Greatness Among Us!

[jethrod3]

Guess who is leading the league in both triples and home runs...

If this holds at the end of the season this will have only been the 3rd time it has been accomplished, and never by the Bambino. You need power and speed to pull of this incredible feat!

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by jethrod3

Guess who is leading the league in both triples and home runs...

If this holds at the end of the season this will have only been the 3rd time it has been accomplished, and never by the Bambino. You need power and speed to pull of this incredible feat!

Interesting trivia question. Since 1900, it looks like there are actually 6 different players that have done it (based on what I found via Google searching). 3 of them I'm not that familiar with considering when they played so not sure about their speed. For the other 3, there is one that is surprising because speed is not something you would say about him.

Let's see some guesses.

[Casey2296]

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Here's a guess Jay.
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[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

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Here's a guess Jay.
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All time leader in triples but never led in both triples and homers the same season.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Interesting trivia question. Since 1900, it looks like there are actually 6 different players that have done it (based on what I found via Google searching). 3 of them I'm not that familiar with considering when they played so not sure about their speed. For the other 3, there is one that is surprising because speed is not something you would say about him.

Let's see some guesses.

Willie Mays

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by cgjackson222

Willie Mays

That's one - 1955

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I have to assume Cobb did it

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I have to assume Cobb did it

No, Cobb is not one of the answers.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Dang, he did both, but not in the same year. How 'bout the Mick?

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Interesting trivia question. Since 1900, it looks like there are actually 6 different players that have done it (based on what I found via Google searching). 3 of them I'm not that familiar with considering when they played so not sure about their speed. For the other 3, there is one that is surprising because speed is not something you would say about him.

Let's see some guesses.

Jim Rice?

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Jim Rice?

Yes, Jim Rice in 1978. He's the one that I would not think speed would be a word to describe him, but he had 15 triples that year.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Yes, Jim Rice in 1978. He's the one that I would not think speed would be a word to describe him, but he had 15 triples that year.

Yeah, thought so.


I've gone down the Jim Rice rabbit hole before. He came one triple away from doing it two seasons in a row. He had 30 triples in a two year span, and 38 in a 3 year span.

Don't know how common it is, but he had far more career triples, then he had stolen bases.

Jim Rice has more career triples then Mickey Mantle.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Yeah, thought so.


I've gone down the Jim Rice rabbit hole before. He came one triple away from doing it two seasons in a row. He had 30 triples in a two year span, and 38 in a 3 year span.

Don't know how common it is, but he had far more career triples, then he had stolen bases.

Jim Rice has more career triples then Mickey Mantle.

Which leads me down another rabbit hole.

Stan Musial led the league in triples 5 times. 177 triples against only 78 stolen bases (and a rotten stolen base percentage of barely over 50% at that).

As a matter of fact, Stan has more triples then anybody whose career was entirely in the post-deadball era, except for Paul Waner (who also didn't steal many bases).


.....and the more I look, the more I see that hitting prowess may actually have more to do with triples production, then simply blazing speed.

[Yoda]

Having lived in Japan for many years and becoming a Tokyo Giants fan, I saw Oh and Nagashima play in their prime and always thought they would do as well in MLB as in Japan. Ichiro proved that point, and now we have the incredibly talented Ohtani to marvel at.

Japan has always been baseball mad and fans are terrifically loyal to their teams. The integration of their best players into our game is, I believe, a big positive. Ohtani has become divine over there, probably ranking just below the Emperor.