It’s interesting to me that there haven’t been more Triple Crown winners in baseball. That’s not to diminish the effort it takes to lead in just one category let alone three of the most important stats (let the argument begin about the significance of the rbi stat!). But there have been only 15 Triple Crown winners in the history of baseball in both leagues. It has only been accomplished five times in the National League alone. Yet as rare as it is, two hitters (Ted Williams and Rogers Hornsby) have done it twice.
The last time a player led the league in batting average, homeruns and rbis in the National League was way back in 1937 when Joe ‘Ducky’ Medwick hit .374 with 31 HR and 154 rbis with the St Louis Cardinals. Not particularly known as a homerun hitter (he had 205 for his career) Medwick’s 31 dingers actually tied with Mel Ott for the homerun title. As it turned out, that would be the highest total he would reach in his career.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 Totals | 156 | 677 | 633 | 111 | 237 | 56 | 10 | 31 | 154 | 4 | 41 | 50 | .374 | .414 | .641 |
Though he wasn’t a homerun hitter, Medwick had a propensity for gap power. He lead the NL in 1937 with 56 doubles and that helped him get five power numbers (1-4-5-6-6). And with his .374 average, there are plenty of hit numbers to go around with three 7s and four 8s. His last 9 stretches out to 61.
Medwick wasn’t much of a walker with just two 14s on his 1937 card but he certainly didn’t strike out much either. He only has two 13s on his card as well.
Interesting thing about Joe Medwick… he wasn’t that tall for an outfielder/first baseman. His APBA card lists him as only 5’ 9” though Baseball Reference has him marked at 5’ 10”. Also, despite playing for 17 years, he retired from baseball at the tender age of 36.
One oddity about this card from the All-time C set: the 12 was placed at 65 so APBA players of this set will have to get used to the 63-35 where it was temporarily moved. Medwick does have two 31s on his ‘37 card though. His second one is placed at 21.
Thanks to Pastor Rich for another great suggestion!
A favorite of mine!
A favorite of mine as well. During my formative baseball years, my Dad would take me to Old-Timers day at Yankee stadium. During the regular game afterwards, occasionally he would point out people in the stands – “go get that guy’s autograph”. One of those guys was Ducky Medwick.
When I started getting into APBA a couple of years later, the 37 Cardinals were my favorite non-Yankee GTOP, and the 37 series was one I played often, so this card brings back many good memories.
Also, the guy was from Carteret, which was in our conference in HS baseball.
That looks like the kind of card that Puig is going to get. Except that Puig will have 15-11.
WOW! You don’t see a lot of J-0’s with 15 & 25 7’s, espically combined with a power card. Great choice for Monster Monday.