The Triple Crown "Thing"
I would be interested to know what any of you know about the history of the Triple Crown in baseball.
I had a question in "Hey, Bill" asking why Ted Williams did not win the MVP Award after he won the Triple Crown in 1942 and 1946. When you think about it, this question implies not merely that Williams had led the league in Home Runs, RBI and batting Average, but also that
(a) There was a recognition that this had happened, and
(b) There was an importance attached to it.
But is that true? I really don’t think that it is. Was "winning the triple crown" even a "thing" in 1942? Did everybody KNOW that Williams had "won the Triple Crown?" Did anybody know? Did anybody care? In the MVP debates in the newspapers, did anybody reference the fact that Williams had won some sort of "Triple Crown?"
It is my impression that the concept of a baseball Triple Crown was more or less invented by the New York press in 1956 in order to add luster to Mickey Mantle’s 1956 season. I could be wrong about this; that’s why I am asking for your input. I don’t doubt that somebody somewhere had said, before 1956, that leading the league in Home Runs, RBI and Batting Average constituted a "Triple Crown"; I am sure they must have. That’s not what I am asking. I am asking whether it was a generally accepted, generally understood "thing"? Was it part of the normal vocabulary of a baseball fan?
I THINK—my impression is that the "Triple Crown" concept entered the sports world from thoroughbred racing, and in the 1940s. Horses won the Triple Crown in 1941, 1943, 1946 and 1948, and I know from my memory that this had become a big thing. Every sports fan my age knew that Citation, 1948, was the last Triple Crown winner until Secretariat in 1973, because that was in the newspapers and on TV regularly. My IMPRESSION—which, as I say, could be wrong—is that after this became a "thing" in horse racing, and probably after it had some low-level, here-and-there references in baseball, then the New York writers picked it up and screamed "TRIPLE CROWN! TRIPLE CROWN! TRIPLE CROWN!" about Mickey Mantle in order to lionize his outstanding 1956 season.
In 1953 Al Rosen just missed the American League Triple Crown, leading the league in Home Runs (43) and RBI (145), while just missing the league lead in Batting Average by one point. So, at the time, was there a lot of talk about him just missing the Triple Crown? Or was it even mentioned?
When Rogers Hornsby won the Triple Crown in 1922 and again in 1925, was there any recognition of this at the time? What about Foxx in 1933, or Gehrig in 1934? What do any of you know about this?
Thanks.