How Many Triple Crown Winners Are There
In 1884, Guy Hecker, who played for Louisville Colonels of the American Association, also earned the Triple Crown (the second in Major League history) and is the only American Association pitcher to do so during their history. He had 52 wins, 385 strikeouts, and an earned run average of 1.80!
More than one-hundred forty years of Major League Baseball seasons played, thousands of great pitchers, and the Triple Crown has only been earned thirty-nine times by twenty-nine different Major League pitchers!
If you look at the history of the Triple Crown, there are decades where several horses win with large gaps in between. The 1970’s had three horses with Affirmed (1978), Seattle Slew (1977). A Triple Crown is right up there among the greatest accomplishments in sports – there's a reason it took 37 years between Affirmed's sweep in 1978 and American Pharoah's triumph in 2015. In fact, there was a 45 year gap of no triple crown award winners between 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski won it and in 2012 when Miguel Cabrera pulled it off. The reason the award is so rare to achieve is that most power hitters don't hit for a high batting average.
The MLB Triple Crown of Pitching
All 12 Triple Crown Winners
The MLB Triple Crown of pitching takes place when the pitcher's win total, strikeout total and ERA are not just the highest in their respective league, but the highest in Major League Baseball, across both leagues. They are the literally the pitcher with more wins than any other pitcher, more strkeouts than any other pitcher, and the best earned run average in all of baseball during the season.
Pitchers who earned the MLB Triple Crown of pitching are: Walter Johnson (1913), Grover Alexander (1915), Walter Johnson (1918). Dazzy Vance (1924), Lefty Grove (1930), Lefty Grove (1931), Hal Newhouser (1945), Sandy Koufax (1963), Sandy Koufax (1965), Sandy Koufax (1966), Dwight Gooden (1985), Johan Santana (2006), and Shane Bieber (2020)!
How Many Triple Crown Winners Are There
Grover Alexander (1915 & 1916), Lefty Grove (1930 & 1931), Sandy Koufax (1965 & 1966), and Roger Clemens (1997 & 1998) each accomplished a triple crown in pitching in consecutive years.