Triple Milestones

Hitters are judged based on their ability to hit for power and hit for average. The most common targets for power hitters are 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in. Players who hit for average shoot for .300.

The most productive hitters shoot for all three milestones. In both 2009 and 2010, six players reached all three milestones, down significantly from 2000 when 26 players made it.

In his 1981 Baseball Abstract, Bill James referred to a season in which a player reached all three targets as a "Hall of Fame Season". At that time, every player who had 5 such seasons was elected to the Hall of Fame. This correlation continued to hold until 2011 when Juan Gonzalez and Jeff Bagwell, both with 5 Hall of Fame Seasons, failed to make it. Bagwell, with 41.7% of the vote, should eventually get in but Gonzalez received only 5.2%, barely exceeding the 5% of the votes required to remain on the ballot.

The first player to achieve triple milestones was Babe Ruth in 1920. The first National Leaguer was Rogers Hornsby in 1922. Five players achieved all three as rookies, Wally Berger in 1930, Ted Williams in 1939, Walt Dropo in 1950, Mike Piazza in 1993 and Albert Pujols in 2001. Berger and Dropo never achieved triple milestones again while Williams did it 7 times, Piazza did it 6 times and Pujols has done it for each of the 10 years he has been in the major leagues.Ruth still holds the record for most triple milestone seasons with 12 but may eventually be passed by Pujols who is at 10 and counting.