Why does the Triple Crown seem underhyped?

[LongTimeListener]

Just wait until someone wins the pitcher's Triple Crown: era, strikeouts and WINS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mark2010]

Wow, maybe because it's been longer since we've had a Triple Crown winner in baseball than in horse racing.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Just wait until someone wins the pitcher's Triple Crown: era, strikeouts and WINS!!!!!!!!!!!

Didn't both guys do that last year?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

My guess is that since almost all baseball media awarded Trout the MVP back in August, and since Cabrera only moved into real Triple Crown contention in September, his performance kind of snuck up on people.

 

[casty33]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

 

[Dick Whitman]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

Isn't there room to maneuver between "no value" and "extreme value"? Doesn't seem like a binary decision to me. Batting average matters. It doesn't matter as much as we used to think it did.

 

[cranberry]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

Casty, you're smart enough to understand advanced statistics, so I don't understand why you choose not to do so ... but, anyway, I don't think the Melky Cabrera situation is that important to anyone outside the oddity of a mid-season change to in the eligibility at Melky's request. That's what made it a story.

 

[RickStain]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

There is nothing the average American male hates to hear so much as that watching a lot of baseball doesn't make you an expert on baseball.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

There is nothing the average American male hates to hear so much as that watching a lot of baseball doesn't make you an expert on baseball.

I could play 36 holes of golf every day. If I used my putter on the tee, I would suck at golf, even though I played it a lot.

 

[Boom_70]

It's not Jetes.

Not kidding

or Trout

When Yaz did it all you really had was newspaper coverage so outside of Boston area most could not see with their own eyes so the feat seemed larger than life. Now you can see almost every game and highlight which I think has watered down the achievement a bit.

Also think it has to do a bit with Cabrera's past issues. Yaz at that time was the embodiment of the American spirit. The son of a Long Island potato farmer.

 

[Dick Whitman]

We know which SportsJournalists.commers are still resistant to sabermetrics.

Which have admittedly come around?

LTL jumps out as one.

 

[sgreenwell]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

Isn't there room to maneuver between "no value" and "extreme value"? Doesn't seem like a binary decision to me. Batting average matters. It doesn't matter as much as we used to think it did.

Agree with this.

Also, I think some of the lack of love for the Triple Crown is because it's somewhat arbitrary. It's not an award - it's something neat that doesn't happen that often, and the popularity has probably slid a bit thanks to some stat categories that have lost popularity in the past 20 years because other stat categories have gotten more popular.

 

[JC]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

I never called you an idiot and you are obviously smart enough to understand OPS and WHIP if you choose. These aren't even considered advanced stats anymore, they are in every players stat line.

Of course batting average has value, just not as much as it used to considering it gives the same value to a base hit that it does for a home run.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

I never called you an idiot and you are obviously smart enough to understand OPS and WHIP if you choose. These aren't even considered advanced stats anymore, they are in every players stat line.

Of course batting average has value, just not as much as it used to considering it gives the same value to a base hit that it does for a home run.

This is total semantics, but batting average has the EXACT SAME VALUE that it used to. We just understand that value better today than we did in the past.

I know I'm picking nits, but I think the way you phrased that helps lead to the rift, in a way, because the traditionalists get pissy at the idea that something USED TO BE WORTH X, and it's CURRENTLY WORTH Y. That's inaccurate. It was worth Y before, but we just thought it was worth X.

 

[Boom_70]

Stat line for original Triple Crown "Winner" Paul Hines:

1878 NL Paul Hines PRO .358, 4 HR, 50 RBI

I guess HR's were hard to come by in that era of baseball.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Stat line for original Triple Crown "Winner" Paul Hines:

1878 NL Paul Hines PRO .358, 4 HR, 50 RBI

I guess HR's were hard to come by in that era of baseball.

Considering the baseballs in those days were so over-used that they sometimes resembled a busted grapefruit, I'd say that's correct.

 

[JC]

Sorry, JC, I just turned 66 and am retirerd on Social Securty disability so I guess I'm an idiot in your eyes, but I covered baseball for more than 30 years and I've followed it for about 60. I think I know the game pretty well.
And if batting average is so devalued, why was the Melky Cabrera situation so important to everyone?

I never called you an idiot and you are obviously smart enough to understand OPS and WHIP if you choose. These aren't even considered advanced stats anymore, they are in every players stat line.

Of course batting average has value, just not as much as it used to considering it gives the same value to a base hit that it does for a home run.

This is total semantics, but batting average has the EXACT SAME VALUE that it used to. We just understand that value better today than we did in the past.

I know I'm picking nits, but I think the way you phrased that helps lead to the rift, in a way, because the traditionalists get pissy at the idea that something USED TO BE WORTH X, and it's CURRENTLY WORTH Y. That's inaccurate. It was worth Y before, but we just thought it was worth X.

Fair point

 

[Boom_70]

Stat line for original Triple Crown "Winner" Paul Hines:

1878 NL Paul Hines PRO .358, 4 HR, 50 RBI

I guess HR's were hard to come by in that era of baseball.

Considering the baseballs in those days were so over-used that they sometimes resembled a busted grapefruit, I'd say that's correct.

Looks like HR's did not pick up until 1922:

1967 AL Carl Yastrzemski BOS .326, 44 HR, 121 RBI
1966 AL Frank Robinson BAL .316, 49 HR, 122 RBI
1956 AL Mickey Mantle NYY .353, 52 HR, 130 RBI
1947 AL Ted Williams BOS .343, 32 HR, 114 RBI
1942 AL Ted Williams BOS .356, 36 HR, 137 RBI
1937 NL Joe Medwick STL .374, 31 HR, 154 RBI
1934 AL Lou Gehrig NYY .363, 49 HR, 165 RBI
1933 AL Jimmie Foxx PHA .356, 48 HR, 163 RBI
1933 NL Chuck Klein PHI .368, 28 HR, 120 RBI
1925 NL Rogers Hornsby STL .403, 39 HR, 143 RBI
1922 NL Rogers Hornsby STL .401, 42 HR, 152 RBI
1909 AL Ty Cobb DET .377, 9 HR, 107 RBI
1901 AL Nap Lajoie PHA .426, 14 HR, 125 RBI
1887 AA Tip O'Neill STL .435, 14 HR, 123 RBI
1878 NL Paul Hines PRO .358, 4 HR, 50 RBI

Casty might be able to add more but my recollection was that Frank Robinson was upset that his Triple Crown was not a big deal and thought it had a bit to do with racism.

 

[casty33]

Boom, if my memory is still working at this advanced age, your point on F. Robby is correct.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I wonder how much with Robinson had to do with the .316 average. It didn't seem like a monster season, I imagine, just a historical accident.