Albert Pujols receives a curtain call earlier this season against Houston. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
1967. That was the year the St. Louis Cardinals won their eighth World Series. Bob Gibson went 3-0 in that series over the Boston Red Sox, yet Carl Yastremski still managed to hit .400 for the Series. It was also the last year Major League Baseball saw a Triple Crown Winner. That was Yastremski. Now, Albert Pujols is making a serious run for the Triple Crown this season.
The Triple Crown is known as having the highest batting average, and the most home runs and RBIs in one league. It has happened just 16 times in baseball, by 14 different players. Ted Williams of Boston and Rogers Hornsby of the Cardinals were the only players to do it twice. Hornsby did it in 1922 and 1925. There was also Joe Medwick of the 1937 Cardinals and way back in 1887, Tip O’Neill of the St. Louis Browns became the second player to win the Triple Crown.
As far as Pujols. After Monday night’s 3 for 5 performance against Pittsburgh, Pujols raised his average to .319. He is just four points behind Cincinnati’s Joey Votto at .323 with Martin Prado of Atlanta at .320. Pujols leads the NL with 33 homers, two ahead of Adam Dunn and his 92 RBIs leads Votto by six.
