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Which would be more impressive?

frankhardyfrankhardy Posts: 8,097 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
Which would be more impressive?

Winning the triple crown or batting .400?

Also, who is the most likely candidate for each?



Albert Pujols probably has to be the top candidate for each.

Alex Rodriguez has the potential to win the triple crown, but I don't think could ever bat .400.

Manny Ramirez could win a triple crown, but I don't think could ever bat .400.

Ichiro could bat .400, but could never win the triple crown.

Vlad Guerrero could win the triple crown, but I don't think could ever bat .400.

Todd Helton, playing in Colorado, might could do both.



Those are just some thoughts on who might could do it.

The main question is - which would be more impressive?

Shane

Comments

  • softparadesoftparade Posts: 9,276 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Both are awfully tough. I would have to go with hitting .400

    ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240

  • goose3goose3 Posts: 11,471 ✭✭✭
    I agree with .400 as well.

    You certainly came up with a decent listing though of possibilities!
  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    I think the triple crown would be tougher.

    reason? you have to beat out guys and lead or tie for the crown in 3 things.

    hitting 400, while no small feat can be done, especially if a player is feared and gets many walks.

    in the past 30 years 3 or 4 guys flirted with it (hitting 400)
    most notably Gwynn who was actually watching his average rise towards 400 before the strike ended that quest.

    Brett and carew also come to mind as getting close.

    tuff one to call no doubt.

    Steve
    Good for you.
  • Dallas88Dallas88 Posts: 746 ✭
    All good points, but I'd have to go with .400 being the more difficult and impressive, just due to the media pressure......of course, there would be pressure for the triple crown, but it's easier for the media to promote .400 than the triple crown to the non-baseball junkie.

    Gotta go with Pujols for the triple crown --- he's the best all-around player in baseball right now - damn it hurts to say that about a cardinalimage

    I really don't see anyone in baseball right now who could hit .400. ---- what the heck happened to Ichiro this year?
  • frankhardyfrankhardy Posts: 8,097 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>it hurts to say that about a cardinalimage >>




    Feels good to me!! image

    Shane

  • bri2327bri2327 Posts: 3,178 ✭✭
    I dont think anyone will hit .400 ever again. It is just impossibly difficult in this age of relief pitching and advanced scouting. It hasnt been done in what, 64 years ? When guys used to achieve that mark it was in the days where pitchers stayed in the game for 9 innings for the most part, allowing more chances to see a single pitcher, and a pitcher who was wearing out in the later innings. Todays game means a hitter has to face 2, 3, or 4 pitchers a game, including all the fresh arms late in the games, greatly reducing chances of even one or two cheap hits a week against a tired arm. Also, when the .400 mark was acheived a hitter was seeing the same pitcher more often. Today, with the amount of teams and scheduling a hitter may only face a particular starter two or three times a year at best, where in the days of .400 hitters a particular pitcher might have been seen by a batter twice a month or more.

    As far as the triple crown, someone will probably do it again. Pujols would have to be the top candidate to do it. Sheffield flirted with the triple crown a couple of times. From what I remember he was near the top in all 3 categories in 92 and again in 96 before tailing off a bit the last month. Albert Belle also came very close in 98 when he finished 2nd in home runs and rbi's and 3rd in average.
    "The other teams could make trouble for us if they win."
    -- Yogi Berra

    image
  • AxtellAxtell Posts: 10,037 ✭✭
    I don't think we'll ever see anyone do either ever again.

    You have the specialty pitchers, you have specialty hitters who either hit for power or high average, that make getting the triple crown next to impossible.

    Arod, Pujols, and Derek Lee come to mind as triple crown candidates, but players like Ichiro who don't hit for power but hit for high average will make it that much more difficult.

    Throw in the media crush that would come along with either seriously getting close, and you have a recipe for it not happening.
  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    What really would be impressive is for Axtell to answer dallas in the "gone thread" instead he has been hiding like a dog with his tail bewteen his legs avoiding him. he will of course bicker back and forth with me and perry and dan over the smallest of things.


    now that would be impressive!

    Steve
    Good for you.
  • AxtellAxtell Posts: 10,037 ✭✭
    What would be more impressive would be for dopes like WP to quit derailing threads with his own petty agendas.

    Back on track, I think triple crown would be more impressive.
  • DirtyHarryDirtyHarry Posts: 1,917 ✭✭✭
    Triple Crown.
    Proud of my 16x20 autographed and framed collection - all signed in person. Not big on modern - I'm stuck in the past!
  • WabittwaxWabittwax Posts: 1,984 ✭✭✭
    The triple crown would be more impressive because it would show an absolute dominance of the game. Nobody would even come close to denying that he is the best player in baseball, hands down. If Ichiro hits 400, I doubt anybody would give a crap and nobody would think he's better than Pujols, even if he hits 450. If Pujols is truely clean of junk in his system, he's got the potential to be one of the 10 best of all time at this rate.
  • SoFLPhillyFanSoFLPhillyFan Posts: 3,931 ✭✭

    Great topic. The game needs someone to do one of these things soon, this year would be great.

    With the impressive show of hitting and also some fantastic pitching to start the season it would be exciting to see someone hit .400 or get the Triple Crown. The Crown I think would be more impressive at this point.

    I will pray that someone hits at least one of these marks so that we can listen to Axtell's theory about how MLB conspired against him after he predicted no one would ever do it again.

    Jeter hitting .400 would really ice the cake. image
  • AxtellAxtell Posts: 10,037 ✭✭
    There's a vast difference between a prediction and someone saying 'I don't think it will happen'.

  • jaxxrjaxxr Posts: 1,258 ✭✭
    How about the triple crown for pitching ? Wins, Ks, and ERA
    How about a 30 game winner ?

    Pedro the most likely choice for either. A 30 win season would be the slightly more impressive to me.

    Back to the hitters, Ted Williams, the last .400 hitter, batted .406 and DID NOT win the MVP award, in one of his triple crown years he DID NOT win the MVP award. That sportswriter voting history is very impressive, in a negative manner, to me.

    image
    This aint no party,... this aint no disco,.. this aint no fooling around.
  • AxtellAxtell Posts: 10,037 ✭✭
    Clemens won the pitching triple crown back to back in 1997 and 1998.

    30 game winner is one of those stats that, due to the 5 man rotation and limiting pitchers, I don't think we'll ever see again.

  • ConnecticoinConnecticoin Posts: 12,863 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Off hand, I knew Yaz was the last AL Triple Crown winner (1967).

    I Googled to find the last NL winner and it was Joe Medwick, way back in 1937!!! image


    BTW, the Horse Racing triple crown is almost as difficult now -- has not been done since 1978 (Affirmed). When I was a kid, I used to think horse racing triple crowns were routine, when Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed won it in the same decade!!
    *For Sale on BST* *For Sale on Ebay*
  • quincunxquincunx Posts: 127
    Well how about pujols batting .400 AND winning the triple crown? lol
  • frankhardyfrankhardy Posts: 8,097 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Well how about pujols batting .400 AND winning the triple crown? lol >>




    My thinking, exactly!! image

    Shane

  • onlyanumberonlyanumber Posts: 2,433
    The triple crown would be close to impossible to win now. There are too many specialists in the game. A guy like Pujols could do it--he's one of the few players playing today that can hit for average and power.

    .400 I think is very possible and I believe will happen again--someone has to face the Rockies, Royals and/or Rangers pitching staff 20 times a year. Couple that with the diluted pitching around the league and it could happen. I mean, John Olerud flirted with .400 up until August of '93...John Olerud!!!

    As for pitching, we will never see 30 wins again. Not when a pitcher is only getting 35 starts a season or less. We'll be lucky to see 25 wins ever again.
    Next MONTH? So he's saying that if he wins, the best-case scenario is that he'll be paying for it two weeks after the auction ends?

    Forget blocking him; find out where he lives and go punch him in the nuts. --WalterSobchak 9/12/12



    image


    Looking for Al Hrabosky and any OPC Dave Campbells (the ESPN guy)
  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 30,643 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I would say the Triple Crown would be more difficult
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