugging average, total bases, hits and doubles.
The First American League Winner
The first American League Triple Crown winner was Napoleon Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics, who won the award in 1901. He dominated his league offensively that season by not only having the best average, home run, and RBI numbers, but also finished first in slugging average, total bases, hits, and runs scored.
The Only Two Time Winners
Roger Hornsby and Ted Williams are the only players in baseball history to capture Triple Crown honors twice. Hornsby, the St. Louis Cardinal known as the Rajah, won his "Triples" in 1922 and 1925, while Williams posted his magnificent numbers in 1942 and 1947.
The last time the Triple Crown was claimed in the Big Leagues was in 1967, when Red Sox Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski led the American League with a . 326 batting average, 44 home runs, and 121 RBI. But that was 40 years ago, and no one since then has been able to win baseball's rarest offensive award.
Ted Williams Almost won Three Triple Crowns
In addition to his Triple Crowns in 1942 and 1947, Williams came dangerously close to winning a third crown in 1949. That season, he led the American League in home runs with 43 and in RBI with 159. He also held a slight lead over George Kell of the Detroit Tigers in the American League batting race until the last day of the season. However, on that day, Kell went 2 for 3, while Williams went hitless. At the end of the day, Kell's average stood at .3429 and Williams's was .3427, meaning that Williams was just 2/1000ths of a point from winning the batting title and an amazing third Triple Crown.
List of Triple Crown Winners
Paul Hines - 1878 (NL) (.358 BA, 4 HR, 50 RBI)
Hugh Duffy - 1894 (NL) (.440 BA, 18 HR, 145 RBI)
Napoleon Lajoie - 1901(AL) (.426 BA, 14 HR, 125 RBI)
Ty Cobb - 1909 (MLB) (.377 BA, 9 HR, 107 RBI)*
Heine Zimmerman - 1912 (NL) (.372 BA, 14 HR, 99 RBI)
Rogers Hornsby - 1922 (NL) (.401 BA, 42 HR, 152 RBI)
Rogers Hornsby - 1925 (MLB) (.403, 39 HR, 143 RBI)*
Lou Gehrig - 1934 (MLB) (.363 BA, 49 HR 165 RBI)*
Joe Medwick - 1937 (NL) (.374 BA, 31 HR, 154 RBI)
Ted Williams - 1942 (MLB) (.356 BA, 36 HR, 137 RBI)*
Ted Williams - 1947 (AL) (.343 BA, 32 HR, 114 RBI)
Mickey Mantle - 1956 (MLB) (.353 BA, 52 HR, 130 RBI)*
Frank Robinson - 1966 (AL) (.316 BA, 49 HR, 122 RBI)
Carl Yastrzemski - 1967 (AL) (.326 BA, 44 HR, 121 RBI)
* Topped All Three Categories in Both Leagues
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Sources: Baseball-Reference.com; National Baseball Hall of Fame.com; Total Baseball by John Thorne.
