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Winning the Triple Crown takes a great player—and a great team

Sporting News, The, Sept 23, 2005 by Todd Jones

Boy, Carl Yastrzemski must have been a great player. He was the last one to win the Triple Crown--leading the league in batting average, home runs and RBIs in 1967 with the Red Sox. The year before, Frank Robinson won it with the Orioles. In the National League, there hasn't been a Triple Crown winner since the Cardinals' Ducky Medwick in 1937.

So why hasn't anyone done it since Yaz? Every few years, there's talk of some guy winning the Triple Crown. This year, that guy has been the Cubs' Derrek Lee. He's been right there all season.

But everybody says "Oh, he's cooled off." That couldn't be further from the truth. If you stay in the race for the Triple Crown, you don't cool off. There are just too many outside forces in play. I'd even say it's easier to hit .400 than win the Triple Crown.

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Look at the three categories. In batting average, the National League's top three are Lee, Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera, all of whom were hitting between .333 and .343 entering the week. A player can control his success in this category more than in the other two. Even a good pitcher usually makes one mistake per at-bat. Lesser pitchers offer up even more chances for hits. Here's the tricky part: Over the course of a season, it's next to impossible to lock in on every at-bat. But to win the batting title, you can't give away at-bats. You have to grind out every pitch.

The category where the dividing line starts is homers. The leaders: Andruw Jones (47), Lee (41) and Pujols (39). Comparing an average hitter to a power hitter is like comparing runner Michael Johnson to the guy from Kenya who wins the Boston Marathon. Different beasts. Most hitters give up power for average and vice versa.

The last category--RBIs--has a lot to do with the team you play on. Yes, RBIs are the result of hitting well with guys on base, but the more guys you have on base the more opportunities you have. Look at the leaders: Jones (119), Pujols (107) and Cabrera (104). Jones and Pujols have good lineups around them, so there are plenty of runners on base in front of them.

Jones and Pujols also have guys in their lineups to protect them. Lee lacks that kind of protection, so he doesn't get many good pitches late in games. Pujols has a better chance than Lee to win the Triple Crown because he's on a better team. If Derrek were on the Cardinals or Braves, it might be a different story. And isn't that crazy? The Triple Crown is an individual accomplishment, but it's based on the whole team's success.

Todd Jones is a reliever for the Marlins. E-mail him at tjones@sportingnews.com.

Winning the Triple Crown takes a great player—and a great team

Sporting News, The, Sept 23, 2005 by Todd Jones

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