Decade Triple Crown Category Leaders

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With his home run against the Mets last night, Miguel Cabrera moved ahead of Jose Bautista for the most regular season home runs in the major leagues from 2010 through yesterday’s games. Details after the jump.

Most Homers in MLB, 2010-2013:
1. Miguel Cabrera 153
2. Jose Bautista 152
3. Albert Pujols 126
4. Adrian Beltre 123
5. Prince Fielder 120

Cabrera is also the MLB leader in most RBI from 2010 on — by a much larger margin than he has in home runs.

Most Runs Batted In in MLB, 2010-2013:
1. Miguel Cabrera 496
2. Adrian Gonzalez 404
3. Robinson Cano 403
4. Prince Fielder 399
5. Adrian Beltre 388

And Cabrera is the leader among MLB regulars in batting average since the beginning of 2010, by a huge margin.

Highest Batting Average in MLB, 2010-2013 (min. 1,000 PAs):
1. Miguel Cabrera .339
2. Joey Votto .319
3. Joe Mauer .3174
4. Adrian Beltre .3167
5. Mike Trout .3160

Could Cabrera get through the entire decade of 2010-2019 leading the majors in all three categories? There’s a very, very long way to go for that to happen, and he’d probably have to be healthy and highly productive for years to come. But with nearly four of the ten seasons complete he’s certainly off to a good, solid start toward a decade triple crown.

Below is a table showing the MLB leaders in the triple crown categories in each of the last 11 full-decade periods, moving backward from the 2000 through 2009 decade through the 1900-1909 decade, which may provide a sense of how difficult a decade-Triple-Crown would be.

[table id=146 /]

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Phil

11 years ago

If he stays healthy, I like his chances based on those leaderboards. (Biggest threat, I’d say, would be Trout and BA.) Williams obviously deprived of a chance to take the ’40s by the war, although maybe DiMaggio would have taken RBI anyway. Quirk of the calendar: neither Bonds, Aaron, nor Mays take HR for a decade.

bstar

11 years ago

Reply to Phil

I checked Teddy Ballgame for the ten-year period of 1939-42, 46-51. He wins in HR and RBI but some chump named Musial bests him in BA.

Bonds only wins in HR for 1992-2001, beating Sosa by 4 long balls. He’s bested by Sosa and A-Rod later in career and Griffey, McGwire, and *gasp* Joe Carter from ’86-’95.

mosc

11 years ago

Reply to Phil

With 2000 PA minimum, Cabrera could be beaten in BA 2010-2019 by a kid who’s just entering high school. Just saying…

Editor

John Autin

11 years ago

FWIW, Miggy also leads this decade in hits (16 more than Cano), runs (by 11% over Cano), total bases (by 9% over Cano), times on base (4% over Cano), extra-base hits (10% over Cano), intentional walks, Runs Created (16% over Votto), and WAR (by 28.3-28.0 over Cano). Cano leads by 3 in doubles. Steals and triples still elude Cabrera.

I didn’t realize that Cano was 2nd in so many things.

Dr. Doom

11 years ago

It would be interesting to see if there are any rolling 10-year periods wherein one person one the Triple Crown, rather than just the “0-9” ten-year period. I’m guessing there’s STILL no one, even checking that way.

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

If you go backwards from now, the very first rolling full ten-season period you check produces a major league decade triple crown. From 2003 through 2012, Albert Pujols led the majors in all three categories.

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to birtelcom

Pujols also led all 3 for 2002-11.

I checked all the other decades. Ted Williams almost had it for 1940-49, but finished 10 RBI behind … Bob Elliott, the 1947 NL MVP. Could probably win a lot of bets on that question.

Hartvig

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

Sadly, the first 2 thoughts that popped into my head when I read the opening paragraph of the article were “Duke leads in HR’s & RBI’s in the 50’s and Bob Elliot leads in RBI’s in the 40’s”.

I may need to get a life…

Darien

11 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

This post really makes me wish we still had the old “like” button. Since, frankly, Hartvig, that’s awesome. 😀

Chuck

11 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Cabrera is close when considering 2004-2013, minimum 5020 PAs. He leads in RBI and average, but is third in HR behind Pujols and Dunn. It’s possible with a yet another huge homer year that he wins the triple crown for 2005-2014.

Dr. Doom

11 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Bill James just noted on his site today that Ted Williams cumulatively led the majors in all three Triple Crown stats for the period 1939-1960.

no statistician but

11 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

In a way this is surprising, given the time Williams lost to the military, but in another way it isn’t, since the only player of comparable stature who had most of his career during that period is Musial, and Musial never had Williams’ power or the runners in front of him to drive in that Williams did. As for BA, Williams is the only player whose career came after 1938 who has a BA above .340.

e pluribus munu

11 years ago

Reply to no statistician but

The statement that Musial “never had Williams’ power” didn’t seem quite right to me, nsb. Following up, if you compare HR numbers during the prime power decade of each hitter (Williams 1939-51, with three years out for the War, and Musial 1948-57), Williams’ edge is just 323-310, not very significant. But I think your statement is right for their careers overall: given Williams’ five years in the service to Musial’s one, and the fact that Williams has a substantial lead in HRs away, Musial’s 475 HRs are really further behind Williams’ 521 than it would appear. But Williams’ “triple-crown” period… Read more »

bstar

11 years ago

Reply to e pluribus munu

I don’t know that’s it fair to Williams to look at 1942-1960 when comparing him to Musial because Ted lost three years to the war and Stan only one.

If we look at 1946-1960, it’s really close:

Ted Williams – 394 HR / 1324 RBI / .340
Stan Musial – 393 HR / 1487 RBI / .333

But the OPS+’s during that time frame? Williams slams the door with a 190 OPS+ to Musial’s 162.

Editor

John Autin

11 years ago

Great concept, birtelcom. But might I respectfully suggest a higher PA threshold than 2,000, for the “batting crown” of completed decades? 2,000 PAs could be as little as 3 seasons.

I would advocate a 4,000-PA threshold. And not merely because it would give Lou Gehrig a 1927-36 triple crown. 🙂

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to John Autin

I played around with a few different PA minimums, and found that, for purposes of the 11 decade periods in the table, 2,000 didn’t give anybody an unfair “short decade” advantage in the BA category. But for broader purposes, such as rolling decades, you’re right that a higher PA minimum might be useful.

Phil

11 years ago

Pitchers (W/K/ERA)? Might be tough…Grove in the ’30s or Clemens in the ’90s?

Luis Gomez

11 years ago

Reply to Phil

Perhaps Maddux got in Roger´s way in the 90´s.

Phil

11 years ago

Reply to Luis Gomez

Definitely…Pedro, too, I’d bet. I think a pitcher decade-TC is probably even harder.

Phil

11 years ago

Reply to Phil

Maddux and Pedro both had lower ERAs than Clemens for the decade (Maddux by a half-run). Also forgot about some tall guy who struck out a few batters in the ’90s.

Hartvig

11 years ago

Reply to Phil

I wasn’t aware that Jon Rauch played in the 90’s.

Oh wait, you mean that OTHER tall guy….

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Phil

1910-1919 Walter Johnson is the triple crown winner.

Jim Bouldin

11 years ago

Color me confused. The Triple Crown is awarded *by league-wide* totals, not MLB-wide totals.

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to Jim Bouldin

Yes, my decade concept is an MLB-wide notion, not the traditional league-based, one-season triple crown approach. League-wide doesn’t work particularly well for decade-long periods because of players changing leagues, leading to results where one player may lead a category in the NL, another lead in the same category in the AL, but a third player may have achieved more in the category than both those guys.

Phil

11 years ago

From an “Ask Bill” on Bill James’ site yesterday: “…Ted Williams led the majors in home runs, RBI and batting average, cumulatively, from 1939 through 1960.”

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to Phil

And that is still true even if you go down as low as a minimum of 80 plate appearances in the batting average category.

robbs

11 years ago

No real place to introduce this (let me know if there is) for the novice b-ref user, so I’ll try it here as we seem to have the usual suspects engaged. A bar trivia question back in my drinking/softball days was: Who is the only player to have 500 hits for four different teams? I realize this crowd thinks Rusty Staub, with a passing thought/sigh of “Le Grande Orange” in less than 500 seconds, but I won a few suds in the 80’s with this before the internet. Is there an easy way using baseball reference to check if he… Read more »

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to robbs

Here’s one way. Go to the PI batting season finder, click on combined seasons, sort by hits, set franchises played for equal to or greater than 4 and hits equal to or greater than 2000. The results sheet shows 19 such players. Then go to each of their stats pages. At the bottom is a breakdown of how many hits the player got for each of the teams he played for. Just by eyeballing the list of 19 players I would say that no one has 500+ hits for 4 teams.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

I did find that George Henry Burns had 300+ hits for 4 teams.

robbs

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Thanks Richard;

Rusty still the only one, though Roberto Alomar was three hits short of 500 with the Padres and four hits short with the Orioles.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to robbs

I didn’t realize it but for my first PI run but I accidentally had another limit in my search. Correctly running the analysis shows 110 players on the list. Aside from checking each player individually I don’t know how to pick out the players you are looking for. Sorry about that.

robbs

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Re-did Got the 19 but not the 110 What extra filter did you have on?

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

@24

Robbs: Follow my instructions in post 19 to get the 110 players. You can sort by anything not necessarily hits. I’m going out now but will check later tonight.

There is another method but it is very involved .

robbs

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Found 110. Don’t need more involved. Thanks for the help.

Editor

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

I’m pretty sure it’s only Rusty. Checked many of them, and the ones I didn’t was because I was virtually certain a player couldn’t have had 4 x 500. Here’s some I found:
– 3 x 700 – Doc Cramer
– 3 x 600 – Johnny Damon
– 3 x 500 – Heinie Manush, Omar Vizquel, Bill Buckner, Steve Finley, Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, Adrian Beltre, Brett Butler, John Olerud, Darrell Evans, Alex Rodriguez
– 5 x 200 – Don Baylor, Juan Pierre

robbs

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

Trust you Doug, I’ve got Rusty only so far too. Fun clicking on players especially those not as familiar with (such as Doc Cramer as you note; Omar Vizquel way better player than I thought). Subjective only, but I think many players lesser valued because they were traded in older days and free agents in modern because they don’t have that one team identification. Especially league switchers also. If Adrian Beltre has same career but all with LA Dodgers they would be building statues or making movies about him.

Editor

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to robbs

Beltre is signed on with Texas for two more years after this one so, barring trade, injury or retirement, he should join Cramer at 3 x 700.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

I checked them all. Staub was the only 4 x 500.

mosc

11 years ago

What does this thread say to me? Beltre wins a lot of 30+ turnaround lists if he keeps this up and is not going quietly into the good night. .270/.325/.453/.779 OPS+ ~105. Not an offensive juggernaut for Mr. Beltre prior to age 30. Then .317/.360/.554/.914 OPS+ ~140 doesn’t look much like the same guy over the past 4 years. How many guys have 35 point OPS+ raises after age 30 with say 3000 PA on either side? Beltre’s another season off of that many PA’s himself but I think that would screen out a lot of guys who didn’t play… Read more »

David Horwich

11 years ago

Reply to mosc

“How many guys have 35 point OPS+ raises after age 30 with say 3000 PA on either side?”

I found a 44 point increase for this fellow –

age 21-30 OPS+ 159 (6038 PA)

age 31-42 OPS+ 203 (6568 PA)

It shouldn’t be too hard to guess who this is….

Editor

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to mosc

Only found two (in addition to BB). – Mark McGwire was +40, 143 through age 30, and 183 after. – Roberto Clemente was +39, 116 through age 30, and 155 after. Some others. – Frank Howard was +26, 131 through age 30, and 157 after. I never would have guessed that Hondo was that good, or that much better after age 30. – Willie Stargell was +20, 136 through age 30, 156 after. – Tony Phillips +20, 95 before, 115 after Interesting one to watch is Yadier Molina. This is his age 30 season and he is 135 OPS+ over… Read more »

David Horwich

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

Here’s another 40 point increase:

Ken Caminiti

age 24-30 OPS+ 94 (3334 PA)
age 31-38 OPS+ 134 (3793 PA)

Some others who came to mind as better hitters in their 30s:

Brian Downing, +19 points (109 vs 128)
Ozzie Smith, +16 points (78 vs 94)
Frank White, +13 points (78 vs 91)

It is of course unlikely that Beltre is going to maintain his 35 point increase as he reaches his late 30s, just as Clemente’s 39 point increase probably would have eroded had his life not been cut short after his age-37 season.

adidas zx schuhe

10 years ago

There’s certainly a lot to learn about this issue.
I love all the points you’ve made.