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- For other uses of this term, see Triple crown
In baseball, the Triple Crown refers to:
- A batter who (at season's end) leads the league in three major categories -- home runs, runs batted in, and batting average.
- A pitcher who (at season's end) leads the league in three major categories -- earned run average, wins, and strikeouts.
Fast Facts
Batting
- Last Triple Crown Winner: Carl Yastrzemski, BOS, 1967.
- Last American League Triple Crown Winner (lead AL in all 3 categories): Carl Yastrzemski, BOS, 1967.
- Last National League Triple Crown Winner (lead NL in all 3 categories): Joe Medwick, STL-N, 1937.
- Only Two-Time Winners: Rogers Hornsby, STL-N, 1922, 1925; Ted Williams, BOS-A, 1942, 1947.
Pitching
- Last Triple Crown Winner: Randy Johnson, ARI, 2002.
- Last American League Triple Crown Winner (lead AL in all 3 categories): Pedro Martínez, BOS, 1999.
- Last National League Triple Crown Winner (lead NL in all 3 categories): Randy Johnson, ARI, 2002.
- Most Triple Crowns: Grover Cleveland Alexander, 4 (PHI-N, 1915, 1916, 1917; CHI-N, 1920).
Batting Triple Crown Winners
National League Winners
| Year | Batter | Team | HR | RBI | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1878 | Paul Hines | Providence | 4 | 50 | .358 |
| 1894 | Hugh Duffy | Boston (NL) | 18 | 145 | .440 |
| 1922 | Rogers Hornsby | St. Louis | 42 | 152 | .401 |
| 1925 | Rogers Hornsby | St. Louis | 39 | 143 | .403 |
| 1933 | Chuck Klein | Philadelphia (NL) | 28 | 120 | .368 |
| 1937 | Joe Medwick | St. Louis | 31 | 154 | .374 |
American League Winners
| Year | Batter | Team | HR | RBI | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | Nap Lajoie | Philadelphia (AL) | 14 | 125 | .426 |
| 1909 | Ty Cobb | Detroit | 9 | 107 | .377 |
| 1933 | Jimmie Foxx | Philadelphia (AL) | 48 | 163 | .356 |
| 1934 | Lou Gehrig | New York (AL) | 49 | 165 | .363 |
| 1942 | Ted Williams | Boston (AL) | 36 | 137 | .356 |
| 1947 | Ted Williams | Boston (AL) | 32 | 114 | .343 |
| 1956 | Mickey Mantle | New York (AL) | 52 | 130 | .353 |
| 1966 | Frank Robinson | Baltimore | 49 | 122 | .316 |
| 1967 | Carl Yastrzemski | Boston (AL) | 44 | 121 | .326 |
American Association Winners
| Year | Batter | Team | HR | RBI | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1887 | Tip O'Neill | St. Louis | 14 | 123 | .435 |
Pitching Triple Crown Winners
National League Winners
| Year | Pitcher | Team | ERA | Wins | Ks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1877 | Tommy Bond | Boston (NL) | 2.11 | 40 | 170 |
| 1884 | Charles Radbourn | Providence | 1.38 | 60 | 441 |
| 1888 | Tim Keefe | N.Y. Giants | 1.74 | 35 | 333 |
| 1889 | John Clarkson | Boston (NL) | 2.73 | 49 | 284 |
| 1894 | Amos Rusie | N.Y. Giants | 2.78 | 36 | 195 |
| 1905 | Christy Mathewson | N.Y. Giants | 1.27 | 31 | 206 |
| 1908 | Christy Mathewson | N.Y. Giants | 1.43 | 37 | 259 |
| 1915 | Grover Alexander | Philadelphia (NL) | 1.22 | 31 | 241 |
| 1916 | Grover Alexander | Philadelphia (NL) | 1.55 | 33 | 167 |
| 1917 | Grover Alexander | Philadelphia (NL) | 1.86 | 30 | 201 |
| 1918 | Hippo Vaughn | Chicago (NL) | 1.74 | 22 | 148 |
| 1920 | Grover Alexander | Chicago (NL) | 1.91 | 27 | 173 |
| 1924 | Dazzy Vance | Brooklyn | 2.16 | 28 | 262 |
| 1939 | Bucky Walters | Cincinnati | 2.29 | 27 | 137 |
| 1963 | Sandy Koufax | Los Angeles (NL) | 1.88 | 25 | 306 |
| 1965 | Sandy Koufax | Los Angeles (NL) | 2.04 | 26 | 382 |
| 1966 | Sandy Koufax | Los Angeles (NL) | 1.73 | 27 | 317 |
| 1972 | Steve Carlton | Philadelphia (NL) | 1.97 | 27 | 310 |
| 1985 | Dwight Gooden | New York (NL) | 1.53 | 24 | 268 |
| 2002 | Randy Johnson | Arizona | 2.32 | 24 | 334 |
American League Winners
| Year | Pitcher | Team | ERA | Wins | Ks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | Cy Young | Boston (AL) | 1.62 | 33 | 158 |
| 1905 | Rube Waddell | Philadelphia (AL) | 1.48 | 26 | 287 |
| 1913 | Walter Johnson | Washington (AL) | 1.09 | 36 | 243 |
| 1918 | Walter Johnson | Washington (AL) | 1.27 | 23 | 162 |
| 1924 | Walter Johnson | Washington (AL) | 2.72 | 23 | 158 |
| 1930 | Lefty Grove | Philadelphia (AL) | 2.54 | 28 | 209 |
| 1931 | Lefty Grove | Philadelphia (AL) | 2.06 | 31 | 175 |
| 1934 | Lefty Gómez | New York (AL) | 2.33 | 26 | 158 |
| 1937 | Lefty Gómez | New York (AL) | 2.33 | 21 | 194 |
| 1945 | Hal Newhouser | Detroit | 1.81 | 25 | 212 |
| 1997 | Roger Clemens | Toronto | 2.05 | 21 | 292 |
| 1998 | Roger Clemens | Toronto | 2.65 | 20 | 271 |
| 1999 | Pedro Martínez | Boston (AL) | 2.07 | 23 | 313 |
American Association Winners
| Year | Pitcher | Team | ERA | Wins | Ks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884 | Guy Hecker | Louisville Colonels | 1.80 | 52 | 385 |
Major League Triple Crown
In general, when one refers to a player as having won a Triple Crown, they mean that the player led his own league in the three categories. A superior but less frequent circumstance is the Major League Triple Crown, wherin which the player leads the entire major leagues in each of the three categories and not just his individual league. Since the birth of the American League in 1901, five hitters and seven pitchers have accomplished this feat. The most recent were Mickey Mantle in 1956 for hitting, and Dwight Gooden in 1985 for pitching.
"Triple crown (baseball)"