Aaron Judge: career, not season, triple crown. Mays (RBI) and Musial (HR) did not do it.

Plus, it's more difficult to lead with almost double the number of teams since 1960: 8 increased to 15 per league.

Aaron Judge will have the highest Batting Average (BA) in the American League in 2025, completing his career triple crown: leading in BA, Home Runs (HR) and Runs Batted In (RBI).

Previously Judge led:

2017: 52 HR

2022: 62 HR, 131 RBI

2024: 58 HR, 144 RBI

Aaron Judge among the best hitters of all time.  Friday, September 26, 2025

The season triple crown has been achieved 13 times by 11 players but only once since 1967: 2012 by Miguel Cabrera with Detroit. It's very unlikely it will be done again.

Judge is the 11th player to achieve only the career triple crown.

Season triple crown:

Year	L	Player	Team	BA	HR	RBI	Year
2012	AL	Miguel Cabrera	DET	.330	44	139	2012
1967	AL	Carl Yastrzemski	BOS	.326	44	121	1967
1966	AL	Frank Robinson	BAL	.316	49	122	1966
1956	AL	Mickey Mantle	NYY	.353	52	130	1956
1947	AL	Ted Williams	BOS	.343	32	114	1947
1942	AL	Ted Williams	BOS	.356	36	137	1942
1937	NL	Joe Medwick	STL	.374	31	154	1937
1934	AL	Lou Gehrig	NYY	.363	49	165	1934
1933	AL	Jimmie Foxx	PHA	.356	48	163	1933
1933	NL	Chuck Klein	PHI	.368	28	120	1933
1925	NL	Rogers Hornsby	STL	.403	39	143	1925
1922	NL	Rogers Hornsby	STL	.401	42	152	1922
1909	AL	Ty Cobb	DET	.377	9	107	1909
Year	L	Player	Team	BA	HR	RBI	Year
2012		max	max	.403	52	165	2012
1909		min	min	.316	9	107	1909

Cobb led in HR only that one year and they were all inside the park.

(second group is the number of times second):

Player	Year	age	BA1	HR1	RBI1	Tot1	BA2	HR2	RBI2	Tot2
Miguel Cabrera	2012	29	4	2	2	8	2	1	2	5
Carl Yastrzemski	1967	27	3	1	1	5	2	0	0	2
Frank Robinson	1966	30	1	1	1	3	2	2	4	8
Mickey Mantle	1956	24	1	4	1	6	2	1	0	3
Ted Williams	1947	28	6	4	4	14	4	4	1	9
Ted Williams	1942	23	6	4	4	14	4	4	1	9
Joe Medwick	1937	25	1	1	3	5	1	0	2	3
Lou Gehrig	1934	31	1	3	5	9	1	4	4	9
Jimmie Foxx	1933	25	2	4	3	9	2	3	0	5
Chuck Klein	1933	28	1	4	2	7	0	1	2	3
Rogers Hornsby	1925	29	7	2	4	13	3	2	1	6
Rogers Hornsby	1922	26	7	2	4	13	3	2	1	6
Ty Cobb	1909	22	11	1	4	16	4	1	2	7
Player	Year	age	BA1	HR1	RBI1	Tot1	BA2	HR2	RBI2	Tot2

Robinson led in only that one year; and his BA was very low.

Mantle led in BA and RBI only that one year and he was never second in RBI.

Yastrzemski and Medwick led in 2 of the three in only that year.

Career triple crown (second group is the number of times second):

Players	BA1	HR1	RBI1	Tot1	BA2	HR2	RBI2	Tot2
Aaron Judge	1	3	2	6	1	1	1	3
Albert Pujols	1	2	1	4	2	2	3	7
Alex Rodriguez	1	5	2	8	0	0	2	2
Manny Ramirez	1	1	1	3	1	0	1	2
Andres Galarraga	1	1	2	4	0	0	0	0
Barry Bonds	2	2	1	5	0	5	1	6
Hank Aaron	2	4	4	10	1	4	0	5
Johnny Mize	1	4	3	8	2	2	1	5
Joe DiMaggio	2	2	2	6	0	0	2	2
Babe Ruth	1	12	6	19	3	3	4	10
Heinie Zimmerman	1	1	2	4	0	0	1	1
Conspicuous by their absence.
Willie Mays	1	4	0	5	3	1	2	6
Stan Musial	7	0	2	9	2	1	0	3
Honus Wagner	8	0	5	13	1	2	2	5

Ruth dominates.

This link has gobs of data.

This document has tons of stuff, last updated in August 2011, including this about season, not career:

This analysis covers the American League (AL) and National League (NL) seasons 1903 through 2010 for hitters, not pitchers...

The oldest hitter to do it was Lou Gehrig: 31.  Frank Robinson was 30.  They are the only two 30 or older.  Ty Cobb was the first and also the youngest: 22 in 1909...

... it’s unlikely to be achieved again is that it doesn’t make sense.  Why combine an average with two totals?  The two totals are highly correlated.  The triple crown is basically a HR/RBI leader who happens to also lead in BA.  So what?  Hits would make more sense than BA.  And what about runs scored?  Why not Hits, Runs and RBI?  Or BA, on base percentage (OBP) and slugging percentage (SLG)?  So what if BA and OBP are highly correlated like HR and RBI?  The triple crown rarely goes to the BA leader who also happens to also lead in HR and RBI.

The triple crown is concentrated: four times in five years (1933-1937) plus Hornsby twice in the 1920s and Williams twice in the 1940s.  That’s pretty much it.  Thirteen years between Cobb and Hornsby.  Mantle is the most isolated: smack in the middle of a 20 season drought, 9 years after Williams and 10 years before Robinson.

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 Pujols.  This suggests the random nature of the triple crown.

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