Doubles. Triples. Home runs.
In the history of major league baseball, only seven players have twenty or more hits in each of those three categories in a single season (the so-called "20-20-20 club"). The inaugural member of the club was Frank "Wildfire" Schulte, who achieved the feat in 1911 while playing for the Chicago Cubs (he also won the league MVP award that year).
Can you name any of the other six members? (Surprisingly, to me anyway, legendary hitting greats Rogers Hornsby, Lou Gehrig, and Stan Musial aren't in the club.)
Pictured: Diminished Capacity, a movie released in 2008 and starring Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, and Virginia Madsen. The plot? "A man (Broderick) suffering from memory loss takes a trip to a memorabilia expo with his Alzheimer's-impaired relative (Alda) and his high school flame (Madsen), where the trio plans to finalize their scheme to sell a rare baseball card." The card? A "rare T-206 Frank Schulte baseball card." As stated in the immediately preceding link, the movie card is fictitious, but Frank Schulte was featured in the famous T-206 set (which includes the holy grail for collectors, the Honus Wagner card).
It's the triples--none of those hitters were fast enough. I can think of one offhand--Willie Mays. (I would have thought Rickey Henderson, but I checked and apparently not.)
Posted by: David | June 05, 2010 at 12:54 PM
I like the Willie Mays guess. (Ricky Henderson seems like it would it would have been a good guess too.) I'll add a few additional guesses - here are my six:
1. I know Jimmy Rollins did it during his MVP season.
2. I know Curtis Granderson did it the same year - but he wasn't an MVP.
3. Willie Mays
4. Robin Yount
5. Roberto Clemente (I am a big Pirates fan.)
6. Barry Bonds (back when he was with the Pirates)
Posted by: Saul | June 05, 2010 at 01:39 PM
Hank Aaron?
Posted by: Jeff Yates | June 05, 2010 at 04:24 PM
1. Jimmy Rollins (2007).
2. Curtis Granderson (2007)
3. George Brett (1979).
4. Willie Mays (1957).
5. Jim Heath (1941).
6. Jim Bottomley (1928). Go Cards.
7. Frank Schulte (1911).
Posted by: CPW | June 05, 2010 at 07:31 PM
CPW has the correct list (if we change "Jim" to "Jeff" Heath; sorta like the "Moops" v. "Moors" storyline in the Seinfeld episode where George is playing Trivial Pursuit with the Bubble Boy!).
Other guesses?
Henry Aaron: never hit more than 14 triples in a season.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/aaronha01.shtml
Rickey Henderson: never hit more than seven triples in a season.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henderi01.shtml
Robin Yount: never hit more than a dozen triples in a season.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/yountro01.shtml
Roberto Clemente (I, too, am a big fan): never hit more than 14 triples in a season.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clemero01.shtml
Barry Bonds: never hit more than nine triples in a season.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bondsba01.shtml
Posted by: Tim Zinnecker | June 08, 2010 at 10:55 AM