The Triple Crown

I've been following the Triple Crown race that Albert Pujols and Joey Votto have been putting on.  Whoever this Gonzalez guy is, though, he apparently is taking over the race.

Pujols is not having a career year.  In fact, as of this writing, his batting average is a full 21 points lower than his career average!  If he had a "normal" Albert year this year, he may be a shoe-in for the Triple Crown.  I believe I read somewhere that he won the Triple Crown for the decade of 2000's.  What an incredible feat that is.  I like Pujols.  He does pretty much everything right.  If there's one thing I'd say I didn't like about Albert, it was the one time when someone else won the MVP and he questioned it.  I happened to agree that year--the award belonged in Albert's hands, but that's not the point.  It was very un-Albert-like to say what he said.  Other than that, he appears to do everything well and do everything right.

Joey Votto plays for my second favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds.  Though I am an Indians fan at my very core, the Reds caught my attention as a boy and have never let go.  Part of that had to do with the fact that my grandparents were Reds fans.  I still remember sitting in their bedroom watching the Reds in the World Series back in 1976.  I loved it.  I was snagged.  I could hope Votto wins just because he's a Red.

Prior to Gonzalez showing up on the scene, these two were battling it out for the Triple Crown.  I would have been happy with either one winning.

But who in the world is this Gonzalez kid?  Of course, the people of Colorado could easily be saying that about Joey Votto.

I've been keeping tabs on the race.  I even instituted a simple "Triple Crown Index" in which I simply add the current rank of each player in each category to determine the score.  This morning, Gonzalez leads with 5 points (1st in RBIs, 1st in batting average, 3rd in HRs).  Pujols has plummeted to 10 points (remember, his batting average is considerably lower than normal).  Votto is middling at 7 points.

So, as the current race has piqued my interest, I figured I'd look back at some prior Triple Crown winners to see how things have gone in the past.  I know I've looked at this previously, but it has been years.

Some of my old favorites were winners.  I had forgotten that Frank Robinson won it while playing with the Orioles back in 1966.  His numbers that year were very Pujols-ian: .316 average, 49 HRs, 122 RBIs.  Not a strong batting average, really, but in that time it worked.  This year's batting averages were looking similar in the NL until Gonzalez kicked into high gear. 

The last winner was Carl Yastrzemski, in 1967.  It's a bit wild to me that we had two triple crown winners in a row, and in the same league.  Carl's numbers: .326 average, 44 HRs, 121 RBIs.  Again, good numbers, but... they certainly wouldn't cut it this year.

I was curious, so I looked up Pujol's average numbers.  If we take out this year's numbers, but leave in his rookie year, he averages 40.7 HRs, 123.6 RBIs, and a batting average of .334.  Someone like that lurking in the AL would have spoiled both of these triple crowns.

I also noticed that there were triple crown winners in every decade from the 1870s to the 1960s except for the 1910s.  The triple crown winner in the 1870s did it with 4 HRs in 1878.  That's pretty funny.  One I hadn't known was that Ty Cobb got a triple crown in 1909.  He hit a walloping 9 HRs that year.

Perhaps the most impressive triple crowns were those of Rogers Hornsby.

1922 - .401 avg, 42 HRs, 152 RBIs
1925 - .403 avg, 39 HRs, 143 RBIs

There's another thing I'd love to see happen again--hitting .400.  I remember following Rod Carew's pursuit back in 1977.  He ended up batting .388--still quite remarkable.  I hoped to see Wade Boggs approach it, but .... Oh, and George Brett.  I loved that guy, and was intrigued by his good-hitting pitcher brother, Ken.  George hit .390 in 1980, the last time anyone seriously approached hitting .400.

Wait!  I had forgotten about Tony Gwynn, until I pulled this up:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/batting_avg_season.shtml

He hit .393 in 1994--high enough to rank as the 37th highest batting average in major league history.

I'll continue keeping my eye on this current triple crown race.  And, for those of you who are curious, I'll be posting my "Triple Crown Index" on Twitter.

Play ball!