Triple Crown of Baseball by Baseball Almanac

Triple Crown of Baseball

The Triple Crown is "awarded" (received or honored with as no physical award exists) to the hitter who leads his own League in all three of these hitting statistics: 1: Home runs. 2: Batting average. 3: Runs batted in.

All three categories must be led or tied at the end of the season in order to be part of a Triple Crown performance. Few players have ever come close and when a player simply leads in two categories it is often a noteworthy achievement.

"Never swing at a ball you're fooled on or have trouble hitting." - Batting Advice from Triple Crown Winner (1942 & 1947) / Hall of Famer Ted Williams

Triple Crown In Chronological Order
Year	American League	HR	Avg	RBI	Team
1901	Nap Lajoie	14	.426	125	Philadelphia
1909	Ty Cobb	9	.377	107	Detroit
1933	Jimmie Foxx	48	.356	163	Philadelphia
1934	Lou Gehrig	49	.363	165	New York
1942	Ted Williams	36	.356	137	Boston
1947	Ted Williams	32	.343	114	Boston
1956	Mickey Mantle	52	.353	130	New York
1966	Frank Robinson	49	.316	122	Baltimore
1967	Carl Yastrzemski	44	.326	121	Boston
Year	American League	HR	Avg	RBI	Team
Triple Crown In Chronological Order
Year	National League	HR	Avg	RBI	Team
1894	Hugh Duffy	18	.438	145	Boston
1922	Rogers Hornsby	42	.401	152	St. Louis
1925	Rogers Hornsby	39	.403	143	St. Louis
1933	Chuck Klein	28	.368	120	Philadelphia
1937	Joe Medwick	31	.374	154	St. Louis
Year	American Association	HR	Avg	RBI	Team
Triple Crown In Chronological Order
Year	American Association	HR	Avg	RBI	Team
1887	Tip O'Neill	14	.435	123	St. Louis
Year	American Association	HR	Avg	RBI	Team
Triple Crown

At the end of the 1887 season Tip O'Neill also led the American Association in triples, doubles, total bases, slugging average, runs, on base percentage and hits.

Ty Cobb, during his Triple Crown season, simultaneously led the American League in stolen bases with seventy-six, making him the only recipient to also lead in stolen bases.

Countless "reliable" sources list Heinie Zimmerman as the winner in 1912; however, both Baseball Almanac and Major League Baseball have corrected his RBI total (it was one-hundred three but should be ninety-nine) due to ongoing research into box scores. The same mistake can be seen in other sources who list Paul Hines as a winner in 1878 — who led in home runs and runs batted in, but failed to qualify for the batting average leader.

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