The term "Triple Crown" carries significant weight and prestige in the U.S. sporting scene. In horse racing, a Triple Crown win occurs when a horse captures the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.
Similar to horse racing, a select few baseball players have achieved a Triple Crown. But before delving into the history and rarity of the feat, here's how one can earn a Triple Crown in baseball. They must lead the league in hitting, home runs and runs batted in.
In an age where there are new metrics that provide more data of what a player brings to the table, the Triple Crown relies on those three stats. Simple, right?
Hall of Famer Ted Williams, who pulled off the feat twice, once in 1942 and then again in 1947, wrote a book called "The Science of Hitting" and the quote that is often associated with Williams was a simple truth. "Hitting a baseball is the single most difficult thing to do in sport."
Hitting for average over a 162-game season is challenging enough. Adding the pressure of hitting for power and driving in runs with runners in scoring position elevates the challenge to an unparalleled level.
The last National League player to win the Triple Crown was Joe Medwick in 1937. The epitome of a clean-up hitter, Medwick finished the season with a .374 batting average, 31 home runs and 153 RBIs. What made his Triple Crown season especially remarkable was his performance with runners in scoring position: a .402 batting average, .474 on-base percentage and .677 slugging percentage, driving in 113 of his 153 RBIs with runners on base.
Another intriguing detail about the Triple Crown in the National League is that Medwick is one of just three players in MLB history to achieve the feat. He's also the second St. Louis Cardinals player to do so, joining Rogers Hornsby, who accomplished it twice — in 1922 with 42 home runs, 152 RBIs and a .401 batting average, and again in 1925 with 39 home runs, 143 RBIs and a .403 batting average. Chuck Klein is the other National League player to secure a Triple Crown, doing so in 1933.
Which MLB players have won the Triple Crown?
There are eight players in the American League who have hit for a Triple Crown, and the most recent player to do so was Miguel Cabrera in 2012. Prior to 2012, it was Carl Yaztrezemski's1967 season, in which he put Boston on his back on their way to an AL pennant. Here is the complete AL list.
Cabrera, who is in his final season with the Tigers, like the rest of the list, will be inducted in the Hall of Fame and that is what makes this list truly special. You have to be pretty darn good to pull this feat off.