Albert Pujols’ claim to a Triple Crown, or two
TOWER GROVE — As I waded through various research projects this offseason, a fluke of clutter provided a jolt of inspiration. There, nosed up against one another in the flotsam of loose and scattered legal pads and books, was my scorecard from Opening Day 2001 at Coors Field and a Cardinals encyclopedia-of-sorts opened to Rogers Hornsby’s page.
As a sidebar jockey for The Rocky Mountain News in 2001, I was at Coors Field to cover Mike Hampton’s brilliant debut with the Colorado Rockies. But really all of us in the press box had a much bigger moment in baseball history sneak right by. It’s there in the pencil swirls of the scorebook. Batting sixth for the Cardinals that day and starting in left field was a rookie, making his major-league debut. His name: Albert Pujols.
Cardinals Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby won two Triple Crowns, in 1922 and 1925. (Source: National Baseball Hall of Fame)
We all know what Pujols has done for the Cardinals since that debut — having just capped the recent Winter Warm-up by receiving his second National League MVP — just as we all know what Horsnby did in the past for the Cardinals. But there’s something only Hornsby did that Pujols could be about to do by the end of 2009 and perhaps do better.
It has to do with the Triple Crown — and Pujols’ claim to one.
On the floor of my office, the two met, overlapped, and got me to wondering …
Hornsby won two Triple Crowns as a Cardinal, in 1922 (.401-42-152) and in 1925 (.403-39-143). He is the only National Leaguer to win two Triple Crowns, and the league hasn’t seen a Triple Crown since Joe “Ducky” Medwick did it with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1937. As I poked around for info on Horsnby beyond the encyclopedia page on the floor, I found references to his “decade Triple Crown.” He’s believed to be the only player to have led a league in batting average, home runs and RBIs over the span of an entire decade. (Subsequent research has shown the “belief” is misleading. Hornsby is the last NLer to do it. Others have also done it, per fact checks at Baseball-Reference.com) Hornsby did it in the 1920s:
On the way to mining those statistics, I learned that Hornsby finished in the top three in batting average every year in the 1920s save 1926. (He won six consecutive batting titles in the 20s and seven total in the decade.) Hornsby, the Hall of Famer, finished in the top seven in homers every year in the Roarin’ Decade, and he ranked in the top 10 in RBIs every year but 1923. It was a remarkable run of consistent and dynamic performance and it produced something unique — the “decade” Triple Crown.
Hall of Famer Joe "Ducky" Medwick, the last National Leaguer to win the Triple Crow, in 1937.
It also sounded so familiar.
Since that day in Coors Field, Pujols has become the first player in history to start his career with eight consecutive seasons of at least a .300 average, at least 30 home runs and at least 100 RBIs. A scan of his finishes in the National League reveals that he’s only finished first once in one category — that batting title in 2003 — but he’s also only finished out of the top 10 in two of the 24 categories (eight years, three triple-crown stats … 24). Each time he ranked 11th. In 17 of those 24 categories, he finished in the top five.
Pujols has nearly pulled off what Hornsby did. Only better.
It was seeing the scorecard so close to Hornsby’s bio on my office floor that got me thinking. I admit, the Triple Crown has always kept me curious. Hornsby’s “decade” Triple Crown is particularly fascinating, because what other Triple Crown spans are out there? Could a “decade” Triple Crown be done again? And could there be a “career Triple Crown”?
Sure enough, we are watching both.
Starting on April 2, 2001, and counting forward to the end of this most recent season, here are the standings in the Triple Crown statistics for the National League (all stats include only those while playing for a NL club):
BATTING AVERAGE
- Albert Pujols … .334
- Todd Helton … .326
- Chipper Jones … .317
- Lance Berkman … .303
- Juan Pierre … .300
HOME RUNS
- Albert Pujols … 319
- Adam Dunn … 278
- Barry Bonds … 268
- Lance Berkman … 263
- Andruw Jones … 255
RBIs
- Albert Pujols … 977
- Lance Berkman … 879
- Aramis Ramirez … 815
- Andruw Jones … 770
- Todd Helton … 748
Others have more RBIs in their careers and certainly more home runs, but since he made his major-league debut Pujols leads the National League in all three Triple Crown categories. And it’s not like his challengers are really that close. Through eight seasons, he has a career Triple Crown. Two more years like this and he’ll do what Hornsby did in the 1920s — only Pujols will have done it in his first 10 years in the league.
Pujols is also in line to win the “decade” Triple Crown for the 2000s, even though he spotted the rest of te league the entire 2000 season. With Bonds out of the game in 2008, Pujols passed him in home runs for the decade lead, 319 to Bonds’ 317. Entering the final year of the decade, Pujols leads the National League in all categories, Hornsby-like, with a .334-319-977 line. See for yourself:
A typical year could clinch the Hornsby Crown.
Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols, one standard year away from a "decade" Triple Crown?
Mining exact information from statistics decades old can be a dicey adventure. But using (really, exhausting) Baseball Musings and Baseball-Reference.com’s muscular Play Index, I went looking for other career Triple Crowns. I stuck with actual Triple Crown winners. The last three to lead their league in BA, HR and RBIs all came from the American League: Mickey Mantle in 1956 (.353-52-130), Frank Robinson in 1966 (.316-49-122), and Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 (.326-44-121). With a couple it’s difficult to get the exact rankings from the span of their careers, but all three had careers that mimicked the season — debut in April, last appear some time in September or October.
Not one of the three has a claim to a career Triple Crown. But it’s close.
From 1951 to 1968, Mantle was tops in the American League with his 536 home runs and 1,509 RBIs, but his .298 batting average ranked behind Hall of Famer Al Kaline. From 1961 to 1983, Yastrzemski was the only player to average enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title (more than 10,000 PA), so his .285 was No. 1 in a Class of 1. But dial the PAs down to 9,000-plus and Rod Carew leapfrogs Yaz with a .331 average in that span. Yastrzemski ranked first in RBIs with 1,844, but was third in home runs with 452, trailing leader Harmon Killebrew’s 489.
From 1956 to 1976, Robinson split his time between both leagues, so comparing him against his league peers is hardly revealing. Against all of Major League Baseball, however, he does well. His .297 batting average ranks seventh — behind leader Roberto Clemente’s .321 and, say, Lou Brock’s .296. During the span of his career, Robinson ranks second in RBIs (1,812) and second in home runs (586), and he ranks second to the same guy in both. In fact, Hank Aaron almost has a career Triple Crown — just with Robinson’s career:
- Aaron’s batting average during Robinson’s seasons: .306 … ranks 3rd
- Aaron’s home runs during Robinson’s seasons: 715 … ranks 1st
- Aaron’s RBIs during Robinson’s seasons: 2,122 … ranks 1st
Those ranks are across all of Major League Baseball. Since his debut at Coors Field, Pujols does rank well in the overall numbers — almost Aaron-like. Well, actually, almost Robinson-like to Aaron. Pujols ranks second to Alex Rodriguez in both RBIs (1,011 to 977) and home runs (364 to 319). Pujols, however, has quite a lead when it comes to batting average since his debut.
- Albert Pujols … 334
- Ichiro Suzuki … .331
- Todd Helton … .326
- Vladimir Guerrero … .323
- Magglio Ordonez … .317
- Chipper Jones … .317
It was during Jones and his Atlanta Braves’ visits to Busch Stadium in 2006 that the topic of the Triple Crown came up in the visitor’s dugout. Atlanta manager Bobby Cox brought it up. He called the Triple Crown “one of the greatest feats in all of baseball.” Asked if he thought anyone would win another one, Cox said there was only one hitter he knew who had the blend of power and patience to make a run at a Triple Crown: Pujols.
Turns out, Cox was already right. Pujols is.
“He’s capable of leading in any category, but to be able to do it all in the same year takes something else,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said that same day. “If he doesn’t change his approach, takes his same at-bats, he’ll put up the numbers.”
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Programming note: Wanted to give you a good entry to last for a bit. In a few hours here, I’ll be unplugging from the blog for awhile and hopping the pond for a little vacation. As I mentioned yesterday, access to the Internet could be spotty, but I’ll check in when I can over the next couple weeks. And then, a week before pitchers and catchers report, the blog will return regularly, recharged and ready for the typhoon of content that is spring training.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
I hope Pujol’s agents don’t see this before the cards extend his contract!
This is a great article, Derrick. Interesting and well-written.
I wonder how Musial’s stats stack up, decade-wise and career-wise.
Thanks for this update. I have an additional fact that should help build his case. You mentioned that Pujols leads despite giving away the year 2000. Actually, this decade began in 2001. We don’t start counting years, or decades, with zero. We start at year 1, so the first decade began with year 1 and went through the year 10. The second decade began in the year 11 and went through the year 20. Continue this process through the year 2000 and begin the new decade in the year 2001. This current decade will end with the year 2010, and the next will begin in 2011.
Derek ~
Great article today . . .
Like others have said, I certainly hope (and think) that the Cards management is savign their nickles and dimes in iorder to re-up for Albert when the time comes around and that he gets locked in to remain a career Cardinal. I used to believe that the best all around player I ever saw (given his abilities) was Pete Rose . . . he’s in a distant second now behind #5.
I knew the man was one of a kind when I watched his first interview as a rookie. Aside from his obvious baseball talent(s) he really shines as a team-mate and a team leader. I can only pray to always watch him play in a Cardinal uniform.
THE ANSWER TO THE STAN MUSIAL QUESTION
Stan the Man was #1 from 41-63 in HR and RBI, but Ted Williams was #1 in Avg.
From 1980-2001, McGwire led in HR, Gwynn in BA, and Ripken in RBI.
Thanks so much for the research Derrick. This article was a joy to read and really echoes just how special of a player we have in Albert Pujols. I pray that somehow, someway he remains a Cardinal for life!
From Jan. 19:
“Troy Glaus thinks the temps had something to do with his cold start to ‘08, but ‘remedies are in place’ for the allergies that bothered him.”
Sorry for the threadjack.
Baseball historians need to revise their method of describing Pujols’ remarkable run (8 years to this point) of .300-30-100 seasons. Instead of noting him to be the only player to do this at the start of his career, it should now be added that Pujols is only the third player to do it at ANY part of his career. The other two: Ruth and Gehrig.
Did you look at Hank Aaron for the Career Triple Crown over the period of his own career, instead of over Robinson’s career? My guess is that he would be in a situation like Yastrzemski in the BA department, in that he would have the most plate appearances over those 23 seasons (1954-1976), and maybe be the only one to qualify? And how do you determine how many PAs are required? Is it 3.1 per team game applied across the entire career? If so, then it looks like he doesn’t make that criteria, since he started playing 120-130 games in the last several years. He obviously would still lead in HRs and RBIs, since he retired as the career leader in both.