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. The term "Pitching Triple Crown" refers to the pitching achievement of leading a league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average (ERA).

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.

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

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 major league seasons, 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 Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball. Charleston won in 1921 while playing in the Negro National League, and again in 1924 and 1925 while playing in the Eastern Colored League. In the American League and National League, 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 leagues in 1925 en route to his second Triple Crown, both with the St. Louis Cardinals. Ted Williams later matched this mark, leading both leagues in 1942 and the American League in 1947, both with the Boston Red Sox. Ochai and Randy Bass each recorded Triple Crowns in consecutive seasons in the Nippon League, in 1985 and 1986.

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, 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 journalist 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.

A pitcher who leads the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average (ERA) 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 unsuccessful pursuits of that goal by Bobby Shantz in 1952 and Johnny Antonelli in 1954 as well as 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 (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.