My friend and fellow SABR member Ira Siegel suggested this. But I was not sure what method to use since we have three very different stats involved.
We could look at how many HRs, RBIs and points of batting average each guy is ahead of second place and add them all up. But that is like adding apples and oranges.
So I did find all those differences but I decided to rank them and give points using the MVP voting system. If a player had the largest HR differential (that is, over the guy who came in 2nd place) that would get them 14 points. Then the next largest HR differential gets 9 points. So like the MVP voting, the point scheme is 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. There were a few ties, so points were split. If two guys tied for 3rd, for example, they each to 7.5 points. Each player got points in all three stats (except for guys who came in 11th or 12th-there have been 12 triple crowns since 1920). Then the points from each stat were totaled and the player with the highest total is the most dominant.
First, Table 1 below has all the winners and there stats:
Table 1
Player |
Year |
HR |
RBI |
AVG |
Rogers Hornsby |
1922 |
42 |
152 |
0.401 |
Rogers Hornsby |
1925 |
39 |
143 |
0.403 |
Chuck Klein |
1933 |
28 |
120 |
0.368 |
Jimmie Foxx |
1933 |
48 |
163 |
0.356 |
Lou Gehrig |
1934 |
49 |
166 |
0.363 |
Joe Medwick |
1937 |
31 |
154 |
0.374 |
Ted Williams |
1942 |
36 |
137 |
0.356 |
Ted Williams |
1947 |
32 |
114 |
0.343 |
Mickey Mantle |
1956 |
52 |
130 |
0.353 |
Frank Robinson |
1966 |
49 |
122 |
0.316 |
Carl Yastrzemski |
1967 |
44 |
121 |
0.326 |
Miguel Cabrera |
2012 |
44 |
139 |
0.330 |
Now Table 2 which shows how far ahead they were of the 2nd place guy in each stat:
Table 2
Player |
HR Edge |
RBI Edge |
AVG Edge |
Rogers Hornsby22 |
16 |
20 |
0.047 |
Rogers Hornsby25 |
15 |
13 |
0.036 |
Chuck Klein |
1 |
14 |
0.019 |
Jimmie Foxx |
14 |
23 |
0.020 |
Lou Gehrig |
5 |
24 |
0.007 |
Joe Medwick |
0 |
39 |
0.010 |
Ted Williams42 |
9 |
23 |
0.025 |
Ted Williams47 |
3 |
16 |
0.015 |
Mickey Mantle |
20 |
2 |
0.008 |
Frank Robinson |
10 |
12 |
0.009 |
Carl Yastrzemski |
0 |
8 |
0.015 |
Miguel Cabrera |
1 |
11 |
0.004 |
The largest differential for HRs is Mantle at 20 (that is, Mantle hit 52 HRs in 1956 while the the 2nd highest HR total in the AL that year was 32). That will get him 14 points. Next is Hornsby 1922 at 16, so that gets him 9 points.
Table 3 below has the complete HR rankings
Table 3
Player |
HR Edge |
Pts |
Mickey Mantle |
20 |
14 |
Rogers Hornsby22 |
16 |
9 |
Rogers Hornsby25 |
15 |
8 |
Jimmie Foxx |
14 |
7 |
Frank Robinson |
10 |
6 |
Ted Williams42 |
9 |
5 |
Lou Gehrig |
5 |
4 |
Ted Williams47 |
3 |
3 |
Chuck Klein |
1 |
1.5 |
Miguel Cabrera |
1 |
1.5 |
Joe Medwick |
0 |
0 |
Carl Yastrzemski |
0 |
0 |
Table 4 below has the complete RBI rankings:
Table 4
Player |
RBI Edge |
Pts |
Joe Medwick |
39 |
14 |
Lou Gehrig |
24 |
9 |
Jimmie Foxx |
23 |
7.5 |
Ted Williams42 |
23 |
7.5 |
Rogers Hornsby22 |
20 |
6 |
Ted Williams47 |
16 |
5 |
Chuck Klein |
14 |
4 |
Rogers Hornsby25 |
13 |
3 |
Frank Robinson |
12 |
2 |
Miguel Cabrera |
11 |
1 |
Carl Yastrzemski |
8 |
0 |
Mickey Mantle |
2 |
0 |
Table 5 below has the complete AVG rankings
Table 5
Player |
AVG Edge |
Pts |
Rogers Hornsby22 |
0.047 |
14 |
Rogers Hornsby25 |
0.036 |
9 |
Ted Williams42 |
0.025 |
8 |
Jimmie Foxx |
0.020 |
7 |
Chuck Klein |
0.019 |
6 |
Ted Williams47 |
0.015 |
4.5 |
Carl Yastrzemski |
0.015 |
4.5 |
Joe Medwick |
0.010 |
3 |
Frank Robinson |
0.009 |
2 |
Mickey Mantle |
0.008 |
1 |
Lou Gehrig |
0.007 |
0 |
Miguel Cabrera |
0.004 |
0 |
Table 6 below has the complete total point rankings
Table 6
Player |
HR Pts |
RBI Pts |
AVG Pts |
Total |
Rogers Hornsby22 |
9 |
6 |
14 |
29 |
Jimmie Foxx |
7 |
7.5 |
7 |
21.5 |
Ted Williams42 |
5 |
7.5 |
8 |
20.5 |
Rogers Hornsby25 |
8 |
3 |
9 |
20 |
Joe Medwick |
0 |
14 |
3 |
17 |
Mickey Mantle |
14 |
0 |
1 |
15 |
Lou Gehrig |
4 |
9 |
0 |
13 |
Ted Williams47 |
3 |
5 |
4.5 |
12.5 |
Chuck Klein |
1.5 |
4 |
6 |
11.5 |
Frank Robinson |
6 |
2 |
2 |
10 |
Carl Yastrzemski |
0 |
0 |
4.5 |
4.5 |
Miguel Cabrera |
1.5 |
1 |
0 |
2.5 |
Rogers Hornsby in 1922 is well ahead of the pack. So, at least according to this method, he had the most dominant triple crown season.
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