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

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Year    Player, Team              HR       RBI       BA
1907    TYCOBB Tigers             5(2)    119(1)    .350(1)
Cobb tied for second in the HR derby behind Harry Davis of the A's who
hit eight.

1911    TY COBB, Tigers           8(2)   127(1)    420 (1)
Cobb again tied for second in homers behind Frank Baker who hit 11 for
the A's.

1923    BABE RUTH, Yankees       41(1)    131(1)    .393(2)
Ruth's single-season high batting mark placed him second to winner
harry heilmann (.403).

1924    BABE RUTH, Yankees       46(1)    121(2)    .378(1)
The year of his only batting title, Ruth finished eight RBI behind
leader Goose Goslin of the Senators.

1926    BABE RUTH, Yankees       47(1)    146(1)    .372(2)
Ruth lost the batting title by six points to Heinie Manush (.378) of
the Tigers.

1932    JIMMIE FOXX, A's         58(1)    169(1)    .364(2)
Foxx lost the batting crown to Dale Alexander of the Red Sox who hit
.367 and had 247 fewer plate appearances than Foxx.

1938    JIMMIE FOXX, Red Sox     50(2)    175(1)    .349(1)
Despite clubbing 50 homers, Foxx lost HR title to Detroit's Hank
Greenberg who hit 58.

1941    TED WILLIAMS, Red Sox    37(1)    120(4)    406(1)
Despite finishing fourth in RBI, Williams trailed the leader (Joe
DiMaggio) by only five.

1949    TED WILLIAMS, Red Sox    43(1)    159(1)    .343(2)
Williams tied teammate Veto Stephens for the RB/ title and beat him by
four in the HR race, but in one of the closest batting championships in
history, Williams (.342756) lost to Detroit's George Kell (.342911) by
less than one percentage point.

1953    AL ROSEN, Indians        43(1)    145(1)    .336(2)
Rosen lost the batting title on the final day of the season by one
point to Washington's Mickey Vernon (.337).

1972    DICK ALLEN, White Sox    37(1)    113(1)    .308(3)
Allen fell ten points shy of Rod Carew's .318 batting champion mark.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Year    Player, Team                  RR       RBI       BA

1905 CY SEYMOUR, Reds                 8(2)    121(1)    .377(1)
Seymour lost the home run title by one to teammate Fred Odwell.

1908    HONUS WAGNER, Pirates        10(2)    109(1)    .354(1)
The Pittsburgh shortstop fell two homers shy of the title, losing to
Tim Jordan of the Dodgers.

1909    HONUS WAGNER, Pirates         5(5)    100(1)   .339(1)
Despite placing fifth in the HR race, Wagner was only two homers shy of
Red Murray's league-leading total.

1912    HEINIE ZIMMERMAN, Cubs       14(1)    99(3)    .372(1)
Zimmerman placed third in RBI, but trailed leader Honus Wagner by only
three.

1913    GAVVY CRAVATH, Phillies      19(1)    128(1)   .341(2)
Cravath lost the batting title to Jake Daubert (.350) by nine points.

1921    ROGERS HORNSBY, Cardinals    21(2)    126(1)    .397(1)
Hornsby lost the HR race to George Kelly of the Giants by two.

1948    STAR MUSIAL, Cardinals       39(2)    131(1)    .376(1)
Musial lost the HR derby by one to Johnny Mize and Ralph Kiner who tied
for the lead with 40.

1963    HANK AARON, Braves           44(1)    130(1)    .319(4)
Aaron tied with Willie McCovey for the HR title and his fourth-place
finish in the batting race was only seven points behind
league-leader Tommy Davis (.326) of the Dodgers

1972    BILLY WILLIAMS, Cubs         37(3)    122(2)    .333(1)
Despite winning only one of the three Triple Crown titles, Williams was
only three home runs shy of tying for the league lead in homers (Johnny
Bench, 40) and three shy of RBI loader (Bench 125)

The Precious Few

ELEVEN PLAYERS HAVE COMBINED TO WIN THE TRIPLE CROWN 13 TIMES, WITH
TED WILLIAMS AND ROGERS HORNSBY DOING IT twice. The Triple
Crown--leading the league in batting, home runs and RBI--has been
won on nine occasions in the American League and four times in the
National League. Here are the Triple Crown winners since the A.L. was
established in 1901 (Note: RBI was not an official statistic before
1920):

Year   Player, Club                AVG.    HR    RBI

1901   Nap Lajoie, A's             .426    14    125
1909   Ty Cobb, Tigers             .377     9    107
1922   Rogers Hornsby, Cardinals   .401    42    152
1925   Rogers Hornsby, Cardinals   .403    39    143
1933   Jimmie Foxx, A's            .356    48    163
1933   Chuck Klein, Phillies       .368    28    120
1934   Lou Gehrig, Yankees         .363    49    165
1937   Joe Medwick, Cardinals      .374    31    154
1942   Ted Williams Red Sox        .356    36    137
1947   Ted Williams, Red Sox       .343    32    114
1956   Mickey Mantle, Yankees      .353    52    130
1966   Frank Robinson, Orioles     .316    49    122
1967   Carl Yastrzemski, Red Sox   .326    44    121