Stan Musial did not lead in home runs.

Stan the Man Musial died at the age of 92.  He was and always be the greatest St. Louis Cardinal.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Triple Crown

Consider some sluggers who led in BA who did not do it: Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Alex Rodriguez and (Albert) Pujols.  This suggests the random nature of the triple crown.
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Here is how Musial did in the triple crown categories: batting average (BA), home runs (HR), runs batted in (RBI):

Times first: 7 0 2.
Times second: 2 1 0.
The absence of Musial is less shocking than that of Mays.  The absence of Willie Mays from even the career triple crown list is the most amazing because he is number 4 with 660 HR, number 11 with 1,903 RBI but never led in RBI.  Musial was not a big HR hitter.  Top three: 39, 36, 35.  Never led, second only once.  Aside from Williams missing a triple crown by less than a point in BA, Musial has the closest miss: one HR in 1948, his career year.  Kiner and Mize led NL in HR in 1948 with 40 each.  Musial led NL: Runs, Hits, 2B, 3B, RBI, BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+, TB.  Musial won his third MVP in 1948.

In 1948 DiMaggio led the AL in HR for the second and final time with 39, seven more than former teammate Joe Gordon of Cleveland.  DiMaggio had 594 at bats (AB).

Musial was second in AB in 1948 with 611.  Mize was tenth with 560 and Kiner lower, so Musial was lower in HR rate than the two who finished ahead of him in HR.

Adjusted OPS+  s c a p y
1.	Musial (STL)	200
2.	Mize (NYG)	156
3.	Gordon (NYG)	147
4.	Kiner (PIT)	146
5.	Pafko (CHC)	144

Mentioned in the New York Times obituary was that Musial had the same number of hits home and road and that this showed his consistency.  Also mentioned was his success in New York, which supposedly prompted New York fans to say here comes that man again providing Musial's nickname.  Musial did in fact have his best success in the two NL New York parks against the Dodgers and Giants.

BA OBP SLG OPS
.336 .427 .582 1.009 home
.326 .407 .537 .944  road

.359 .448 .660 1.108 Ebbets Field
.343 .438 .633 1.071 Polo Grounds

Although Musial never led in HR in a season he finished sixth in career HR.  Here are all ten batters with at least 400 HR through 1963.  All are in the Hall of Fame.  Musial had 1,516 more AB than Mel Ott who was second among the ten listed: 10,972-9,456.  Mantle had by far the fewest AB, 390 fewer than Mays.

Rk	Player	HR	From	To	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos	Tm
1	Babe Ruth	714	1914	1935	19-40	2503	10620	8399	2174	2873	506	136	2213	2062		1330	43	113		2	123	117	.342	.474	.690	1.164	971/83	BOS-NYY-BSN
2	Jimmie Foxx	534	1925	1945	17-37	2317	9676	8134	1751	2646	458	125	1922	1452		1311	13	71		69	87	73	.325	.428	.609	1.038	*352/7196	PHA-BOS-TOT-CHC-PHI
3	Ted Williams	521	1939	1960	20-41	2292	9788	7706	1798	2654	525	71	1839	2021	86	709	39	5	20	197	24	17	.344	.482	.634	1.116	*79/1	BOS
4	Mel Ott	511	1926	1947	17-38	2730	11348	9456	1859	2876	488	72	1860	1708		896	64	109		82	89		.304	.414	.533	.947	*958/74	NYG
5	Lou Gehrig	493	1923	1939	20-36	2164	9663	8001	1888	2721	534	163	1995	1508		790	45	106		2	102	100	.340	.447	.632	1.080	*3/976	NYY
6	Stan Musial	475	1941	1963	20-42	3026	12717	10972	1949	3630	725	177	1951	1599	127	696	53	35	53	243	78	31	.331	.417	.559	.976	3798/1	STL
7	Eddie Mathews	422	1952	1963	20-31	1792	7799	6549	1220	1834	275	65	1166	1155	76	1095	19	31	46	92	62	32	.280	.387	.535	.922	*5/73	BSN-MLN
8	Mickey Mantle	419	1951	1963	19-31	1740	7412	6068	1380	1875	264	67	1187	1291	82	1246	11	13	31	66	135	30	.309	.429	.582	1.011	*89/6475	NYY
9	Willie Mays	406	1951	1963	20-32	1691	7337	6458	1258	2033	333	106	1179	791	111	750	26	1	58	152	248	77	.315	.389	.588	.976	*8/6	NYG-SFG
10	Duke Snider	403	1947	1963	20-36	2052	8048	6994	1243	2081	351	85	1316	949	100	1197	21	52	32	164	99	50	.298	.382	.545	.926	*89/7	BRO-LAD-NYM

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Generated 1/20/2013.