The Double
Crown You Probably Didn't Know About
By Asher B. Chancey, Baseball Evolution
Triple Crown talk has heated up of late as Derrek Lee became the fourth player since Yaz in 1967 to lead the league in the three triple crown categories (HR, RBI, AVG) through the end of May. Sports Weekly ran an article whose theme was "The next player to . . ." and decided that Miguel Tejada and Albert Pujols are the most likely current players to win Triple Crowns in their respective leagues. No argument here, really – they are who I would have picked.
However, the hype over the years surrounding the Triple Crown has allowed a rare Double Crown to go unnoticed. Since 1879, a player has led his league in both at-bats and batting average in the same season only 14 times. And here's the clincher – Ichiro Suzuki has done it twice!
|
Year |
Player |
|
Team |
AB |
AVG |
|
2004 |
Ichiro |
Suzuki |
Seattle |
704 |
0.372 |
|
2001 |
Ichiro |
Suzuki |
Seattle |
692 |
0.350 |
|
1976 |
George |
Brett |
Kansas City |
645 |
0.333 |
|
1973 |
Pete |
Rose |
Cinncinati |
680 |
0.338 |
|
1946 |
Stan |
Musial |
St. Louis |
624 |
0.365 |
|
1945 |
Snuffy |
Stirnweiss |
New York Yankees |
632 |
0.309 |
|
1937 |
Joe |
Medwick |
St. Louis |
633 |
0.374 |
|
1920 |
George |
Sisler |
St. Louis Browns |
631 |
0.407 |
|
1917 |
Ty |
Cobb |
Detroit |
588 |
0.383 |
|
1910 |
Nap |
Lajoie |
Cleveland |
591 |
0.384 |
|
1901 |
Jesse |
Burkett |
St. Louis |
601 |
0.376 |
|
1896 |
Jesse |
Burkett |
Cleveland |
586 |
0.410 |
|
1887 |
Sam |
Thompson |
Detroit (N) |
545 |
0.372 |
|
1879 |
Paul |
Hines |
Providence |
409 |
0.357 |