Astros fan, team consultant and (gulp) sometime-contributor Bill Gilbert emailed me the other day, having completed his yearly look at the Triple Milestones reached during the 2007 baseball season. "Triple Milestones" is the term that Mr. Gilbert uses for player seasons that include a .300 average, 100 RBI's and 30 home runs. Bill James refers to such campaigns as "Hall of Fame Seasons" in his Abstracts, because all eligible players with five or more such seasons are in the Hall of Fame.
In 2007, six National League players satsified the requirements for the Triple Milestones in all three categories, as follows:
Carlos Lee | .303-32-119 |
Matt Holliday | .340-36-137 |
Albert Pujols | .327-32-103 |
Miguel Cabrera | .320-34-119 |
Mark Teixieira | .306-30-105 |
David Wright | .325-30-107 |
Teixeira actually split his numbers between the AL and the NL.
Lee becomes the fifth player in Astro history to have accomplished each of the Triple Milestones in a season, although it's actually the second time he personally has performed the feat, as he did it in 2006, when he split his time between Milwaukee and Texas.
Year | Player | BA | RBI | HR | |
2007 | Carlos Lee | .303 | 119 | 32 | |
2006 | Lance Berkman | .315 | 136 | 45 | |
2004 | Lance Berkman | .316 | 106 | 30 | |
2001 | Lance Berkman | .331 | 126 | 34 | |
2000 | Jeff Bagwell | .310 | 132 | 47 | |
2000 | Richard Hidalgo | .314 | 122 | 44 | |
2000 | Moises Alou | .355 | 114 | 30 | |
1999 | Jeff Bagwell | .304 | 126 | 42 | |
1998 | Jeff Bagwell | .304 | 111 | 34 | |
1998 | Moises Alou | .312 | 124 | 38 | |
1996 | Jeff Bagwell | .315 | 120 | 31 | |
1994 | Jeff Bagwell | .367 | 116 | 39 |
Berkman's uncharacteristically low batting average in 2007 kept him from making the list for the second straight year, as he recovered enough from his poor start to post his fifth 100 RBI season, and his fifth 30-homer campaign.
Mr. Gilbert also looks at minor leaguers, and those who split the year between the majors and the minors, and finds that the most notable of the three players to have accomplished a Triple Milestone while playing in the minors at some point during 2007 was Ryan Braun, who, including his time at AAA Nashville, posted a .327-44-119 line.
Gilbert's entire article, in .doc format, can be found right here.