Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Nationals Rate Triple Crown

Going into tonight, Cristian Guzman leads the league in batting average, Josh Willingham leads the league in on-base percentage, and Ryan Zimmerman leads the league in slugging. (Andre Ethier leads both Guzman in BA and Zimmerman in SLG but doesn't have enough at bats to qualify.)

The 1959 Detroit Tigers are the only team in MLB history that has had three different players lead the league in the so-called "rate" triple crown categories in the same season. Harvey Kuenn won the batting title while Eddie Yost led the league in OBP and Al Kaline led the league in SLG.

There are a number of teams that have split the BA, OBP, and SLG titles between two players, but none recently:
1933 Philadelphia A's: Jimmie Foxx (BA and SLG), Mickey Cochrane (OBP)
1893 Philadelphia Phillies: Billy Hamilton (BA and OBP), Ed Delahanty (SLG)
1888 Chicago Cubs: Cap Anson (BA and OBP), Jimmy Ryan (SLG)
1887 Detroit Wolverines: Sam Thompson (BA and SLG), Dan Brouthers (OBP)
1877 Boston Red Stockings: Deacon White (BA and SLG), Jim O'Rourke (OBP)

6 comments:

An Briosca Mor said...

The Triple Crown categories in MLB are Batting Average, Home Runs and RBI. You may like your new statistics better, but you can't arbitrarily redefine the Triple Crown, just like you can't redefine horse racing's Triple Crown to be anything other than the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont. That's as much of an outrage as a GM wearing leather pants.

Anonymous said...

ABM - Good point.

These are still impressive based on these 3 stats that the Nats are leading in 3 categories.

With Nyjer again finding ways to get on base, Zim should have more RBI opportunities going forward and maybe move up in the RBI standings. Considering that Zim missed a good chunk of the season, his HR and RBI numbers are good.

Steven said...

I said "rate triple crown," not triple crown. I think everyone but the trolls get it.

estuartj said...

Andrew - Morgan again finding ways to get on base? What in 2 games vs the worst team in MLB? Not seeing a big turnaround...

Steve - I totally missed the RATE triple crown, but then again I always ignore RBIs since they along with SP W/L record and ERA for relievers have to be the dumbest stats ever created.

An Briosca Mor said...

Your headline reads "Nationals Rate Triple Crown." Spot the verb in that headline, why don't you?

Anonymous said...

estuartj - The last few games have been Nyjer's best streak in a while. I am just looking for any good signs for him as the last month has been dismal for him.

This 2 hole may be good for him. While it isn't a 10 game hit streak, he is a spark plug and the team offense seems to follow Nyjer.