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Monday April 22, 2019
Leading the League in Doubles and Triples
One recent night when I was having trouble sleeping, I spent time perusing Baseball Reference, came across Cesar Tovar's page, and saw that he'd led the league in both doubles and triples in 1970. I already knew this—I'd even written about it—but this time a light bulb went off. How common was that—to lead the league in both categories in the same year? Who was the last guy to do it?
Turns out: Pretty uncommon. Turns out: Tovar's the last guy to do it.
Searching for the answer, I came across a SABR page by Steve Krevisky on various baseball feats, including leading the league in both doubles and triples in the same season. Here's Krevisky's list:
NO. | PLAYER | YEAR | YEAR | YEAR | YEAR |
1 | Honus Wagner | 1900 | 1908 | ||
2 | Ty Cobb | 1908 | 1911 | 1917 | |
3 | Bobby Veach | 1919 | |||
4 | Rogers Hornsby | 1921 | |||
5 | Charlie Gehringer | 1923 | |||
6 | Joe Vosmik | 1935 | |||
7 | Stan Musial | 1943 | 1946 | 1948 | 1949 |
8 | Zoilo Versalles | 1965 | |||
9 | Lou Brock | 1968 | |||
10 | Cesar Tovar | 1970 |
Before going further, how about a hand for Stan the Man? Since the deadball era, this feat has only happened 10 times—and he has four of them. Career, he's 19th all-time in triples (and everyone ahead of him is pre-WWII), and third all-time in doubles (Speaker, Rose). Plus 475 HRs, which, when he retired in 1963, was sixth all-time, behind Ruth, Foxx, Williams, Ott and Gehrig. No wonder he was The Man.
That said, Krevisky's list, I could tell, was old. His list of guys who led the league in doubles and homers in the same year ends with Willie Stargell in 1973 when I knew Albert Belle did it in 1995. So, to make sure, I crunched all the doubles/triples numbers after 1970.
And I couldn't find anyone who'd done it after Tovar.
I did find a few guys who led the league in doubles and triples—just not in the same year:
NO. | PLAYERS | 2Bs | 2Bs | 3Bs | 3Bs | 3Bs |
1 | Joe Rudi | 1974 | 1972 | |||
2 | George Brett | 1978 | 1990 | 1975 | 1976 | 1979 |
3 | Robin Yount | 1980 | 1982 | 1983 | 1988 | |
4 | Paul Molitor | 1987 | 1991 | |||
5 | Andy Van Slyke | 1992 | 1988 | |||
6 | Chuck Knoblauch | 1994 | 1996 | |||
7 | Nomar Garciaparra | 2002 | 1997 | |||
8 | Bobby Abreu | 2002 | 1999 |
Before going further, how about a hand for George Brett? Not just for being a five-time leader but for the 12-year gap in his doubles titles. And how the hell did he lead the league in triples three times with Willie Wilson on his team? Answer: Wilson didn't become a full-time player until 1979, then led the league in triples five times in the ‘80s.
BTW, anyone guessing Bobby Abreu for this list, go to the head of the class.
Since I kept seeing players from the Kansas City Royals, I wondered how often someone on that team led the league in either category from 1970 to 1990. Answer: 16 times: Brett with 5, Wilson with 5 (triples), Hal McRae twice (doubles), Amos Otis twice (doubles), Lou Piniella (doubles) and Freddie Patek (triples). In the AL, the next closest team is the Milwaukee Brewers with eight: Yount, Molitor, Cooper, Pedro Garcia. Boston has seven, the Twins have five. In the NL, the Expos have eight league leaders, with Houston and Philly at seven each. No one’s close to the Royals.
Anyway, that's the answer to that late-night question: The last man to lead the league in both doubles and triples in the same season is Cesar “Pepe” Tovar in 1970. Nice coincidence: I just happen to have a picture with him that fateful year:
My brother Chris and I with Cesar Tovar in 1970.
More soon.