Thursday, July 23, 2009

Ask Sports Sturm: Pujols the Great

albert-pujols-homerun-diamondbacks

Ronald sent me this week's project - which I referenced on the air yesterday, but now you have it in print. This is a pretty good one. Check this out:
SportsSturm-

Maybe you can help me with this. Albert Pujols has pretty much wrapped up the "best hitter of the decade". It looks like he will win the decade triple crown for the National League. Has any other player ever done that? That guy is too good.

And yes, I am a die hard Cardinals fan.

Thanks.

Ronald

The decade triple crown?

I had never considered the idea until this email, but let's take a look at the decade leaders in the triple crown categories and see how many times it has happened in baseball history that a decade has been owned by a single player. Here is the National League back to 1900:

UPDATED: 3/8/11 - stats are complete

DecadeHR LeaderRBI LeaderBA Leader
2000'sPujols - 366Pujols - 1112Pujols - .334
1990'sBonds - 361Bonds - 1076Gwynn - .344
1980'sSchmidt - 313Schmidt/Murphy - 929Gwynn - .332
1970'sStargell - 296Bench - 1013Madlock - .319
1960'sAaron - 375Aaron - 1107Clemente - .328
1950'sSnider - 326Snider - 1031Musial - .330
1940'sMize - 216Elliot - 903Musial - .346
1930'sOtt - 308Ott - 1135Terry - .352
1920'sHornsby - 250Hornsby - 1153Hornsby - .382
1910'sCravath - 116Zimmerman - 765Daubert - .302
1900'sWagner - 51Wagner - 956Wagner - .351

Table Tutorial




DecadeHR LeaderRBI LeaderBA Leader
2000'sRodriguez - 435Rodriguez - 1243Ichiro - .333
1990'sGriffey - 382Belle - 1099E. Martinez - .322
1980'sDw. Evans - 256Murray - 908Boggs - .352
1970'sJackson - 296Jackson - 922Carew - .343
1960'sKillebrew - 393Killebrew - 1013Oliva - .308
1950'sMantle - 280Berra - 997Williams - .336
1940'sWilliams - 234Williams - 893Williams - .356
1930'sFoxx - 415Foxx - 1403Gehrig - .343
1920'sRuth - 467Ruth - 1331Heilmann - .364
1910'sBaker - 76Cobb - 852Cobb - .387
1900'sDavis - 67Lajoie - 701Lajoie - .348

Table Tutorial



So there you have it. In the modern history of baseball, exactly 3 men have won the decade triple crown in their league: Ted Williams in the AL 1940's, Rogers Hornsby in the NL in the 1920's, and Honus Wagner NL, in the 1900's.

And now, the great Pujols. Albert does not have it all wrapped up, by the way. Todd Helton is at .331 in the decade, while Pujols is at .334. While that is over 5000 AB's, a major slump in the final few months could change it. Otherwise, Pujols could do something that hasn't been done since World War 2.

3 comments:

ecrosstexas (Eric Wallace) said...

Hasn't the decade of the 2000s ended now? Why the caveat about Helton possibly catching Pujols in BA.

ecrosstexas (Eric Wallace) said...

Never mind, I now see your post was originally dated 2009.

Jeff said...

I know it was about the triple crown, but I didn't realize how unreal A-Rod was this past decade. I knew Pujols was out of this world and Alex blew him away in HRs and RBI. I am really shocked by that.