In case you were wondering, everyone who has hit for the Triple Crown has wound up in the Baseball Hall of Fame (or will)
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich entered the final week of the 2018 baseball season as a much-discussed MVP candidate. He left Saturday's game as an MVP lock and a threat to win the National League Triple Crown.
That's an achievement -- leading the league in home runs, batting average and RBI -- that hasn't happened in the NL since 1937, when Joe Medwick of St. Louis did it.
Yelich hit two home runs Saturday and now is tied for the league lead with Matt Carpenter of St. Louis at 36. His 109 RBI are two behind Javier Baez of the Cubs, and his .324 batting average is well ahead of the field as he zeroes in on the first batting title in Milwaukee Brewers history.
His insane final week of play has put him in historic territory.
In the American League, Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers won the Triple Crown in his MVP 2012 season, the first to do so in either league since Carl Yastrzemski of Boston turned the trick in 1967.
In all, 10 players have hit for the Triple Crown, including Frank Robinson of Baltimore (1966), Mickey Mantle of the Yankees (1956), Ted Williams of the Red Sox (1942 and 1947), Lou Gehrig of the Yankees (1934), Jimmie Foxx of Philadelphia (1933), Chuck Klein of Philadelphia (1933) and Rogers Hornsby of St. Louis (1922 and 1925).
Yes, every single one of those players is in the Hall of Fame except Cabrera, who surely will be shortly after his career ends.
Others credited with unofficial Triple Crowns before RBI became an official stat in 1920 are Ty Cobb (1909), Nap Lajoie (1901), Hugh Duffy (1894) and Paul Hines (1878). Only Hines is not in the Hall of Fame.
Even the close calls in the NL comprise an impressive list:
Willie McCovey, San Francisco Giants
McCovey led the NL in home runs and batting average in 1968 and 1969 but he was well shy of Cincinnati's Pete Rose in the batting race.
George Foster, Cincinnati Reds
In 1977, Foster hit 50 home runs and drove in a staggering 149 runs, but he was still 18 points behind Dave Parker for the batting title.
Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies
The legendary third baseman led the NL in home runs and RBI four times but never had the batting average to sweep the top three categories. In 1981, he hit .316 but was well behind Pittsburgh's Bill Madlock.
Gary Sheffield, San Diego Padres
The ex-Brewer famous for wanting out of Milwaukee, Sheffield went on to have a solid career elsewhere. He led the league in batting average in 1992 at .330 but fell two homers and nine RBI shy of the lead in those categories.
Larry Walker, Colorado Rockies
In 1997, Walker led the league with 49 home runs and had 130 RBI, but his own teammate had 10 more of the latter (Andres Galarraga). Walker was also six points short of Tony Gwynn for the batting title.
Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants
Bonds just got walked too much when he was at his peak. In 2002, he won the batting title in a landslide, but his 46 homers were short of Sammy Sosa's 49, and his 128 RBI were well short of Lance Berkman's 142.
Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
In 2003, he batted .359 and was just short of the league lead in homers and RBI. In 2009, he led the league in homers but was six shy in RBI (Prince Fielder was one of the co-leaders that year) and 15 points of batting average behind league-leading Hanley Ramirez.
Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
In the 2011 season, when Ryan Braun wound up as MVP, Kemp was the controversial second-place finisher. But he did lead the league in homers (39) and RBI (126), edging Fielder in both categories. He was 13 points shy of Jose Reyes (.337) for the batting title, with Braun (.332) just ahead of him, as well.
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
Braun was the MVP in 2011, but he had a closer brush with the Triple Crown in 2012, when he led the league in homers (41), was second in RBI (112, three behind Chase Headley) and third in batting average (.319, 18 points behind Buster Posey).