Batting triple Crown: HR RBI AVG an elusive achievement: since 1901, only 11 major league players have led their league in homers, runs batted in and hitting average in the same season

Baseball Digest, Nov, 2005 by Jack Etkin

"A lot of years, I've kind of given myself a four-month season," Lee said. "The first two months, I just didn't show up, even in the minor leagues. And I don't know what the reason is for that. This year, I was able to get off to a good start. It makes all the difference in the world; it really does. You dig yourself a hole, and you got to climb back out just to have your numbers look respectable."

Another change has helped Lee. He said in Florida, Hall of Famer Tony Perez, a special assistant in the Marlins front office, encouraged Lee to open his stance in order to see the ball better and have more success handling the inside pitch. Improvement had been gradual until this year, when it became substantial.

Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly, a former player and former Arizona Diamondbacks manager, said, "In the past, going over Derrek Lee in advance meetings (before the start of a series), the idea was you could bust a good fastball on the inside corner or maybe off the plate inside right at his hands and he would swing at it but he couldn't get to it.

"That was his hole. If you went in there often enough and made him aware you were going to pound him in there, and he started to cheat to get to it, then you could get him with breaking balls away. But now he's opened up his stance a little bit, and his hands are lightning quick on that inside pitch. He's not trying to use his body to get to it; he's using his hands to get to it. And that's made all the difference in the world."

Lee's strikeouts dropped from !6-I in 2002 to 131 in 2003, 128 last year and 76 in 2005 through August 18. The Marlins like to think he turned the corner the final month of 2003, when he hit .341 with five homers and 20 RBI.

"September 2003--if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't even have made the playoffs," Florida center fielder Juan Pierre said. "lie was batting fourth ... at the time, and he got hot. You could see the potential, and it just took a while for him to just put it all together.

"The sky's the limit for him now. I think everybody's seeing what we saw he could do. Wish he could have been around here to do it for us. But we're happy for him. He's a great teammate and even a better person. That's why you can't help but root for him."

SOME TRIPLE THREATS WHO CAME UP SHORT

Listed below are players who just missed winning the Triple Crown. The number in parentheses indicates where they ranked among league hitters.