Triple Crown!

[Fist and Faith]

Miguel Cabrera, with Detroit! First Triple Crown since Yaz in 1967! That's amazing!

[Menolly]

uh...
You ain't talking horse racing, are ya Fist?

*zoom-zoom*

[Savor Dam]

No, Menolly, he is not talking about winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. Since there might be others not conversant with this bit of American sport, I'll explain...

[pedant]
In baseball, the triple crown is when a player ends the season leading in all three key offensive statistics: batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.
[/pedant]

[sgt.null]

it is a geat feat. congrats to Cabrera.

the fact it took 45 years to do since the last highlights how hard it is to do.

[Damelon]

Congratulations to Cabrera. That's a very difficult feat to accomplish.

[Menolly]

In baseball, the triple crown is when a player ends the season leading in all three key offensive statistics: batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.

That is impressive!
Has anyone ever led in all statistics, both offensive and defensive, in a season?

If not, is there an equivalent recognition for a player who ends a season leading in all defensive statistics?

[Cybrweez]

Baseball doesn't really have defensive statistics. That are some newer ones used by sabremetrics people, but they aren't generally understood or cared about by fans.

Good work Miguel, hope he doesn't fall off the wagon tho celebrating.

[Menolly]

So things like catching fly balls, tagging players out, fielding and throwing to an out, etc., aren't kept track of?

[Savor Dam]

In terms of coaching/management staff tracking opportunities vs. successes, there is probably tracking going on. However, that is a far different matter than there being any sort of public awareness.

Apart from the battery (the pitcher and catcher), there is not really a consistent pattern to which players will be handling the ball defensively on any given at-bat. It all depends on where the batter hits it - if he does - and what runners are on base.

Makes it really hard to have meaningful competitive defensive stats. Offensive stats like batting average, home runs and RBIs are far easier to use for player comparison, since all players (except those AL pitchers...) are pretty much on equal footing.

[sgt.null]

and to add to SD's thought - defensive range is hard to measure. Cal Ripken jr and Ozzie Smith both played shortstop but had wildly different approaches and range.

how do you measure an error by both when you didn't expect Cal to get to a ball that he bobbled?

[Damelon]

Errors are also, in part, subjective. A scorer has to rule them as one and they are not always indisputable.

[Cybrweez]

Yea, that's why I think, they never caught on. But teams do have statistics around defense, there are formulas used to figure out players skill in that regard. They just aren't "accepted" by the public, they don't really care. So if no one cares, it generally doesn't get an award.

[sgt.null]

and the gold glove award is a joke, more popularity contest than true reward.