Triple Crowns: Arms and Bats Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sandy Koufax

Koufax of the Dodgers exploded in the 1960s. In 1961 he won 18 games, then 14, then 25, 19, 26, and 27 in 1966 when he retired. His Triple Crown seasons came in 1963, 1965, and 1966. Sandy also won three Cy Youngs, two World Series MVPs, one season MVP, and all in those six seasons. He was inducted into the hall in 1972.

Answer: Mickey Mantle

The others never hit for the Triple Crown, but Mantle of the Yankees did in 1956 with 52 home runs, 130 RBIs, and batting .353 in this MVP Award season. It would be the first of two times that Mantle would hit 50+ home runs in a season.

Answer: Pedro Martinez

Pedro was in his eighth season, and his second with Boston in 1999. In that season he went 23-4 and threw a Triple Crown. It was also the last Triple Crown of the century in either league. He won the Cy Young Award in 1997 with the Expos, then in his first season with Boston in 1998, he was the runner-up to Roger Clemens of the Blue Jays.

He won the Cy Young Award for his Triple Crown effort in 1999 with Boston.

Answer: Steve Carlton

Carlton was in his first season with the Phillies in 1972 after being traded by the Cardinals after seven seasons. Steve went 27-10 in his Triple Crown season. Ironically, the following season he went 13-20 with Philadelphia.

Answer: Guy Hecker

Hecker was a pitcher in his third season with the Louisville Eclipse of the AA. He went 52-20 and had a 1.80 ERA along with 385 strikeouts. To show Guy's dominance of the league, he had 15 more wins than the runner-up, 39 more strikeouts, and a .038 lower ERA. He played eight of his nine seasons with the Eclipse, and retired as a Pittsburgh Allegheny in 1890.

Answer: Carl Yastrzemski

Yaz was a career Bostonian over 23 seasons from 1961-1983. He played over 2000 games in the outfield while showing the number 8 on his back. His Triple Crown in 1967 would be the last batting Triple Crown won in the 20th Century.

Answer: Charley Radbourn

Although all were Triple Crown winners also, the others weren't born yet. Radbourn owned baseball in 1884, and not only with his Triple Crown. Radbourn took the Providence Grays to the National League pennant easily, 10.5 games ahead of the runner-up Boston Beaneaters. Charley started 73 games in the season. Teammate Charlie Sweeney also went 17-8 for the Grays.

Answer: Pete Alexander

Alexander threw them in 1915 and 1916 with the Phillies. Playing 20 seasons between the Phillies, Cubs, and Cardinals, Pete threw three Triple Crowns in his career, his last coming in 1920 with the Cubs. Although leading the league six times with wins and also six times with strikeouts, Pete never was closer than third in the MVP voting. With his 373-208 record, he was an easy induction into the hall in 1938, the third year of the Hall of Fame.

Answer: 1933

Baseball in 1933 was owned by Philadelphia fans. In the American League it was Jimmie Foxx of the Athletics who batted for it. In the National League it was Chuck Klein of Phillies who did it. Foxx won his second of three MVPs in 1933, while Klein was the runner-up MVP to New York Giant Carl Hubbell in the season.

Answer: Cy Young

Young threw the triple in the first season of the American League in 1901. Cy had played most of his career with the Cleveland Spiders and St. Louis Perfectos/Cardinals before joining Boston in 1901. Although he would stay in Boston for another eight seasons, it would be his only Triple Crown Award.

He would retire with an unreachable record of 511 career wins in 1911. The pitching Cy Young Award was named in his honor after his death in 1955, then first awarded in 1956 to Dodger Don Newcombe. Slugger Nap Lajoie also christened the American League in 1901 by hitting for the league's first batting Triple Crown.